Heeeeelllp!!! Trying to strip forks down.
 

Hello,
I'm trying to strip down the forks from my curvy 650 ('99). Never done it before, but there's a first time for everything and all that. Got the forks off the bike no problem. However, I'm trying to loosen the 8mm hex bolt (the Haynes manual calls it a 'damper rod bolt') at the bottom. Neither 1/2" or 3/8" hex sockets will fit into the hole to get to it and an allen key doesn't seem to have enough leverage longways on. I assume these bolts have been loctite'd in, so are going to need a bit of leverage to release. I'd also like to torque them up correctly when I rebuild it.

Does anyone know where you can get sockets with extra long hex bits? I've tried Halfords and Machine Mart.

Failing that, any other suggestions for getting these buggers out?

Thanks! :notworthy:

Use the spark plug extention bar to get levarage on the allen key end, thats what i do.

I just used a Normal Allen key, I used the long side of the Allen key and put that onto the bolt, that left the short bit of the allen key poking out of the bottom of the fork. I then used a long piece of hollow tube and stuck that on the end of the allen key a bit like you'd use a break bar and that gave enough leverage to crack the bolt and I was able to undo it just using the allen key.

I put an 8mm ring spanner on the long bit of an allen key & slide it up to the bend to give a lever

I use the 8mm spanner trick (and a blow with a hammer) to get them undone. If you want to torque them up then you either need a long allen socket, or another way is to just chop the end off the allen key and use it with a 8mm socket on a torque wrench.

Thanks!
 

I'll give the 8mm spanner trick a try! Cheers for the wise words :notworthy:

Andy