Teflon sleeve mototrans scrambler

[Dave L]

I've just ordered a pair of Teflon sleeves for my 350 1978 scrambler telesco forks.I assumed they had not been fitted as the forks have a very small amount of play. I have seen pics of tubes with the sleeves in place and without them in place and am now confused! Any ideas? The bottom of the tube has the loose ring attached and a grooved area where I'm assuming the sleeve would go but I'm not sure how it would stay in place.

[Duccout]

Jon will enlighten you more, but I fitted new sleeves to my forks recently, removing the piston ring, warming the sleeves in water, then easing them over the lip and into position, where they should stay in place because the bore of the slider is a tight fit over them.

[A.I.M]

I dismantled my Telesco forks for refurbishing, finding no teflon sleeves fitted, only the piston rings. I thought it would be better to fit teflon sleeves, to reduce potential play and reduce friction, so ordered from Jesus Guzman. Having warmed them in hot water they slipped over the grooved "piston" easily. However with them in place it became impossible to fit into the sliders, so I reverted to rings only. As far as I know, this is the first time these forks have been dismantled.
Having the teflon ring in place seems a better option to me. Is there some trick I am missing to get these into the slider? Or should I simply accept that my (1973-ish?) forks are not meant to have them fitted?

[Duccout]

Hmmmm, you will have to wait for a reply from Jon, who will know the answer. I find it hard to believe that the forks would not have any bushes fitted, but I'm no expert. After I fitted new bushes to my forks, one was very hard to reassemble, taking quite some twisting to get the bush into the slider and almost rendering the forks seized. However, after a few days of sitting in the garage the forks freed off and worked properly, due I guess, to the bushes contracting after they had been expanded when easing them over the bottom of the fork tube.

I'm wondering if, after fitting new bushes, maybe the bushes could be tightened or contracted, by tightening cable ties or a jubilee clip around them for a day or so.....

[Jon Pegler]

Pre 1975 Telesco only used the small piston ring to support the bottom bearing in their forks.
After 1975 they modified the bottom bearing to take both the piston ring and the Teflon ring.
They also changed the top bush to incorporate the seal holder in one unit. Previously, the top bush was a separate item, with a chrome seal holder that screwed onto the outside of the slider. The post 1975 top bush screwed internally into the slider.
The Strada/Forza/Vento models were similar to the post 1975 Telesco forks with a slightly altered damper securing arrangement.
Top photo shows pre-1975
2nd photo shows post 1975 ( note that the piston ring and Teflon bush are missing in this photo )
3rd photoshows Vento Telescos


Jon

[Lost Soul]

Hi Newbie here.
I have just dismantled my Telesco forks on a 350 Road Scrambler ( I assume that is the official name) and found 1 fork with Teflon sleeves and one without, also i found a 2nd piston loose in the bottom of the 2nd fork also without Teflon sleeves. I assume that is not standard.

I am about to order some bits from www.recambiousado.com, but cannot find a couple of bits I would ideally need and wondered if anyone could help me. The Chrome top to the fork stanchion, mine is a bit mangled and new bleed screws and O - rings.

Thanks Dave

[Jon Pegler]

Dave,

I think you might have odd fork legs if you have the Teflon sleeve on one leg and not the other.
There are three O rings on each leg. One small one on the drain screw, one large skinny one on the seal holder and another on the top cap. Jesus Guzman at Recambio usado sells the one on the seal holder, but the other two are generic items that can be purchased anywhere.
I think you will have to look for the chrome top seal holder on e-bay, as I don't think they are available as a new replacement part.

Jon

[A.I.M]

Very helpful, thanks Colin & Jon. Mine are definitely the pre-75 ones, so should not have the sleeves (and I clearly should not have tried to fit them - an 18€ lesson). Dave: if your seal holders are too mangled to use, you could try to get a good engineering workshop to fabricate new ones.
Cheers,
Al

[Lost Soul]

Hi John,
You may be correct as one side was in a much worse state than the other, but the dimensions etc are all the same so think someone had just butchered one off them.
Looking at the pictures you have it looks like pre 1975 forks, which if I understand shouldn't have Teflon sliders.
Weirdly I found a spare Piston (seriously) in the bottom of one of them.

the Chrome Seal Holders are usable, but have Pipe Wrench Marks on them where they have been removed several times by previous owners. I will see if I can find a professional metal polisher to see if they can eradicate the bulk of them

Quick question do you know the weight and qty of oil that these forks use?

thanks for you input

cheers
Dave

[Duccout]

In the Strada handbook it lists the oil as 280cc of SAE 20, but I believe that earlier forks may have been less, possibly 200cc?