fork tubes are rusty, any ideas?

MJPriceisright

MJPriceisright

Coast to Coast
hey guys, just like it says, the upper portion of my fork tubes are rusty, and i have been told to try and soak them in some rust remover, then stainless steel them, then sand.. sounds good to me but was wondering if anyone has done this, which rust remover they used etc? thanks guys!
 
MJPriceisright said:
hey guys, just like it says, the upper portion of my fork tubes are rusty, and i have been told to try and soak them in some rust remover, then stainless steel them, then sand.. sounds good to me but was wondering if anyone has done this, which rust remover they used etc? thanks guys!
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what kind of bike fork arnt that much
 
Better yet - what part of the tubes are rusty? If it's anything near the fork seals, replace them. If it's the part behind the headlight mounts, paint them however.
 
If you paint the upper section while it's not mounted, the paint will get scratched off on installation. If you paint them while they are mounted, you have to tape off EVERYTHING.
 
Crazy as it sounds, I put black heat shrink tubing on upper fork tubes on a CB200 that I built .. had to get the heat shrink from a computer store (I believe) to get a size that was large enough. You can see it in this pic ... I have black headlight ears on there too.

Oh I had to use two pieces on each fork leg .. one below the lower triple clamp and one above. Kind of a pain but not too bad.
 

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Ya, as these guys have said, as long as its not anywhere near the area of travel for the seals... Just cover that up. Rich (maybe, my memory SUCKS) used chromed plumbing pipe to cover shitty fork uppers once. Get it at Lowes or wherever. Find a size that has an ID just slightly larger than the OD of your forks. Cut it to the exact length of the space between your trees when installed properly. Slip the forks through, and problem solved. You could even wrap a little elec tape or something around the forks to keep the tubes centered. Just keep in mind the OD of the plubming pipe when oredering headlight ears, clip ons, etc...
 
I painted mine before installing. Was very careful when installing not to scratch the paint. I probably have some pics in my build thread.
 
depends how rusted they are, if there is just minor pitting, you can use rust remover or 1000 grit wet and dry.

Im told that back in the day, they used to repair larger divots with super glue and wet and dry. If your gunna do it this way I would be using the good quality stuff like loctite.

Then you can always get them re-chromed, OR as suggested, buy some more.

Your budget, your choice

OZ
 
I sanded mine down and hit them with appliance epoxy to the bottom of their travel.
They look great IMO
64e39071.jpg
 
hey guys just bringing this thread back, just wondering if someone could quickly and easily tell me what size my fork tubes are? i looked and i think they are 35mm? is that correct? (72 cb450) im out at about looking at some clipons on the web, thought i would figure out my size first, duh.
 
hey guys, was wondering if someone can tell me how to disassemble the front forks.. i have them removed from the triples and clamps, ready to come apart, i drained them, pulled the circlip, but now i dont know how to get the fork tube to slide out of the housing.. underneath there is an allen head screw and i figured that was holding it in, but when i loosened it, it just spins with constant resistance but never lets anything go.. so im kind of stuck, looked through the manual and i feel like im doing everything right, if someone can shine some light on this situation i would greatly appreciate it..
 
http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=20950.0

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MJPriceisright said:
hey guys, was wondering if someone can tell me how to disassemble the front forks.. i have them removed from the triples and clamps, ready to come apart, i drained them, pulled the circlip, but now i dont know how to get the fork tube to slide out of the housing.. underneath there is an allen head screw and i figured that was holding it in, but when i loosened it, it just spins with constant resistance but never lets anything go.. so im kind of stuck, looked through the manual and i feel like im doing everything right, if someone can shine some light on this situation i would greatly appreciate it..
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There's a bolt that goes into the bottom of the lower part of the fork (look where the axle would be) that locks into the damper mechanism to hold it in place. This locks the forks together.

Get a manual - that's job #1 if you're going to do any work on your bike. It will explain how to take your forks apart and service them.
 
sleeve them. get some galvinazed tubing; 1 1/4 inch for 35mm I think. cut it to length, sand it smooth with 400 grit, steel wool (000), then clear it to keep it from oxidizing. here is an example i did.
CIMG3113.jpg

CIMG3114.jpg
 
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