Pitted front forks

[GearHead]

Hi all,
I have a 77' gs400 with aprox 23,000 mi. on it. It is currently being restored. The front forks have rust pits all over the place. They go deep enough to make me question how safe they would be to use. I haven't taken any depth messurements. The pits are mostly confined to the upper half of the forks. Is this an actuall problem or is it an appearance issue? Is there a fix for this or do I need to start looking for new ones? :-k
Tnx

 

[Poot]

Hi there,

How far does the pitting go down? is it on the part of the fork where there is travel with the seals? Are there any leaks of fork oil?

the rust would have to be pretty bad to do anything to the structural integrity.



POOT

 

[RIFLEMAN]

Hi there,

How far does the pitting go down? is it on the part of the fork where there is travel with the seals? Are there any leaks of fork oil?

the rust would have to be pretty bad to do anything to the structural integrity.



POOT

If the bike is rideable,put a ziptie on the male tube and ride around and make a few really hard stops using the front brake. The ziptie will side up to the point of maximum fork compression. Any pits between the ziptie and the female slider need to be addressed.
I had the same problem with a 82 KZ750. What I did was used emery paper and whet stones to smooth the edges of the pits in the male tube. Worked really well. Just dress the edges of the pits with the stones and emery and that will keep them from tearing the new seals up.
Pitting will not compromise the structural integrity of the fork leg,it'll just tear up the seals and bushings.

 

[tomo]

An old ratbike trick for pitted forks is to smooth off any raggd edges as mentioned before, then fill the pits with araldite, then once its dried, use very fine wet & dry paper wrapped around a sanding block to smooth it off. Use the paper wet. I`ve used this trick and it does work well.

 

[GearHead]

pitted forks

pitted forks

HI all,
Thanks for the info. I'll take a look at the forks and get some measurements on them. Where do you get araldite? I've not heard of it before. Is there anything else that can be used to fill the pits if this isn't avalible?
Tnx

 

[tkent02]

I'm thinking JB Weld???

I'm thinking JB Weld???

An old ratbike trick for pitted forks is to smooth off any raggd edges as mentioned before, then fill the pits with araldite, then once its dried, use very fine wet & dry paper wrapped around a sanding block to smooth it off. Use the paper wet. I`ve used this trick and it does work well.

Sounds like another use for JB Weld to me.

 

[salty_monk]

Araldite is just a two part resin adhesive. Lots of those about.

Dan

 

[bwringer]

HI all,
Thanks for the info. I'll take a look at the forks and get some measurements on them. Where do you get araldite? I've not heard of it before. Is there anything else that can be used to fill the pits if this isn't avalible?
Tnx

Them furriners have different words for everything!

You sometimes have to look at the country where a forum contributor lives and do a bit of translating to arrive at products available in your country.

The Aussie blokes are always recommending wonderfully dangerous chemicals you can't get in the states.

I've heard different things about the JB Weld trick, but if it's the last resort, what the heck. I would definitely try simply smoothing out the edges of any pits in the sealing area before trying to fill them. You could also try one of the aftermarket seals that are sometimes a bit more forgiving.

 

[tomo]

Sorry, did`nt occur to me you might not know Araldite. Its just a two part epoxy resin, you probably can get it over there but maybe under a different name. I don`t know of JB Weld, but sounds similar. Is it one of these two part epoxy resins that the manufacturers tell us sets as strong as metal and can be drilled, tapped etc. If so I guess it would do the job. Worth a try anyway, hope it works.

 

[salty_monk]

Halfords sells JB weld these day & yes it is of US origin & yes they do make a version of Araldite....

I get used to translating over here

 

[chiphead]

I don`t know of JB Weld, but sounds similar. Is it one of these two part epoxy resins that the manufacturers tell us sets as strong as metal and can be drilled, tapped etc. If so I guess it would do the job. Worth a try anyway, hope it works.

Exactly right tomo.