Fork Tube Repair - pits in chrome, etc.

[Cdnlouie]

Sometimes we get a nick in the metal fork tube (chrome) and it can cause a fork seal to be torn and eventually leak after replacement. You really do not want to replace that expensive tube and the good news is, you might not have to.

For a nick in one of my tubes, I followed a similar procedure desribed here: First, sand the rough edges of the burr with various grits of wet sandpaper, perhaps starting with a 220 grit and going up to a 600 grit. Anything not handled by these sandpapers may need a careful touch with a fine file, just to take the high impacted (raised) metal down.

The nick or pit (in the case of rust) should be cleaned of any corrosion and again sanded on the edges to eliminate roughness. Then a dab of epoxy (J.B. Weld Kwik) which sets in 5 minutes may be added to the nick.

Afterwards, you can sand the epoxy level with a sanding block conforming to the tube shape. The epoxy should be sanded until it is not higher than the rest of the tube and not really noticeable to the touch even.

If it is still lower (concave - needing to be filled) add another layer of epoxy after the first sanding.

If you get this right, you will have a durable surface that will not leak or tear a new seal and without replacing an expensive fork tube. You might want to rotate the tube so it is not readily noticeable somewhere near the back for the best aesthetic appeal.

Hope this makes someone else a happy camper too,

Louie :cool10:

[Eck]

sounds like a plan!! :thumbsup2:

You could also use liquid aluminum in place of the JB Weld.....
Colorwise...it would blend in fairly well with the suraounding area after sanding it to a smooth surface

[6m459]

On the advice of a smart guy I used to work with, (a virago owner btw) I have dressed dings on my fork tubes with a sharpening stone. My former colleague lent me a nice small fine one that fit nicely in my hand lengthwise. Things worked out well for me (I never tried to fill the low spots). I put lots of oil on the stone and the fork tube for lube, and wiped down regularly and refreshed with new oil to get the metal particles off as I worked. I kept the long face of the stone and the length of the fork tubes parrallel at all times and only worked up and down not across. This minimises the chances of removing any material below the average surface level and takes all the high spots down. There were some visible marks in surrounding areas afterwards, but they all ran in line with the fork travel so I ignored them and don't think they ever caused me any trouble.

The nice thing about the stone is that since its is a single solid piece rather than floppy sand paper on a block, you can feel the difference in resistance when you are actually removing material and not. This way, as you get the high spots down to level with the rest of the surface you know by feel, when to stop. Less chance of removing too much material.

Worked for me anyways. More power to those clever old guys you used to work with. Long may they ride!

Hope this helps.

Brian H.