Topic: Restoring rusty fork uppers- hopeless?

[DurangoCB]

What are my options? 

I don’t need them to look perfect but is it even worth trying to remove the rust and polish a little?

[evinrude7]

wanna trade?

[754]

Where did you get a set that nice ?

[DurangoCB]

wanna trade?

Yours are worse, eh?

[DurangoCB]

Seriously- I’ve heard of people just replacing upper tubes because they can’t save them. Do they just have more money than time, or are the results just #$%*ty? 

[evinrude7]

wanna trade?

Yours are worse, eh?

quite a bit worse.  i have thought the same thing, "what can i do to keep these from getting worse?".  i cleaned up (more like smoothed out) the rust with 0000 steel wool and wd40 then rubbed a bunch of blue magic metal polish all over it and wiped down.  not sure there is much else that can be done other than getting all the rust off and re-chroming.  i'm certainly open to suggestions as i'm sure my half assed attempt did little to help. 

i have not looked into replacing the uppers. 

edit or rather additionally:  i just remembered that i thought about this earlier today.  what if you taped off and painted the rusted area with a decent rustoleum?  it's hidden under the fork ears anyway.  running the forks back up into the trees might scrape off some of the paint which would lessen the ability of paint to keep rust down.

[Flyin900]

Gave you a few tips on these on your other post on the bike build process. You can clean them up and get them decent again. Use a chisel wedged in the upper and lower triple trees to hold the gap open more when sliding the forks back into them and it will stop the rust paint from rubbing off.

[Stev-o]

The issue is that the finish is hard chrome and it has corroded away.

[Yamahawk]

I find it amazing that Honda didn't actually chrome the tubes in some of these areas... They were hidden, so they didn't chrome them up under the fork ears. And every old set is the same. Now, if you replace the tubes with modern ones, they are chromed all the way. Maybe Honda thought it wasn't necessary... Yours look like they just corroded under the triple tree mounts, but the original tubes used to rust even more than yours... they look pretty good from some I have seen!
Charlie

[PeWe]

Rusty upper part pipes make the fork disassembly to a PITA.
I have old stock that I had planned to de-rust, sanding to smooth surface and apply something. Like a thin layer of paint.  That fork will get my lightly used after market pipes (CycleX, DSS have same) my K6 have had but got a small scratch on one initiating a leak. I could sand the scratch to smooth surface and should not leak with a fresh seal. That fork will get gator boots anyway.

The new aftermarket forks have not as good chrome as Honda pipes, right? Very easy to scratch the chrome. Really hard chrome?

[Yamahawk]

Forking By Frank has some very good tubes, if you want to replace them and he makes them in custom length also. I think the new tubes of today (not chinese or Indian) have better quality chrome, and they should last a long time. But they cost more than the cheap ones too...
Charlie

[b52bombardier1]

Some of us in the Honda CT90 and ST90 world have cleaned up the rust out of the pitted areas and applied some thinly coated JB Weld to bring up the pitted surface to a little more than the surrounding height. I used a wire brush in a drill to get the pits really clean of the rust.  Then use some lacquer thinner or Brake Kleen to remove oils and any dust before applying the JB Weld.  Then sand down the JB Weld to make it smooth to the surrounding good tube metal and call it done.

  What's the worst that can happen here to try this?  So you are out a few bucks for a fresh tube of JB Weld and a little time.

Rick

[Yamahawk]

Check out Franks site for your tube needs!
http://franksforks.com/products/honda-fork-tubes/
Charlie

[PeWe]

Made in Italy might be a good alternative?
http://www.wemoto.co.uk/bikes/honda/cb_750_k6/77/picture/fork_tube_-_stanchion_-_single/
Not actual for me today since I have. Maybe next time if the pipes will get a short life.

Shipping fork pipes from USA to Europe cost some.

[Scramps]

Yeah those look great compared to mine!



My plan was going to be to clean them up as much as possible, then paint so it’s less noticeable.

[754]

Forking by Frank used decorative chrome, and it wears In a few seasons.
 Later Honda forks were hardchrome, the F models used them. Often can buy used legs for reasonable.
The last years, more aftermarket tubes went to hardchrome, check what they say about them if you go aftermarket.

[DurangoCB]

Thanks, all.  Scramps- now that's rusty.   

I know my tubes aren't bad at all, but here in SW ColoRADo, metal hardly rusts.  So by our spoiled standards.  And I won't be re-using the stock headlight brackets so I need to figure something out to deal with the rust.  I've seen people run the stock fork boots and then wrap the section between the trees with hockey tape or bicycle handlebar tape.  But that seems like it would accelerate the rust. 

Frank's Forks charges $339.00 + shipping for new tubes.  I've heard they are excellent quality but I don't have the coin.  Custom tubes 1" shorter than stock would be rad though.  So I can drop the front end a tiny bit for quicker handling (and looks, not gonna lie, plus my wife is 5'2") and not have to have the fork tubes poking up above the top tree. 

I think I'm going to do what evinrude7 and Flyin900 suggested and get the section between the trees down to bare metal, then put down a coat of black rust eliminator paint (had great luck with that stuff on my VWs) and then a coat of gloss black.  The chisel tip is great.  I may also wrap the tube in cellophane and see if I can still slide them through the trees, then remove the cellophane. 

This guy painted his gloss black and it ended up looking not so bad:



b52bombardier1- the JB Weld idea is also intriguing. 

[754]

Search on ebay , I think some are 225 or less. Or get used 550 f forks, for 150..

[DurangoCB]

Forking by Frank used decorative chrome, and it wears In a few seasons.
 Later Honda forks were hardchrome, the F models used them. Often can buy used legs for reasonable.
The last years, more aftermarket tubes went to hardchrome, check what they say about them if you go aftermarket.

Thanks Seven Fitty Fo.  Good to know. 

If I were wealthy, I'd love to buy raw tubes from Frank's Forks/Forking by Frank/Forking Awesome Forks by Frank and then have them anodized black.  Most uppers on mountain bikes these days (we call them "stanchions") are anodized black. 

[PeWe]

I'll check my 2 sets of Honda old pipes I have. Probably not a scratch were it meets the seal. But, might have worn surface deeper down. No problem to paint the upper part if stock headlight ears + gator boots are used.

[754]

Back in the day, my buddies chromed the unchromed part, before they got real bad like most are now.
There would be a slight line where it met the factory chrome.
 If you have the right dampers same as 550 used , then the later ones would work. Don't know how much OEM would cost.

[Lostboy Steve]

Yeah those look great compared to mine!



My plan was going to be to clean them up as much as possible, then paint so it’s less noticeable.

I taped and powder coated my uppers. Then when I reassembled I dropped them in from the top before assembling the lowers so I didn't scratch the finish. They came out nice.

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