Hi chaps,

Ive been off all week with a kidney infection, and been feeling pretty rough so on cocodamol.

I got fed up with being stuck inside so changed my 32t for a 30t, fitted a fork mount into the van and then decided to adjust the air volume on my fork.

At this point id started to feel pretty ill as id overdone it.

I managed to get my anticlockwise and clockwise back to front. The first time in all the years of fettling.

So, I now have a nicely rounded air chamber hex on the crown if my fork. As id tightened iy, and then couldnt loosen it back off.

My initial thoughts were to file the edges down, and then file down the edges on my socket so that theyre flat.

Ive had a go with my decent big spanners, and they wont budge it.

Are there any other options? The only other thing i can think of is to tap a reverse thread into the cap and drill a bolt into it so that it’ll twist off.

Ive got a couple of spare top caps.

Lesson to all boys and girls – never fettle while pretty ill and on drugs.

Ricks

Next couple of thoughts…

Tapping a chisel in the direction i want the cap to go in.

And then one of these…

Today, yesterday, every other day, and probably tomorrow.

That’s an huge soft nut. Stop and wait til you’re feeling better would be my advice.

If you’re sufficiently mechanically minded to know what to do next then this will be easy and when you’re 100% you’ll be amazed you asked.

Like most of us you’ve probably moved an hidden 13mm rusted nut before, a big easily accessible Alu nut like that will take you 5mins with the chisel when you’re not in la la land.

😀

Cheers 🙂

Ive put down the spanners and walked away. More drugs required. Blerugh.

Toughen up princess 😆 Should I send up the wee man to fix it?? What’s the worst that could happen????

Had to take a hacksaw to (luckily one of the outside) bolts of a lock on grip the other day after I’d rounded it by being a clot.

Ive been laying a new hardwood floor upstairs. Fixed a few loose floorboards this morning. Managed to get the hallway and half a bed room done. Went to wash my hands at 7pm and noticed there was no hot water. Checked boiler and strangeley the pressure was very low. Sinking feeling starts.. why are there drips of water on the lounge ceiling??

Have now ripped a whole heap of the floor back up and ripped up several floorboards. 1 screw went through 2 central heating pipes.
Gutted.. day more or less wasted.

Allow me to to throw my hat into the ring.

Fitters arrive to put some new lino in the kitchen today. Once they’re done my OCD kicks in and I see a bit of a lump underneath said fresh floor covering so move the gargantuan range cooker (you can guess whats coming right?)

Big hole ripped right along the front right hand side…

Apoplectic with rage at my OCD and after much swearing I managed to salvage the situation by patching it in, luckily its a faux slate design. The fitters had left some surplus. But, I’ll always know its there, and every day it’ll eat away at me whilst Im munching on my breakfast, taunting me for being a fussy pellet who couldnt just live with it.

Its a curse I tell thee.

Total empathy with the heating pipes scenario, what a mare!

Hex (not bi-hex) socket ground square is your friend here.That’s what you should always use on fork top caps anyway.
If it’s too far gone for that then Stilsons or Footprints and accept that it’s scrap.

What I don’t understand is why the cap is made of such soft alu.

Anyways, I’ll grind down my socket flat, tap the top cap flat and square and give it another go when I’m feeling normal.