EW bottom forks

[Charlie18]

     Hi I notice that several EW bottom forks of mine have a double bend in the cross section . (See photos )   I have one fork that is straight  which I presume is correct .  My intention is to heat the section and straighten it ,has anyone attempted this and what was the result? The fork that is straight is the clamp on gearbox mount and I need the other version .   Cheers  Doug.  1926 EW

[carl denton]

hi

got about 10 of them in my shed all exactly the same ,, all drive chains have got a tight spot in them and my thoughts are that people have tightened the drive chain too much and when they have rode them over the years it has slowly pulled that tube in . its not that hard to replace and make it out of thicker wall tube , hydraulic tube if perfect . if you look at the same section on a B29 they never bend . hope this helps .

yours carl.

[eddie]

Heating the tube and pulling it back straight is probably easier than replacing it. The main priority is that you should end up with the engine rail/s truly at 90 degrees to the rear wheel spindle. With this achieved, it would pay to knock out the locating pins in the lugs on the LH side, clean up the inside of the cross tube and insert a good fitting sleeve that is long enough to reinforce the LH half of the cross tube(which carries the greater load). The completed repair would then be virtually invisible to the naked eye without the need to partly dismantle the frame.

  Regards,
                Eddie.

  P.S.  It may be possible to put a stout bar or tube across the rear triangle (resting against the rear wheel lugs) and use a bottle jack between it and the bent cross tube to force the tube back straight again - then reinforce the cross tube.

[oily bloke]

The gearbox lugs are folded and sweated on. They can easily be removed with a bit of heat to be able to fit the later gearbox.