A10 Fork Springs on S7 Deluxe

The recent subject matter of discussion in the Sunbeam Owners Fellowship got me thinking about how to cure the bouncing front end of my S7D.  The suggestion was to swap out the stock fork springs for slightly longer ones used on the S8, or from a BSA model A10 Rocket Goldstar.  It seemed an easy enough task after reading the Bedside Book.  I easily obtained NOS springs from the UK and went to work.

The top cap nuts and steering head bearing tensioner came out easily.

I then backed off the pinch bolts on the top triple tree.  It easily came off with a few bumps from a rubber hammer underneath.  I laid it carefully back against the tank with a towel.  (A good man always knows where his towel is.  I like to think of myself as a really hoopy frood.)

After jacking up the front end, the screws from the spring shrouds came off and I protected the mudguard with some towels as well.

This was too easy.  The next part involved some clever improvisation.  I didn't have the right spanner to remove the nuts from the top of the triple tree.  So I had to make something.  I took the next largest size socket that I had, which happened to be 1-5/8"... then taped two 10-32 screws to the inside of it.  This way the screws would grasp the notches in the nuts, and turn them off easily.

The nuts easily came off and I had access to remove the headlamp and brackets.  I left them as one piece and set them atop the handlebars and top triple tree.

The ease of dismantling was interrupted by a trip to Harbor Freight to get a bigger adjustable wrench, since I didn't have one quite big enough to take the bottom nuts off the forks.

Reversing the order of disassembly, puts it all back together.  The forks are rather stiff now.  I hope this improves the handling as much as everyone says.  Tomorrow I shall find out.  No sense in going out to try out the handling in the dark... especially when there's a new Doctor Who episode on.