Topic: Hard Chroming/fork pitting removal

[wannabridin]

Hello all.  I've tried searching, but can't find what I need. 

Does anyone know a good way to remove the pits from a fork tube?  My GL1000 tubes have some pits on them that I feel will affect the life of the seals.  They aren't that bad, but I really don't want to use JB weld in them, as I'd like to have some shiny fork tubes!  I've looked for new tubes and am still waiting to hear back from Franks forks.  I found a pair of decent quality new ones at Saber cycle for $416/pair + shipping, but i'd like to get away for less than that if possible...

I've looked all over the net and can't find ANY shops stateside that hard chrome fork legs, they're all in England and Australia!  If anyone has any information for me, I would sure appreciate it!  Thanks!

[Greggo]

Wait to hear back from Frank, and buy new ones from him...that's my two cents.

[david 750f]

Race Tech stocks fork tubes for a GL1000.

http://www.racetech.com/TNKProductSearch/HONDA/GL%201000%20K/1977

You can even get them in Red, Black, Gold or Chrome.

[BobbyR]

The question is how deep are the pits? You can do some depitting with fine sandpaper and ATF in a shoe shine motion. If you think they may be too deep for that you can clean the pits REALLY well and put a drop of Crazy Glue in the pit, let it dry completely and polish as described above. People have had good luck with that. 

[ekpent]

If money is no issue buy new,otherwise I think Bobby and I could save beautiful money together.   

[BobbyR]

The rule of thumb on fork is if you can feel it with your fingernail it will cause a leak, I would suggest you clean the pits and scratches first, put your crazy glue in and let it cure. Then polish the forks using the shoe shine motion ATF and 600 and then 1200 paper. If you polish off the crazy glue, more the better. Polish with mothers chrome cleaner. Your fork tubes can never be too smooth. 

[wannabridin]

thanks for the advice Bobby!  i've had good luck with JB weld, a file and some scotch bright pads on some other fork tubes, but they were somewhat unsightly.  luckily they were on one side, so i just rotated the tubes around.

thanks for the racetech link, i TOTALLY forgot they have new tubes!  i would say red would be cool for my red and white color scheme, but original chrome is best...

[Danno]

boby's fix is the same one we use on our hard chrome cylinders on the  farm it works ok when the pitting is minor

[wannabridin]

I'll try to get a picture of the pitting for yalls advice.  I believe it is minor enough for this method.

[Raul CB750K1]

I think that hard chroming won't fix the pits, because hard chroming, from what I know, is nothing more than regular chroming but held longer, in order to get a thicker coat. In any case, we are talking microns, and the coat will follow the surface. If there are pits now, there will be smoother pits after the rechrome, but pits after all.

If I were you I would give a try to the "refill and polish",

[Retro Rocket]

I think that hard chroming won't fix the pits, because hard chroming, from what I know, is nothing more than regular chroming but held longer, in order to get a thicker coat. In any case, we are talking microns, and the coat will follow the surface. If there are pits now, there will be smoother pits after the rechrome, but pits after all.

If I were you I would give a try to the "refill and polish",

I know over here that the hard chromers repair the legs before chroming.....

[dave500]

a place that can repair hydraulic rams could help you.

[754]

 Its NOT the same as decorative (soft) chrome.
 To replate, it is turned off on a lathe, chromed THICKER than finished size, then ground back to finished size.
 Much, much tougher than shiny decorative chrome.
 Amy hydraulic cylinder plater should be able to fdo them, but may not want to do bike parts for a few reasons.
 Search the web, got to be someomone on the continent that clued into how much work is out there for this.
 As a machinist, and having modified many sets of fork legs, I have noticed that the tolerances on show (decorative) chrome forks is sometimes lacking.
 Replating, decoratively, has usually turned them to out of round pieces of JUNK..

[charlatan]

My before and after shots:





(Black spots are polishing compound specks, only noticed after taking photo)

See http://coffeeracer.blogspot.com/2011/09/fork-rebuild.html for more.

Pitting was pretty bad (on 3 sides) and I'm not sure how the repair will hold up, haven't been able to do more than ~200km since. Personally I would replace with new or 2nd hand shocks in better condition, rather than go through the trouble of hard-chroming them.

[bryanj]

You can't repair those with hard chrome as the pits are too deep and if you ground out the pits the wall thickness would not be good enough and the forks weak

[wannabridin]

well upon a more detailed inspection, i think that these will be perfectly fine using the krazy glue method!  most of these small spots actually came off with some good fingernail pressure, and the rest can have the edges filed down (carefully!!), cleaned REALLY well with acetone and then krazy glued and smoothed.  then a final polish and i should be good!

thanks for the help gents, i'll let you know how it turns out!

[wannabridin]

Just heard back from Franks, new 1975 GL1000 standard length fork tubes run $259/ set with $23 COD shipping charges.


Racetech is $188.25 a piece.  I think that Franks is a helluva deal, so if my repairs don't seem adequate, then I'll be going there!  Less than $300 for a pair, can't complain.