Catastrophic fork failure.

Discussion in 'Maintenance' started by Black & White, May 31, 2021.

  1. Black & White

    Black & White Well-Known Member

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    Has anyone else come across this issue?
    I've got a spot of bother. IMG_20210531_131523_1.jpg IMG_20210531_131504.jpg
     
  2. dern

    dern Well-Known Member

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    Jesus. Sorry, no.
     
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  3. Blade runner 1

    Blade runner 1 Elite Member

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    No, never seen that before. Maybe over tightened at some point in its life. Were you riding it when it failed?
     
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  4. Black & White

    Black & White Well-Known Member

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    No, wasn't riding mate. I'd noticed a bit of uneven tyre wear so lifted the front. Found the wheel bearings absolutely shagged. During wheel removal I thought it looked like a crack, but it was much worse. There's alloy corrosion between, so I reckon it's been like it for a while. I'm wondering if the vibration from the bad wheel bearing has caused a stress fracture. It's a bit of a worry, looking back at some of my journeys. I always torque everything to spec with a Snap-on wrench.
     
  5. warren smart

    warren smart Active Member

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    It’s known to happen with Ohlins forks fitted as standard equipment on various bikes, the pinch bolts get over tightened and crack exactly where yours have, you can change the fork bottom but maybe cheaper to buy a second hand leg.
     
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  6. Black & White

    Black & White Well-Known Member

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    Hi mate. When you say 'fork bottom', do you mean the anodised bracket bit alone, or the whole section including the chrome tube?
     
  7. bradt

    bradt Elite Member

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    Wow that's scary...
     
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  8. warren smart

    warren smart Active Member

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    The anodised bracket, exactly the same as in the picture.
     
  9. Frazzle

    Frazzle Active Member

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    Paul at Racelab showed me a set of Ohlins like this in his workshop a couple of years ago... they are called "pinch" bolts for a reason he said.. get on ebay, there's sure to be forks available for a decent price
     
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  10. warren smart

    warren smart Active Member

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    The earlier Ohlins on my rsv were 12nm, the Ohlins fgrt I now have on are 20nm, both are practically nothing and as you said they’re called pinch bolts for a reason.
     
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  11. Owen2737

    Owen2737 New Member

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    Shit,thats scary.Glad you discovered it how you did rather than an on road failure!
     
  12. Jez

    Jez Senior Member

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    If you go down the route of getting a leg and removing the alloy part, The bottom alloy bit has a small grub screw holding it to the stantion, this screws against the stantion thread , after you have removed the grub screw lightly spot drill the threads that the grub screw has damaged,
    It was only after removing one of mine I found half the threads stripped out of the alloy then finding the reason why.
     
  13. Kentblade

    Kentblade God Like

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    Someone with a better memory than me will have to fill in the blanks, cannot remember which model it was, but there was a need to replace the lower axel/pinch bolt assembly when issues of corrosion appeared, again cannot remember if it was a recall or service advisory, but do remember my bike needing repair, just can’t remember which one it was.
     
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  14. warren smart

    warren smart Active Member

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    It was the 954, recalls for corrosion.
     
  15. Kentblade

    Kentblade God Like

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    Since posting earlier, I found some docs, it was on my 929, which now brings back the memory of it, corrosion where the inner tube met the fork leg axle bracket. They replaced both brackets, and the one thing I remember clearly was Honda blaming it on owners using the bikes in adverse conditions....ie wet and salt :rolleyes:, same old, same old Honda UK
     
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  16. dern

    dern Well-Known Member

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    There was a recall on the 929 where the axle bracket could crack where the tube slotted in. I don't recall the corrosion one.

    I ignored the recall and then it cracked and opened up on track to about 3mm which made me redefine my response to recall notices :)
     
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  17. Kentblade

    Kentblade God Like

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    Older and wiser my friend, we all learn the hard way :)
     
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  18. TailwindAndy

    TailwindAndy Member

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    It can be caused either by over-tightening, or else from not tightening, or even not loosening, the 2 pinch bolts equally.
     

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