Rc35 - how to remove blades

[Camelos]

Trying to remove the suspension fork legs from the fork crowns so we can fit the RC30 blades.

All bolts removed easily enough but the blades are not coming off. Any suggestions from anyone who’s done this before please?

 

[bikeworkshop]

Aluminium expands faster and more than steel, so you might get some successs by heating the crown.
Boiling water might be enough, or try a heat gun.

Additionally you could use a (plastic?) wedge of some kind into the slot in the crown to expand it -
you want to keep the localised stress as spread out and gentle as possible to avoid marking or stressing the crown.

 

[Camelos]

Aluminium expands faster and more than steel, so you might get some successs by heating the crown.
Boiling water might be enough, or try a heat gun.

Additionally you could use a (plastic?) wedge of some kind into the slot in the crown to expand it -
you want to keep the localised stress as spread out and gentle as possible to avoid marking or stressing the crown.

Thanks so much. Was thinking along those lines. Will give it a try and report back

 

[Camelos]

Have removed forks from frame and tried hot water and plastic wedge. Has moved a few millimetres with us playing tug of war but we don’t have a vice available. I’m guessing there might be glued in?

 

[Mace4130]

Have removed forks from frame and tried hot water and plastic wedge. Has moved a few millimetres with us playing tug of war but we don’t have a vice available. I’m guessing there might be glued in?

The manual says to apply Loctite to the stanchions.
I would thread the bolts into the crown from the back, put a washer in the slot in the crown, and gently tighten the bolts to slightly open up the crown, then push the legs out of the crown.

 

[2manyoranges]

argh .. do not apply heat gun

bye bye decals

it's easy. And this is the workshop method.

1 remove bolts and brake brace
2 reinstert lower bolt on one side but in reverse - ie in the threaded side of the crown - only insert by about two turns
3 insert thin screwdriver blade in middle slot in crown from beneath so that bolt will bear on the driver blade - or use washer which does same job
4 make sure that blade fully obscures hole and bears on both side edges of the hole
5 tighten bolt until it touches blade
6 continue to tighten but slowly - leg will loosen and pull out easily

How do I know this? Because I have moved crowns and legs on many PACE forks.

Apologies - post above says same thing - posted just as I was completing this...

 

[Camelos]

Thank you for the above replies. Just taking our 2 year old out to the park but will try this when we get home

 

[Camelos]

Well one leg came off okay using that method. The other has proved to be a bit more tricky. We had to tap through from the bottom?

Bit worried the hole might be a bit warped. Anything to bear in mind when fitting the rigid legs?

Anyway thanks so much for the help.

 

[Camelos]

Time to clean up the tops but otherwise seem to be in good shape

 

[bikeworkshop]

You probably want to take the steerer out too so you can get the crown nice and clean.
There's a retaining ring under the crown worth replacing after this many years.