Of all the tools I got....

[PixMan]

Thanks Russ, but I have a 1 ton arbor press in the shed outside my dad's shop that's yet to be used by me, and probably only once or twice by him.

I think I'll be able to tap the pins in with a ball pein hammer. I have a half dozen of those in different sizes, all but one made by my long deceased maternal grandfather. He was a blacksmith/farrier by trade, imported from Canada to fight in WWI with the US Army 21st Engineers. I treasure those hammers!

[PixMan]

I made the pins this morning and tapped them in with a little ball pein hammer. Because I deburred/chamfered them by hand and don't have a collet stop, the depth they went to in the holes varied a little bit. Next time I'll find a way to make more consistent size pins.



Off back to my home where the bike lives, I found that the clearance on the backside wasn't quite enough. The square corner on the back of the tool where the boss for the 1/2" square drive is was hitting the bottom of the handlebar. :(

Back to the shop for a minor adjustment, I put the 3-jaw chuck back onto the lathe (collet chuck was on it from making the pins.) I put a dial test indicator on it and with .010" brass shim between the jaws and workpiece, I tapped it into true within .001" both radial and axial T.I.R.

Now I didn't have an exact radius in mind, I just knew it had to be at least a 1/8" radius. In my small supply of hand ground HSS and brazed carbide form tools, the closest I had measured about .160". Close enough. I did fudge it a little bit because I was wearing safety glasses that fit tight and fogged up (best excuse I could muster), so there is a little line in the part. Big deal.

But it fits the bike now! The pins engage, and I have just barely enough room for an oversized (IMO) 1/2" drive extension.




Prototype project a success. The next ones will be slightly different, offering just a little more clearance. Since the torque value for the headset bearing nut is a paltry 18 ft/lbs, I may offer these to interested buyers with a 3/8" square drive, though I'd need to make or buy a broach to make the hole easier to do. I have a surface grinder to make one, but no heat treating capabilities. Yet.

[Mayhem]

Very nice work there Ken - if you hadn't described/shown the process I would have thought it was a bought item.

[EdK]

A job well done Ken. In the end the part worked and that's what counts.

Ed

[PixMan]

Thanks guys, much appreciated.

I found out after reading the factory service manual I own that under that nut is a pair of toothed bearing lock nuts with a locking tab between them. This means I'll have to make up yet another tool to access those. Nuts, I thought that one was the tensioning nut and it turns out that it's just a cover! Oh well, it was a fun project just the same, and I'll probably make a cool tool for getting at the nuts UNDER that one as well, to avoid having to remove the handlebars.

[Mayhem]

So you move from a single tool to a set, that has to be more attractive for marketing future sales

I had to make up a tool to remove the wheel bearing retaining nut for the front hubs on a 4x4 I own. However, I didn't have a lathe then, so I found a large sacrificial 1/2" drive socket and welded it to a length of pipe that was a suitable diameter. The I welded some round stock to the outside of the pipe, which then located into the holes on the nut. I't looked uglier than a bucket of arse holes but it worked.

I hope to get a demo of this mill in September...

[sasquatch]

"Uglier than a bucket of arseholes"

Never heard that one before!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOl

[wrustle]

Great little tool there Ken, and ahh.....nothing personal mind you.


Next time you have random length pins but want to press them in so they're all same height, place a shim (that is the thickness of how much you want sticking out of the hole) next to the pin you're about to press in and then press the pin in. The press will stop when it hits the shim and all your pins will be the exact same height.

We do this all the time for several different assemblies we do here and it works great!


Later,
Russ

[PixMan]

Great idea Russ, I appreciate it.

As it turns out, sadly, the tool is not going to work as intended because I found out that the torque spec for the but is 66 lb/ft (90Nm) and that's too much for the pins. When I tried reaching that torque setting using my el-cheapo Crapsman brand bean type torque wrench, the pins were started to distort their mating holes. Rats. I think I got up to about 60 lb/ft before I stopped. The aluminum nut felt like it was galling on the steel steering stem it mates to, and I resisted putting any anti-seize lube or oil on it because the whole origin of my idea is that the nut was so loose I could turn it with two fingers. I don't want any lube in there to aid in it's self-loosening tendencies.

That nut acts as the centering device and clamping connection between the steering stem and the top yoke of the triple clamps. That is was loose seems to be why my bike started handling funny (in the strange way, not the ha-ha kind of funny.) With it loose, I tried rolling forward and clamping on the front binders. There was a noticeable "clunk" in doing that. It seems to be gone now with the nut torqued somewhere near the recommended setting.

I'm going to find an appropriate size round of pre heat treated 4140 or 4150 and make a shallow custom 6 point socket to grab the hex on the outside of the nut instead. If I'm really industrious I could further enhance it by putting pins inside that, though it would be harder (or impossible?) to use your method to push pins in.

[Mayhem]

Send it back to Triumph and tell them you want a new one

Do you know what the overpriced 'special tool' they use looks like? sometimes they include a picture in the workshop manuals.

Tool or paperweight - it sure is a nicely machined part.