I just bought this Rupp Roadster and just noticed yesterday the front suspension is frozen. I put quite a bit of tension on the forks with ratchet straps and it did not compress at all. Would anyone have some suggestions on how to free this up and how to disassemble the front forks for inspection? Thanks in advance any help will be greatly appreciated.
1973 Rupp Roadster with frozen suspension on front forks.
- Thread starter hd94vett
- Start date
front forks on rupps can seize. there's a nylon bushing inside that can swell due to moisture or rust, and lock up the front end. you can take it apart usually. sometimes you have to use some heat. but that will damage the nylon bushings (part #43 in the above diagram.) they are available new from Blackwidow motorsport, if they have them in stock.
just went through it with a hustler, it took 4 days of sitting lubed from hell and a small hydraulic jack to pop them free, if you look at the mini bike discussion post from 4-12-24 you'll will see some other members thoughts and a sweet family photo of the twins and our pet, But anyway I had to saturate them with penetrating oil day after day and then one popped which made me use 2 small hydraulic jacks (one on each side) and that popped a day later, And then there was the plastic bushing which kept me from using real heat only because those bushings are no longer available through Black widow motorsports, everything but those bushings can be bought from them, I found a set online in fair condition after wrestling another 2 days and more oil to work them out with some heat one was salvageable but the other was rough from the previous owners poor restoration job,so I am using the best of the 2 sets to repair my forks, the pictures I post will at least give you an actual detailed picture of what you are removing, the small lip on the tube fits into a groove just inside the forks so you need to try and preserve that lip as that is what holds them in unless frozen LOL, the split in the one side will alow you to overlap the other side so you can pry it out,
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In the pictures I had already cleaned up the struts and springs and bushings and to tell you the truth as much grief as they were getting out I thought they would of been in terrible shape but not really??? that rust gets in between the forks and the plastic bushing which squeezes the struts and that's where the problem is I believe? Once again just to show you what your dealing with probably???
Thanks everyone for the wonderful advice. Could you show a picture of how to use the 2 hydraulic jacks to get them apart? Can you circle the lip in the picture that hold the fork legs in. I will start to disassemble the fork off the bike and start spraying them with penetrating oil tomorrow. Thanks again for great help.
