After asking for help I thought it would be useful to round this forum topic off with a very brief description of the removal procedure (and thanks to the SOC Midland section member who brought some dismantled forks to the Monday meeting to illustrate the process):
The front top ‘suspension’ housing contains two springs – an outer square section one in compression and an inner round section spring in tension (when assembled). The inner spring is hooked in place by a cap at either end (see the previous posts) one of which needs to be prised up an removed. Compressing the fork assembly by pushing down on the handlebars or use of an industrial size valve spring compressor type tool makes the job slightly easier. with one of these caps removed the assembly is free to come apart.
The top fork stem lug is held in place by a locking ring nut and a bolted split clamp. On my bike the handle bars lifted when these were loosened (but not until they had been soaked in penetrating oil for about a week).
To remove the front sliding member the pair of lower fork bush covers need to be unscrewed and removed (both are right hand thread). There are two flats on the base of the covers for this purpose. Also the pair of split clamps need to be loosened.
So that’s the theory – looks as though it will be twice as difficult to reassemble. However, one of the Midland Section members has a special tool which can compress the outer and tension the inner springs simultaneoulsy to make the reassembly a lot easier – but, we’ll have to wait until he brings it along to the December meeting to see what this contraption looks like !
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