Hi All, About ten years ago I owned a set of Dowty oleomatic air/oil forks, and a set of brum spring forks, as fitted to most of the (about 300)Brum Scotts produced by Mat Holder,(aerco jig &tool). The Dowty made forks are very well engineered, as you would expect from a company making hydrolic rams and aircraft landing gear. Matt fitted a few of the early (Prototype) Brums with Dowty Oleomatics, The production Brums all have forks with springs.These forks are no way near as good as the Dowty Oleomatics. NO PARTS are interchangeable, except for the top tubes,and the top & bottom yokes which hold them. Everything else has some differences. The bottom (chrome) leg is about 2 inches longer,and the chrome is “decorative” not industrial hard chrome, ground to size as are the dowtys. Fitted with modern seals Dowtys can be air tight and stay up very well. With a few mods Brum spring forks can be made to work a lot better. There were spring kits sold to convert Dowty Oleomatic forks to spring operation,but are not the same as the brum type. The full story is told Yowl article (august 2005) Geoff.
