Subject: RE: WHAT'S THAT CLUNKING SOUND???
Author: Keith Ruff
Date: Aug 21, 2002, 5:55 AM
Post ID: 1710849663
Alan wrote: "earlier Eldos and Ambos relied on the weight of the oil in
the fork to provide what little damping is available."
Does this mean that later Eldo's had some other type of damping system
in the forks? I thought all loop forks were the same? If not, that
explains why Cam's 74 Eldo seemed so much better up front than my 71
Ambo.
Keith Ruff
71 Police Ambassador - NJ
Alan Dunphy wrote:
| Bob, I have heard clunking on two Eldos. A '72 that we never figured out but thinking back it may have been in the forks. That one had a Wixom fairing with a radio and speakers mounted in it. A lot of extra weight on the front. Thinking back it may have been in the forks, I don't recall any cracks in the fender when we had it off. The second was my current Eldo, a '74 with a disc and a Wixom fairing. It turned out to be a slightly loose bracket on the fairing that chattered when a bump was hit. The chatter was amplified by the fairing and really sounded bad. I have had three Eldos and Ambos and worked on several others and have never seen a cracked fender except for the bracket on one I saw in a picture and that was a '74 with a disc. If there are cracks in the fender the would most likely be in the brackets that hooks to the fork with two bolts on each side. If so the bracket would fall off when the fender was removed. If the fender is properly installed then there is very little stress if any on the sheet metal. However the fender can be installed wrong. A shop in Virginia put mine on crooked once, two bolts properly on one side and only one bolt engaged on the other side. Found out as soon as I got home and saw the paint scraped off one side of the fender from hitting the fork covers. I corrected the problem before any cracks had a chance. If the fender is OK and all the bolts are correctly installed and properly tightened then I doubt that the fender is the problem. If you have a fairing or windshield make sure that all the mounts and brackets are tight. Also check for tight triple clamp bolts and any thing that is mounted to the front of the bike is tight. The fender is rather heavy and removing it could lighten the unsprung weight in the front enough to cause the noise to disappear with out actually causing the noise. I don't recall the year of your bike but the earlier Eldos and Ambos relied on the weight of the oil in the fork to provide what little damping is available. If you fork oil is to light it could aggravate the problem. If all else fails I guess you are down to pulling the forks and checking them. A broken or weak spring can make noise as well. The Key is to check the easiest to repair things first and then move on to the harder things. That way you don't have the forks rebuilt only to find a loose bolt while reinstalling the forks. Alan '74 Eldorado LAPD (w/ the burnt clutch) MGNOC 4352 Alan R. Dunphy adun-@midmaine.com Pittsfield, ME 04967-1426 P.S. How much do you have to get for your fairing and are the mounts with it? ----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert Hawkes" <3haw-@bluefrognet.net> To: <Loopfram-@topica.com> Sent: Tuesday, August 20, 2002 9:49 PM Subject: Re: WHAT'S THAT CLUNKING SOUND???
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