px disc front mudguard replacement

[vespasian]

my last job of the summer [hopefully]my mudguard is ratting due to the seam rust,it has come away from the bolt,and needs replacing,my question,before i start ,what needs disconnecting in the headstock,and any way of doing it without disconnecting the lead from the caliper?another job ive never done :)except for removing the folks from a non disc model,from my scrapped frame,,which had cables all over the place

[sbwnik]

exactly the same as a non disk, but with a hydraulic hose instead of a brake cable.

My mate has a (not to serious.) theory that piaggio make the mudguard out of crap metal to ensure you change the fluid periodically!

[vespasian]

Aug 19, 2013 15:49:20 GMT sbwnik said:

exactly the same as a non disk, but with a hydraulic hose instead of a brake cable.

My mate has a (not to serious.) theory that piaggio make the mudguard out of crap metal to ensure you change the fluid periodically!

ha ha,,youre mate could be right

[vespasian]

well,what a disaster ,the first bolt of the three that holds on the mudguard was seized in the hole i attempted to remove it.and the top of the bolt snapped,leaving the rest of the bolt in the hole,the two screws that hold the cover of the brake fluid master cylinder,first one out,second one seized,and the philips screw head,rounded,,a bad start to my exploits i feel,,do you guys reckon i drill out the screw?

[bryno]

bit of bad luck there

Drill out which?, forks out job for the mudguard bolt..

Screw on master cylinder will be tricky without compromising the threads, personally, I'd be looking for a second hand replacement about now..

[sbwnik]

I had the same problem with mine, took me a while to solve it. In the end i took a hacksaw to the lid.. Replace the screws with stainless Allen screws, pennies on ebay.

[vespasian]

drilled out the screw on the master cylinder,luckily only the top of the thread was corroded,so when the head of the bolt snapped off,all that remained was the uncorroded lower part of the screw,which came out easy,still need to get folks out,to deal with the mudguard bolt

[vespasian]

nightmare,got the column out..however all three bolts that hold the mudguard on are seized solid,,,broke the heads of two of the bolts,and managed after hours of heating it up with a torch,to knock them out with a punch,also had to take a section out of the mudguard with a grinder so i could get the hammer in the small space of the mudguard so i could swing the hammer..however the third bolt is in a recess,and a bigger wrenched socket wont fit fully,because the top of socket,hits the edge of the recess,tried a spanner,which has know rounded the bolt,and to top it all,its started to p*sh down.....great

[sbwnik]

Drill the bugger out, and open the hole up slightly as you do it. They're not threaded, so no harm done.

[vespasian]

not easy to grind of the nut without hitting the column casting as there is very limited space,if i could do that i would probably punch it out like the rest,will try a dremel tomorrow

[sbwnik]

loads of wd overnight then :-)

[vespasian]

dremeled it off yesterday,took a while but got there in the end

[jackthekipper]

ha...went thru all this 2 years ago...what I thought was gonna be an hours job took me 3 days on & off

[vespasian]

all back together,new bottom steering bearing added,didnt replace the top bearing as it seemed ok,and the new bearing replacement for this,the ball bearings are only half the size and absolute sh*te.not surpising when the retail at 99p,,now my only problem left is that when i rev it,the front mudguard buzzes,and vibrates? cant be the bearings,as ive checked them and there is no play up and down of thew column,might have been like this a while as i normally have a chrome front bumper with a bit of weight to it,also noticed if if i press down on it,it stops,all screws are tight,any ideas.. besides trying putting the bumper back on?

while i wait for a possible answer to above question..here is the procedure for changing the front mudguard of a px disc

1 remove front wheel
2 remove brake caliper
3 disconect brake lead from caliper
4 release caliper lead by threading it through the mudgard lead hole
5 undo the headset top cover
6 undo speedo cable and lighting connection
7 remove headset cover from the bike
8 undo headset pinch bolt
9 slowly rock the handlebars while pulling[making sure no cables get pulled]to remove the handlebar unit
10 now you will see 3 castlated nuts and a tabbed washer,...remove the first nut..i used the correct spanner...but you can use a flat screw driver and hammer to tap it lose also
11 next is the tabbed washer[that just pulls off]the tab locates in a cut out on the column.so be aware of this when refitting] last is the bearing top nut[this needs to be finger tight with a touch of tightness when refitting,,,overtightening it will cause notching and sever bearing wear]also when this bearing is removed ,make sure you have hold of the column,otherwise it will fall out of the frame when releasing the nut...,,
12 now you are ready to remove the steering column,,pull it out from the frame,you will need enough clearance though ,so make sure front wheel is high enough of the ground to accomodate this
13 with the colunm out,you will see the bottom bearing sat on its race,remove that and keep it safe,if your not renewing it,where the steering headset was,you will see the top bearing,,remove and keep safe or renew,,..as regards the mudguard,...you will see three retaining nuts,remove these and replace new mudguard,,reverse instructions above to refit,,,but note the advice on the top bearings when tightening the nut above them...,also put plenty of grease on both bearings when refitting,and make sure the last bearing nut of the three is as tight as possible,and there is no free play up and down of the column,and that the mudguard swings from side to side freely without any resistance,,,,also add two new copper washers where the lead meets the caliper,and refil with fresh brake fluid to replace the fluid you must remove first to start the job process