FRONT FORKS 1984 A5

Hi everyone, i wonder if anyone can explain the set and operation of the front forks. Mine have the balance pipe installed and the air valve in the top of one leg. These will need to be stripped down and refurbished with the fork tubes being reground/ rechromed along with new fork seals. The reassembly seems pretty straight forward but my only concern was how to line up the holes in the fork tubes with the holes in the balance pipe ? I can see the rings in the balance pipe so perhaps its not that critical. But i can't find any information on refitting and setting up.Any advise here would be much appreciated. TJ.

HI what i did is to draw a line from the hole on the fork leg just below the bottom yoke and then you turn the stanchion leg making it easier to line up the holes

I'm going to suggest that there is a groove machined in the air balance collar and it shouldn't matter if the holes line up. There's nothing in the main service manual about having to line up the holes on installation of the forks in the yokes and there's no clamping device to keep the holes aligned. The 2 o-rings would seal the balance collar to the fork tube so anything between the 2 o-rings would be under air pressure.
My 2 cents from an engineering perspective and not having seen the balance collars. It would be a standard machining practice to have put a groove there so no alignment would be necessary.

Hi guys, thanks for the input, the o rings in the balance pipe collars makes sense. so no real need to worry about precise alinement of the holes in tubes. As long as they are in-between the the two o rings. I'm still not really understanding how the set up works.Is it air that's passing between the balance pipe or oil ? If you compress one of the fork legs off the bike oil comes out of the small hole in the fork tube which is now sitting in the balance pipe collar.I understand that a small amount of air is pumped into one of the legs at the top which can help to give a softer or harder ride. How does this system work ?

If you read the main manual on page 330, it states that once the oil is in the fork, not to compress one fork as oil will flow through the balance pipe to the other fork. That's the only cautionary note in the manual regarding the forks with the balance tube.
Most of the time when someone asks a question and I don't know the specific answer to the question, I go to the manual and look at the references to that specific item and then apply my best guess based on my previous experience working as an auto mechanic and a millwright/ pipefitter welder in the nuclear industry. I've seen a lot and most questions asked here can be answered with basic mechanical knowledge and understanding of "how things work". It's not rocket science.

The manual i have is for the earlier models and does not cover the forks with a balance pipe that's why i've asked on the forum.Rocket science it might not be but i figured someone may be able to give a simple explanation as to how they work. Im sure once they are off the the bike all will seem more clear.If thats all it states in the manual then its not a lot of help to the novice.Once oil is in the forks and back on the bike what's to stop oil passing from one side to the other as you ride ?