Topic: Has anyone ever tried fixing pitted fork tubes ?

[grcamna2]

I have a nice pr. of CB400F fork tubes that have just a few,small rust 'pits' in them and otherwise they are in very nice shape.I remember reading on here about a yr. ago of a member prepping some of the pitted areas and then filling them w/ a type of epoxy? and then lightly sanding the filler smooth and the member wrote that it was still holding well after a good while.The member also referenced an article from somewhere on how they did this fix to hydraulic cylinder rams w/ success.

[DH]

I read something about using super glue, a razor blade to carefully scrape excess and level, and finish with 2500 wet/dry.
I tried it on a junk caliper piston just for sh1ts and grins. If I'd spent the time to get it perfect, I'd trust it. On a fork leg that is.
You really can't hurt it any more than it already is I'd think, long as you're careful. And be sure to clean the area completely
first. I've herd of people using JB weld too with good results. I've never tried it tho.

[b52bombardier1]

+1 on the JB Weld. The key is getting the pits clean with a wire brush.  The second key is to sand the JBW flat to the contour of the tube.

Yes, you really have nothing to lose in trying.

Rick

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[grcamna2]

DH,
I kind of like the idea of the superglue to fill-up the small pit marks better than JBWeld..
I'd also wonder if it was possible to find someone w/ a special,tiny sandblast nozzle to individually 'shoot' Only inside  ::)each little pit mark in turn.. just enough remove the rust in the bottom of each hole;I suppose that's not possible and I'll just carefully scrape-out each little,tiny 'pit' to bare metal w/ a very small pick type tool.

[grcamna2]

Use chemicals to de-rust so as not to produce any further damage to the tube (blasting is not accurate enough). If you fill the pits, chuck the tube in a lathe and use polishing paper to get the surface even, cylindrical, and polished back up.

Good point

[Don R]

 Or just buy a nice used set for a cb360, they are the same. I did it, you can too. TA DA! I do have one pretty good one from a 76  400F

[grcamna2]

Or just buy a nice used set for a cb360, they are the same. I did it, you can too. TA DA! I do have one pretty good one from a 76  400F

Thanks Don,
A have a very nice used pr. from a CB360 that only have a few small pitts(they're hidden underneath the chrome in about 10-12 little 'pitts') and I want to make them perform as good as I can;I was considering using a small oilstone w/ a touch of light oil to slowly & carefully work-down ea. tiny 'outward' pitt at a time until i breach the outer chrome that covers ea. one and then clean the rust out of each tiny hole(I never saw 'outies' before,always was able to see the pitt hole)and prep and fill..