Fork

The fork is in pretty bad shape.  Looks like someone smashed the front end into a tree or brick wall.  Not only are the fork tubes bent but the actual fork was bent so bad, you had to steer hard right to go straight.

I took the fork off and took it apart to get the fork tubes out.  This was a messy job.  Unlike most motorcycle forks, there is no fork oil, instead everything inside is covered in thick grease.

Taking the fork apart is pretty upfront.  You first remove the rubber seals by prying slightly with a small screwdriver and then twisting them off.  Then you look inside (might need to clean some grease off) you will see a snap ring, you will need snap ring pliers to take this off.

Once the snap ring is off, you can slide the fork tube out with everything attached to it.  Where the fork tube and the spring come together you will see a small round pin.  That pin needs to be punched out and then you can take everything off the fork tubes.

One thing to note before taking the fork tubes and spring apart is the orientation of the notch on the top of the fork (the part that bolts in to the top of the fork).  This needs to go back together the same way it came off.

Fork body bent

Fork tube & spring

Bent fork tubes

After taking the tubes and all the internal stuff out of the fork, I put it in a vice and was able to bend it back by hand.

The little fork tubes were no match for the huge press brake at my work.  I cheated a little bit and had my buddy - the press brake operator - bend these back into shape.  They look perfect.

Straightened fork tubes

December 20, 2012

I got the fork greased up and put back together.  Looks much better, pretty damn straight.

To install it back on the bike i cleaned up and greased up the bearing cups enough so the ball bearings would stick, and patiently put all the 21 balls back in the top and bottom of the steering tube.  With some help from my youngest brother in law we put it all back together and took it for a test run.  This thing is so much fun to ride.  It has way more power than one might think.

The fork is now pretty straight, you can steer straight and go straight.  :)

We jerry rigged a gatorade bottle to catch the overflow gas pouring out of the carb just to have some fun for a bit riding around.  I still need to tear into the carb and mess around with it.

Fork body - nice and straight