83 Scratched Fork Tube

[DesertRider]

I'm having my front forks resealed and new pregressives put in. The guy doing the work for me called me last night to say one of the fork tubes has a scratch on it. He's taking it to a machine shop today to have it "polished" out. I'm not sure what that means but wouldn't a scratch be a groove, not a raised ridge ? How would "polishing" help ? He's pretty confident, but not 100% sure, that it can be polished out so I was wondering , if it can't be polished out enough, and it's not too bad, would it be worth while trying to fill it with Locktite 660 and then polishing it down even ? Anybody ever try a filler on a fork tube scratch ?

[Snaggletooth]

A lot of variables on that one. Any scratch to a tube will more than likely leave a raised edge. That would be the reason to polish it down and smooth raised portion back down to surface level. If the scratch is minor....it may hold with little problems for a long time. The smoother the better. Less wear on the the seal and bushings.

 

A long time back when I was beating dirt bikes up an old timer showed me a way to make repairs to a scarred tube. It was iffy and not a permanent fix but it worked. I did this to one of the tubes on my '84 when I got it and it has held for 3 seasons but I'm getting some seaping on that tube again now. This time it's a replacement tube.

 

What the guy did was polish down the damaged area with fine sand paper. Like 5000 grit. Then an extreme cleaning of the damaged area to remove all oils and grit. He then filled the damaged area with J.B. Weld and smooth it out as much as possible. Let it cure for a week. Then again work the area with very fine sand paper across the repair, not along the long edge of it until you could feel nothing. In most cases it held up pretty well.

 

Like I said, I did this to my '84. I didn't know the tube was damaged until I tore it down to rebuild it and install the Progressive. The scar, a nice nick actually, was below the seal with the old springs. The Progresives put the damage right at seal level so it would have been a wear point on the seal constantly. It held for 3 years. Not bad.

 

I wouldn't recommend this for every type of damage but it's something that will work on some.

 

Mike

[DesertRider]

Thanks snaggletooth. If it turns out I have to replace the tube, from what first gen. year models will work on mine ? Mine is an 83 standard. I see a few on ebay but none from an 83 model. Any better place to look other than ebay ?

[dingy]

Looking at the parts fiche, it shows the part number changed in 1984. I have no idea as to what changed.

 

!983 # 26H-23110-00-00

 

1984 # 41R-23110-00-00

 

I have an set of forks that came off of my 83 when I put MKII brakes on it. They look to be in undamaged condition in seal area. There is some marking where the triple tree attached, which I would think is normal.

 

PM me if interested.

 

Gary

[DesertRider]

I got my bike back yesterday, thanks for the tubes Dingy, just what I needed. Compared to the stock springs, the progressives are really firm, like 2x-firm and the front end sits up noticably higher now. Actually I like the firm ride and probably will leave it like it is, I always thought the stock front end was too squishy for 300lb biker like me. Now I just need to get the rear brakes bled do something about the speedometer and I'll be in pretty good shape.