Removing a goosed fork air cap

[ishaw]

I bought a set of forks recently knowing the lowers had broken at the bridge. 8 had a spare set so thought it may be a cheap way to upgrade some forks on a bike I'm building fior a mates son (suntour coil with some bushing play).

On arrival I discovered that the air cap was a mess. No idea how but it seems to have been ground down so only a little of the hexagon for a wrench or tool is viable, and not enough to allow anything to grip it.

How on earth can I get the air cap out? The air valve is still in place but has also suffered at the hands of whatever went on.

I've got spares to fit one I can get the air cap off, but no idea how to do that in the state it's in.

The only thought I've had is to drill a couple of holes and see if a pin spanner will shift it.

Any other thoughts on how I could attempt to get this off without ruining the csu?

 

[novocaine]

picture please.

depending on what it is my preference would be hot glue gun for starters, then JBweld or similar.

 

[clubby]

Got an old socket and a soldering iron?
Put the socket inside the cap and fill all the remaining space with solder. Let it cool and unscrew.
Top caps are pretty tight. Not sure you’d get enough purchase with a pin spanner. Plus the risk of dropping swarf into the air spring side.

 

[rentedmule]

My default for rounded fasteners is to use a rotary tool to cut a slot in the head so I can use a screwdriver to turn it. As clubby mentioned though, top caps may be too tight for that sort of thing.

 

[ishaw]

Pic added.

 

[novocaine]

cold chisel and tap it round.

assuming this is SR Suntour, something like a XCM Air, raidon or a epixon? if so the cap is aluminium, solder won't work. I assumed you'd meant the plastic cap, so my above recommendation isn't going to to work, neither would the solder.

It looks like someones tried to hammer the stanchion out of the crown.

 

[bikeworkshop]

Looks like a marzocci z1 bam?
PO had too many hammers.
Hopefully his mum has confiscated them.

 

[novocaine]

Looks like a marzocci z1 bam?
PO had too many hammers.
Hopefully his mum has confiscated them.

Marzocchi caps are separate to the valve body and fitted to the schrader threads as far as I can remember. They were also hand tighten with a 3 lug top rather than a socket top.

happy to be corrected though.

Looks like they only had 1 hammer. no other tools at all.

 

[bikeworkshop]

With a bit of grinding it might be possible to get enough of a hex to tap on a socket, then use an impact driver to get it moving?