February 2nd, 2012, 06:00 PM | #1 |
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Straighten Fork Tube?
Do y'all think my left fork can be saved? It isn't creased just has a nice bend to it. I am thinking a hydraulic press could make it straight again. But if anyone has any experience with bent fork tubes let me now. I don't want to buy a used left fork off ebay because most look like they are in terrible condition and need to be rebuilt.
If you think it could be straightened where would I take it? Could a auto collision place be able to fix it? Or should I pull out the yellow pages and look for a machine shop? |
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February 2nd, 2012, 06:10 PM | #2 |
wat
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aww its hardly even bent. just find your local machinist and buy them some beer
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February 2nd, 2012, 06:59 PM | #3 |
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/moved to tech
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February 2nd, 2012, 07:29 PM | #4 |
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Why chance it? Rebuilding them is cheap and not too hard. Get a used one that's straight and start from there. A new fork seal and oil and you're good to go.
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February 2nd, 2012, 08:03 PM | #5 |
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You'll need to find someone with a heavy duty press, preferably 20 tons, and an assortment of V-blocks. I would start with local independent motorcycle repair shops.
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February 3rd, 2012, 07:42 AM | #6 |
Smoker
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You could, but you could also buy an unbent fork leg for cheap.
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February 3rd, 2012, 09:17 AM | #8 |
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February 3rd, 2012, 10:00 AM | #9 |
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Once a hard tube bends it makes the inside of the bend harder and stretches the outside. Holding one side and pushing on the other end will make a sorta z bend. If you put it in a laith and heated the tube and streightened it then re heat treated it and rechromed it would be OK but that would cost money. I should have said it is not worth the cost or risk that is involved in the front fork repair
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February 3rd, 2012, 10:06 AM | #10 |
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February 3rd, 2012, 11:49 AM | #11 | |
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Quote:
I could buy a right side fork and just take out the top tube and replace my bent one right? They are exactly the same right? Might be a stupid question but just making sure. |
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February 3rd, 2012, 12:10 PM | #12 | |
wat
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February 3rd, 2012, 04:51 PM | #13 |
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NO WAY, Have had at least 6 sets fixed. On our race bikes. Racing MX. Lots of force on the legs during landing.
V-blocks, Press, and dial indicator. And patience...all that is needed. Little shop in Tempe, Az. $20 per leg
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February 3rd, 2012, 05:22 PM | #14 |
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Juno,
I have a set off my '04 250 that are straight and true, and don't need rebuilding! They came off my track day bike that we upgraded to an R1 front. I was trying to post them in the for sale section, but I have not been on the forum long enough. $50.00 plus shipping for both? Let me know if you are interested. You can PM me your Email and I will send you some pic's. |
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February 3rd, 2012, 07:48 PM | #15 |
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Strength won't be affected at all. Fork tubes are mild steel, that bend didn't affect strength, and if anything made it harder. Mild steel doesn't get weaker from mild bends, or any bends for that matter.
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February 3rd, 2012, 08:11 PM | #16 | |
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February 3rd, 2012, 09:28 PM | #17 |
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OK I take it back. you can straighten fork tubes.
I guess MX riders do it all the time. But for high speed street riding. The idea makes me cringe. I found a set of forks on E bay for 60 dollars. But like Jasle said if you have tools and time you can straighten fork tubes. They are mild steel and not hardened. |
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February 3rd, 2012, 09:48 PM | #18 | |
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February 4th, 2012, 12:16 AM | #19 |
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February 4th, 2012, 12:35 PM | #20 | |
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Quote:
In the case of this particular set of forks, straightening is a perfectly acceptable option that would not result in any safety hazard. Then again, maybe everything I learned in school was a lie. LOL! I've learned long ago to not confuse the words possible and probable with each other. Too many folks use the concepts interchangeably and as a result experience a lot of purposeless fear. As to the dealer saying don't straighten them, they want to sell the OP a new set of fork tubes, of course they'll say don't straighten them. That's why I suggested going to independent shops because they're likely to have less of a resale profit motive. |
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February 4th, 2012, 04:04 PM | #21 | |
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Quote:
As for the dealer thing, they were not just trying to get money from me. Because I went to a non-Kawasaki dealership. And specifically told them I would be doing all the work. No profit there. But they could also be complete boneheads and not have a clue what they are talking about. So I am still open to ideas. MY CHOICES: Yes, straighten them. or Heck no that isn't safe. |
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February 5th, 2012, 08:39 AM | #22 |
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These are not the first folks to be straighten.
I believe that if the steel did not break in one direction, it won't break being bent back. Something else to be considered: Not sure, but the section of the fork may not be perfectly round after all that bending. An oval shape may be hard to be sealed by a round seal and leaks may occur. |
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February 5th, 2012, 12:48 PM | #23 |
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How is it that only one side bent, how did it happen?
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February 5th, 2012, 04:08 PM | #24 | |
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February 5th, 2012, 04:26 PM | #25 |
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Just the way the bike tumbled when it went off the road i guess. I was riding at night on the backroads so it was super duper dark and I was riding outside of my skill level. On the last turn leaving the backroads I misjudged the turn. I was going too fast and it was a quick decreasing radius turn. Boom off the road. Next thing I know I am off the road rolling multiple times. When I finally stopped rolling I got up and saw the bike in bad shape. The crash was all my fault. Just made a few stupid mistakes. I am just happy I didn't seriously hurt myself.
So I couldn't tell you why only one fork got bent. Just physics and dumb luck? Haha idk. |
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February 5th, 2012, 05:38 PM | #26 |
wat
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one fork can bend to the inside and the other fork doesnt bend, just the axle twists up a little bit
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February 10th, 2012, 04:47 PM | #27 |
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Came home after class today and my new used straight forks had arrived!!!
I slid the straight forks into my triple tree only to find out that mine was in fact bent. Yay!! Not. Can't see it well in this picture but the right ride was bent down some. Luckily the forks I bought off ebay had a straight lower triple tree. Well it wasn't really luck. I kinda had a feeling that the lower triple was somewhat bent but was not sure. So I decided to find used forks that had the lower triple. I am glad I did! So my project began. (Sorry no pics. My hands were too greasy to pick up my cell and take pics) I had to remove the old lower triple, which wasn't too hard. I was afraid that I was going to need to replace the bearings and what not but I didn't need to. I just re greased everything and put it all back together. So now I was ready to try to align the front end. I found this very tedious. Still kinda tweaking everything. It is not totally straight but it is close. I need to ride it around some and see if it rides straight. But it is raining and pretty cold outside so I will wait until it dries up. Any advice on how to get it almost perfect? Or is it just trial and error? |
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February 10th, 2012, 08:46 PM | #28 |
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You can eyeball the tubes being parallel by looking at them from the sides with the fairing off pretty easily. If you don't trust your eyeballs, get a piece of glass cut that'll reach across the two fork tubes and is as long as you can fit between the sliders and the stuff under the headlight. Modern glass is extremely flat, so you just press the glass against the fork tubes and check for rocking of the glass. If it rocks, then do some more twisting. Note, forks are almost never perfect, they have to be aligned no matter how perfect the tree. It doesn't have to be perfect. After I got hit by the truck I had to ride the busted bike back to work. The bike handled terribly because the rear wheel was kicked over in the swingarm. Later I found the forks were twisted almost half an inch, didn't affect the steering one bit.
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February 10th, 2012, 08:58 PM | #29 |
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Here you go: http://www.ohv.8m.com/index.html This info is for dirt bikes, but all the pricipals are the same. The fork part is a bit down in the post.
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February 10th, 2012, 10:52 PM | #30 |
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Alright thanks for the tips! I think that using a piece of glass will be the easiest way to tell if the forks are about right. I'll give that a shot.
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February 12th, 2012, 06:48 AM | #31 |
forever a newb
Name: Richard
Location: Richmond, California
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right now on ebay Feb. 12 their is a brand new oem fork still packaged for 20.00$
my link isn't working try looking it up |
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February 20th, 2012, 05:49 PM | #32 |
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Still not straight
Okay so the new forks were straight. And I put the lower triple tree that came with the forks because mine was bent.
But after loosening and aligning and tightening it all back up many many times something is still bent. I followed the directions...http://faq.ninja250.org/wiki/I_need_...nd_front_wheel So I did it right. But I determined either the new used lower triple tree is slightly bent or the top of the triple got bent in the crash. Is it common for the top of the triple were the handle bars mount to get bent in a crash? The right fork (brake caliper side) has normal rake but the left side seems to have less rake. And yes I measured the top when installing so they are in the triple tree the exact same way. I am thinking of just getting a used complete triple tree in hopes that it is straight. And it fixes my alignment issues. Any ideas folks? |
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February 20th, 2012, 07:28 PM | #33 |
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If the new forks were straight and rakes are different, just twist the bottom respect to the top until both rakes are the same.
Take a look at this: http://w6rec.com/duane/bmw/fork/chapter8.html http://w6rec.com/duane/bmw/fork/chapter1.html
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February 21st, 2012, 01:08 AM | #34 |
CPT Falcon
Name: J.Emmett Turner
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FWIW, I'm told that you can use a newgen fork, triple, wheel, tire, fender, brake, etc. Good excuse to upgrade?
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February 21st, 2012, 08:37 AM | #35 |
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Mmmhm. So you are going to send me all the parts. right? lol I just want to get my bike riding normal for as little money as I can. So I am sticking to the pregen parts. Maybe someday when I have the money I will swap things around, but even then I would rather just by a new gen.
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February 21st, 2012, 09:52 AM | #36 |
wat
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jono, if you are looking to do it for as little money as possible. use a big hammer.
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February 21st, 2012, 02:03 PM | #37 |
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February 21st, 2012, 02:05 PM | #38 |
wat
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one of my fork tubes is bent. it was rubbing on the inside so i rotated the stanchion 180d inside the lower. no more rub.
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January 26th, 2013, 08:29 PM | #39 | |
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Quote:
Name of shop? Do they take mail-ins? Will you be my courier if they don't and I can't find something comparable locally? Trying to save money by buying bent forks. |
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January 27th, 2013, 09:53 AM | #40 |
ninjette.org member
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don't remember the name. it was right off Mesa Blvd in the east valley. little bitty place. Been about 7 years since I lived there...All he did was take his very large press, drop the tubes in some V-Blocks and using dial indicator find high spot. with v-blocks on either side of bend out about 8" either side press high spot down, then measure, again...then he had this tube roller he would but them in and roll them for final.
Gotta be more than one place that can do it...
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