Chroming Front Forks?

[Pilot]

I’m thinking of having the front forks on my 07 chromed. Has anyone ever done this? What might the problems be if I do this mod? It looks like all the parts I would need chromed are listed below. How difficult a job is it on a scale from 1 to 10 to disassemble and reassemble the front forks? I’m used to turning wrenches.

 

SKU: 5MB-23126-00-00

TUBE, OUTER (LEFT)

 

SKU: 5MB-23136-00-00

TUBE, OUTER (RIGHT)

 

SKU: 4NK-23123-10-00

COVER, LOWER (2)

 

SKU: 4XY-23121-10-00

COVER, UPPER (2)

 

Am I forgetting anything or any parts?

[Gary N.]

Not sure but it might be easier and less expensive to buy the chromed covers from Yamaha.

As far as chroming the tubes. I would think it would be important to keep chroming liquids out of the inside of the tubes which might be pretty hard to do?????? Have you priced out the chrome tubes from Yamaha?

I'd sure like to do this too. Interested in what info you get on this.

[cecdoo]

Me Too!! Maybe a group buy on chrome front ends:cool10: Craig

[Freebird]

I want to do the same thing but I figure that sooner or later I'll find a nice set off a Midnight that is being parted out. The only problem is that the forks are often one of the first things damaged in an accident. I'll keep looking though and sooner or later I'll find them.

 

As for how hard it would be? It would be fairly time consuming but not that difficult. The easiest way to pull them would be the same method as repacking the steering head bearings. Rig up a hook in the garage ceiling to hang he inner fairing and etc. and then just lift the bike on a lift and let the forks drop out. I'm going to do that soon anyway to repack the bearings. In that case though, I'll just let them drop down, not all the way out.

[Sleeperhawk]

I went and bought the 08 Charcoal :rotf:

[Yama Mama]

Hey fellas, this is from my First Husband:

We do not know if $ is an issue but, replacing the forks- the labor as described in previous posts is the same, except it is necessary to pull the seals and guts out of the lower tubes. Now with the raw tubes we can get them plated here from $130 to $140 from two different shops. The caps ( the top part of the fork), we did not get a price on, but they should be less because of the size. If cost is an issue, they are made of stainless and you can polish them to look like chrome. The fact that they are stainless, you will not lose the luster and have to redo it every year like aluminum.

Mama (My first husband's first wife)

[Tartan Terror]

Why not just polish the lower forks and tins. Save alot of money and you need to really look to tell the difference. I polished my own forks and had the SS tins polished for about 125. All it took was my time and gave me a nice winter project. Look at my gallery and you will see.

[Pilot]

Whats involved with polishing? How do you go about doing this job? Tartan's forks look Ok from his picture.

 

MamaYama says she can get the lower fork tubes chromed for about $140. MamaYama could you get a price on the uppers for us? Maybe if more people are interested in having them chromed (as a winter job) the chrome shop will give us a package price.

 

It looks like other people have had this idea so maybe kicking it around a bit will work out for us and awnser some questions in the process.

[Tartan Terror]

Whats involved with polishing? How do you go about doing this job? Tartan's forks look Ok from his picture.

 

MamaYama says she can get the lower fork tubes chromed for about $140. MamaYama could you get a price on the uppers for us? Maybe if more people are interested in having them chromed (as a winter job) the chrome shop will give us a package price.

 

It looks like other people have had this idea so maybe kicking it around a bit will work out for us and awnser some questions in the process.

 

I done know how handy you are but if you have a bench grinder that you can change the wheels to polishing wheels you can do it yourself. Biggest thing is the sanding. You must sand off the clear coat and get it smooth. then polish it in various stages of Rouge. I didnt even disassemble my forks to to even though I did take them off the bike. You just have to be careful not to build up too much heat and hurt the seals. I did this to both my bikes and have not issues. I recommend a good dremel tool to get in all the nooks and crannies that are still rough cast. on the upper tins they are Stainless and I had them set out to polish. I was gonna have them chromed but the chroming shop told me to just polished them as they look shiny as chrome and without special prep the chrome would not sitck proper anyway. Actually you cant tell the difference.

[Pilot]

I done know how handy you are but if you have a bench grinder that you can change the wheels to polishing wheels you can do it yourself. Biggest thing is the sanding. You must sand off the clear coat and get it smooth. then polish it in various stages of Rouge. I didnt even disassemble my forks to to even though I did take them off the bike. You just have to be careful not to build up too much heat and hurt the seals. I did this to both my bikes and have not issues. I recommend a good dremel tool to get in all the nooks and crannies that are still rough cast. on the upper tins they are Stainless and I had them set out to polish. I was gonna have them chromed but the chroming shop told me to just polished them as they look shiny as chrome and without special prep the chrome would not sitck proper anyway. Actually you cant tell the difference.

 

I'm not a strainger to tools so I would not have a problem and I have a bench grinder. I would have to buy a polishing wheel. I not sure what you mean when you say "polish it in various stages of Rouge" what's "Rouge" mean?

 

Freebird has a good idea in just buying a set on ebay if you can find a good set at a good price. I have not priced out new parts yet, I'll have to do some looking around and see what I can come up with for new ones, I might be able to work a one time quantity buy.