Fork drain bolts

[A500leroy]

I've put some new fork seals on a work colleagues Chinese scooter, I've reassembled and the drain bolts at the bottom seeped a bit.
I've nipped them up with some lock light and no longer leaking but they won't tighten anymore just spin, they do feel tight though.

I'm reluctant to go in any harder for fear of stripping Chinese metal but as they aren't seeping anymore I'm hoping this is safe?

[hiccy18]

Whe you say "they won't tighten anymore just spin" does that not mean they're stripped?

[A500leroy]

No, I think the internals are spinning.

[PT1984]

Try putting weight on the forks. Or pulling them up to extend them?

[A500leroy]

Will do. If it doesn't work I'll just run it around and keep an eye on it

[bimsb6]

Did you replace the copper washers?

[Jazoli]

They aren’t really drain bolts but are there to hold the internals in place, an impact driver is best to nip them up if you don’t have a holding tool.

[A500leroy]

bimsb6 said:

Did you replace the copper washers?

There wasn't any.

[D9]

It sounds as if you have removed the bolts that hold the internal damper rods in place.
A lot of cheap bikes don't have drain screws on the sides anymore, I think it saves a few pennies, and they expect you to take the forks out , remove the tops, turn them upside down, and drain the oil that way.
To save even more money , the top caps that always used to screw in , are often replaced with a difficult to remove circlip type clip.
For most forks there is a special tool that will hold the damper rod while you tighten up the bottom bolt.
This is important, because if these bolts loosen off , the next time the rider does a wheelie, the front wheel & fork sliders can separate from the bike/scooter
It rarely happens, but I have seen photos of the aftermath of this sort of incident - usually on off road bikes where getting the front wheel off the ground happens a lot.

[Steve Bass]

A500leroy said:

bimsb6 said:

Did you replace the copper washers?

There wasn't any.

There should be

[Biker9090]

There WILL be copper washers in there unless someone has lost them previously.

You'll have been spinning the damper rod mechanism.

You need to put weight on the fork and then turn - or use a rattle gun.

[A500leroy]

Biker9090 said:

There WILL be copper washers in there unless someone has lost them previously.

You'll have been spinning the damper rod mechanism.

You need to put weight on the fork and then turn - or use a rattle gun.

Super, thanks guys, I'll get back to the Chinese bit of rubbish.

[bimsb6]

D9 said:

It sounds as if you have removed the bolts that hold the internal damper rods in place.
A lot of cheap bikes don't have drain screws on the sides anymore, I think it saves a few pennies, and they expect you to take the forks out , remove the tops, turn them upside down, and drain the oil that way.
To save even more money , the top caps that always used to screw in , are often replaced with a difficult to remove circlip type clip.
For most forks there is a special tool that will hold the damper rod while you tighten up the bottom bolt.
This is important, because if these bolts loosen off , the next time the rider does a wheelie, the front wheel & fork sliders can separate from the bike/scooter
It rarely happens, but I have seen photos of the aftermath of this sort of incident - usually on off road bikes where getting the front wheel off the ground happens a lot.

He was changing the fork seals so he needs to remove the stanchions .

[Drabbesttunic]

bimsb6 said:

D9 said:

It sounds as if you have removed the bolts that hold the internal damper rods in place.
A lot of cheap bikes don't have drain screws on the sides anymore, I think it saves a few pennies, and they expect you to take the forks out , remove the tops, turn them upside down, and drain the oil that way.
To save even more money , the top caps that always used to screw in , are often replaced with a difficult to remove circlip type clip.
For most forks there is a special tool that will hold the damper rod while you tighten up the bottom bolt.
This is important, because if these bolts loosen off , the next time the rider does a wheelie, the front wheel & fork sliders can separate from the bike/scooter
It rarely happens, but I have seen photos of the aftermath of this sort of incident - usually on off road bikes where getting the front wheel off the ground happens a lot.

He was changing the fork seals so he needs to remove the stanchions .

Not on rwu forks you don't.

[bimsb6]

Drabbesttunic said:

bimsb6 said:

D9 said:

It sounds as if you have removed the bolts that hold the internal damper rods in place.
A lot of cheap bikes don't have drain screws on the sides anymore, I think it saves a few pennies, and they expect you to take the forks out , remove the tops, turn them upside down, and drain the oil that way.
To save even more money , the top caps that always used to screw in , are often replaced with a difficult to remove circlip type clip.
For most forks there is a special tool that will hold the damper rod while you tighten up the bottom bolt.
This is important, because if these bolts loosen off , the next time the rider does a wheelie, the front wheel & fork sliders can separate from the bike/scooter
It rarely happens, but I have seen photos of the aftermath of this sort of incident - usually on off road bikes where getting the front wheel off the ground happens a lot.

He was changing the fork seals so he needs to remove the stanchions .

Not on rwu forks you don't.

All the ones I’ve done have needed the stanchions removing .