Working on the Nuovo Falcone Forks

For this task you need:

Support the Crank case on a large lump of wood using wedges, jacks etc. to lift the front wheel clear of the ground. This can be a little tricky as the front wheel/front fork assembly is quite heavy. It is of course important to make the bike stable when propped. If you also own a Moto Guzzi Large V-Twin, then a worthwhile investment is the Engine Support 18 91 24 50. This is not so much an engine support as a Bike stand, capable of taking your Moto Guzzi Large V-Twin and hoisting it from the deck both wheels clear. It costs £60 (approx.) and is invaluable for work on that particular machine. If used back-to-front it makes a particularly fine Nuovo Falcone stand allowing precision adjustment of the angle of the bike. Blocks of wood will do almost as well and are cheaper.

3. Drain the Fork legs of Damping oil

Using the screwdriver unscrew the fork leg drain plugs, one by one, taking particular care not to get oil on the tyres or the rims. Drain out the Damping oil

Using the 13mm Combination wrench screw all the adjuster as far home as possible in order to permit the disconnection of the brake cable from the brake drum lever. This having been achieved, the adjuster on the front drum back-plate should be carefully unscrewed fully and the cable gently removed through the slot provided for the purpose.

The Speedometer drive retaining collar should be treated with some penetrating fluid, before unscrewing with some pliers (didn't I mention pliers in the list of tools? One assumes that you will have access to a few other things.) Take particular care not to lose the olive at the bottom of the speedometer cable sheath.

Taking the 24m wrench unscrew the nut on the end of the front wheel spindle until the outside face of the nut is flush with the end of the spindle. Slacken off the clamp bolts on each fork leg. Taking the mallet, strike the end of the spindle firmly and squarely. The spindle should move across that the nut is in contact with the fork-leg. Remove the nut and drift out the spindle. If the spindle did not move, then retaining the nut on the spindle end will have protected the thread. You then need to administer penetrating fluid to each end of the spindle, maybe try some heat and hope that there is not any corrosion in the middle of the wheel.

I had no problems removing my front wheel nor hopefully will you.

The fit of the front tyre in the front mudguard assembly is fairly snug so wiggle the front wheel carefully to get the tyre past the nuts-'n-bolts which hold the front mudguard in place. Remove the front Mudguard.

Taking the 5mm hexagonal wrench, undo the two screws holding the binnacle in place. Lift it carefully and feeling underneath unscrew the top end of the speedometer cable. If the grommet in the hole from which the speedometer cable emerges from the headlamp shell is missing or rotted away, and you don't want to stop everything to take a trip to your friendly neighbourhood grommet shop, clamp a clothes peg onto the speedometer cable outer. This will prevent the threaded sleeve which holds the speedometer cable to the back of the Speedometer, from sliding down into the interior of the Headlamp, ending up behind the fuse board. Trust me, it would be bad if it did.

In order to proceed further with the removal of the binnacle, it is necessary to extract the bulb-holders from the idiot lights and from the speedometer. Rather than disconnect the wire from the lights leave them connected to their respective wires, as this will assist in the reassembly.

Taking the 6mm Hexagonal wrench unscrew the handlebars and carefully laying a towel across the petrol tank, rest the handlebars out of harms way. You could remove them in their entirety at this point but unless you actually need to, what would be the point? The towel is important though as the tank WILL otherwise get scratched.

If this is your first journey inside the binnacle, you will by now be disappointed by the unprepossessing fork top plate. Don't worry, it works! Until you saw it you were happy with your Nuovo Falcone. You should still be. If you wish to be invigorated by sculptural craftsmanship in the things you own, collect antique silver instead.

Unscrew the stanchion caps carefully. They are under slight pressure from the springs inside and have a very fine thread. They are also made of aluminium and are probably fragile. Don't test this.

Take Moto Guzzi Special tool 10 90 95 00 (Threaded drift for removal and replacement of the stanchions.) and screw it as far as possible into the top of the stanchion. Slacken the clamp bolts in the lower yoke. Strike the drift squarely with a mallet to drive out the fork leg assembly.

Further disassembly of the fork legs will be hampered by the damper spindle which, fixed into the bottom of the forkleg protrudes through a hole at the bottom of the stanchion and varies the rate at which oil squirts between the inside the stanchion and the inside of fork leg (Et Voila! Variable rate hydraulic bump-stop damping).

To remove the damper spindle you should take Moto Guzzi Special tool 10 90 48 00. (wrench for holding the damper spindle deep inside the fork leg) and passing it down from the top end as far as it will go. Then screw it into the thing that you cannot yet see until it is tight. Then clamp the forkleg assembly into a vice ( with soft jaws) clamping with caution either the wheel spindle clamp area or the area of the mudguard boss. DO NOT CLAMP THE TUBE!!

Take the 8mm. Hexagonal wrench and passing it up through the hole in the bottom of the leg, engage it in the screw head therein. Restraining the damper spindle, unscrew the screw from the bottom. It is not strictly necessary to remove the screw in it's entirety from the forkleg if for any reason it does not want to come; it's removal will facilitate replacement of the washer which seals the damping fluid into the leg.

Withdraw the special tool complete with damper spindle, unscrew it and put it aside.

Repeat procedure for the other fork leg.

A word here about special tools. As the reader will have noticed I have referred to the use of two special tools. The special tool for the removal of the stanchion is unavoidable but for the time being is available from Agostini's and from a few other shops besides. Attempts to avoid relying on this tool will probably make you angry and/or break something.

The special tool for holding the damper spindle deep inside the fork leg is basically a long slender bar with a "T" handle at one end and a threaded boss welded to the other. The thread is M10X1.50X12mm. I am sure that it would be possible to lash up something to avoid buying the tool but since they seem still to be available and are most reasonable priced, I feel one must look at how much one's time is worth.

When you order it, do not be alarmed to find it has been bent double to get it through the letter box!!! It will straighten out with no difficulty!

With the fork-leg assembly clamped in the Vice (not forgetting the soft jaws) experimentally try unscrewing the oil seal holder by the use of two opposed "C" spanners. If it offers any resistance DO NOT FORCE IT!! It is aluminium and will un-wrap like orange peel given half a chance. In preference warm it with either a sensitively applied blowlamp or a hot-air stripper. Don't make it too hot; no sizzling please! Once very warm, administer WD40 or Plus-Gas and then go for a cuppa.

After all of this the seal holders should unscrew. (on reassembly with new seal holders, I smeared the threads with anti-seize Copaslip)

The oil seals (originally there were two each side; the replacement now is a single double lip unit each side) are retained by a large circlip or more properly Seeger ring. Easy to remove with the correct circlip pliers.

Withdraw the stanchion, complete with all bushes from the fork leg, and put to one side on a clean surface and propped to prevent it from falling to the floor.

Place the stanchion upside down in the vice so that the bushes are uppermost. There are three bushes per leg; one bronze, one cast iron, and an aluminium shuttle valve which is retained by a circlip. The bronze bush is a sliding fit on the stanchion and can be slid off at the (conventionally) top end of stanchion. The cast iron bush is retained by a threaded plug which is screwed into the end of the stanchion. This operates in conjunction with the damper spindle as discussed before, and can be removed by being unscrewed with a 32mm Socket / Combination Wrench. The Cast iron bush can be a tight fit both for removal and for replacement. The use of aluminium drifts and/or soft mallets is a must.

So what can be replaced? Bushes, seals, stanchions and seal holders. I have not yet tried to replace springs. Moto Falcone sell original or uprated fork springs.

For the main part reassembly is a reversal of disassembly, although there are a number of key points to remember

The Damper spindle needs to be rotated during assembly in order to locate it on a dog tooth deep inside the lower fork leg. This is to prevent it rotating later while the bottom bolt is retightened. Therefore the special tool should not be relied upon to tighten the bottom bolt against, but rather to ensure it's continued engagement with this dog.

Because the fork spring needs to be compressed to some extent during the reassembly before the impossibly fine thread on the caps can bite, the assembler has simultaneously to press down squarely, hold in the correct position for the thread to bite and carefully rotate the cap in order that it may be tightened. This can seem like patting your head at the same time as rubbing your stomach, picking your nose and knocking up a Crepe Suzette.

The trick is to unscrew the accessory screw in the top of the fork cap so that the cap does not recess into the socket an more than is necessary. In consequence it is now possible to apply enough pressure to the cap to engage the thread, and if the socket is driven by a ratchet drive held by the ratchetty bit it is possible to achieve the objective. Don't forget the washer though!

Alternative method - by Paul Friday. Clean the threads on the fork caps and inside the stanchions very thoroughly, and then grease them. put the fork cap and its washer into the socket, but hold it in your hand. Apply the fork cap and socket to the top of the fork spring and press down. AS the fork cap meets the stanchion, turn the socket anticlockwise. Listen hard and feel for the click as the ends of the two threads go past each other. Very gently turn the socket clockwise. Use lots of feel to sense the threads engaging. If it starts to get difficult or you lose your happy thought, take it apart and have a cup of tea.

The re-insertion of the front wheel into the forks is a straight forward operation, especially to someone who by now has overhauled the forks, but it does not hurt to run over the following points for the benefit of any one who is not familiar with what is a very fine and highly rational assembly system.

Alignment of the front wheel is correct when the spindle has been driven as far to the right as possible. This will mean that the aluminium casting containing the speedometer drive will be hard against the boss on the fork leg with no intermediate washers or spacers.

This having been achieved the forks should be bounced throughout the majority of the range of their travel a gainst the front brake. The pinch bolts at the end of each fork leg should be inserted and tightened.

Following a recent embarrassing meeting with an MOT tester, I became aware of the need to set up the twin-leading shoe front brake, and in fact it could not be easier.

The problem is that unlike a single leading shoe which automatically holds both shoes against the drum to almost exactly the same degree, the twin-leading shoe can be used with the owner oblivious of the fact that only one of the shoes is in fact in proper contact.

SO to set the twin-leading shoe front brake, remove the split pin through the pivot pin on the connecting rod at the end nearest the inline adjuster. Then tighten the cable adjuster on the lever or the front brake plate so the brake (for one of the shoes anyway) is hard applied. Then slacken off the locknut to the clevis and alter the position of the clevis on the connecting rod so that the hole through the clevis lines up through the lever when the other shoe is applied by hand. When this is so apply the lock nut on the connecting rod and reassemble the mechanism with new split pins wherever you have disturbed them. Then re-adjust the cable for use. The brakes will probably take two days to bed in then WOW.

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