Ascalon Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 I have dismantled the forks on my 1991 ZXR750R-K1 to rebuild them. On inspection I have noticed that there is a fair bit of pitting around the lower stanchion, close to where it joins the lower fork leg, and thus at the extent of the fork stroke. This is not terribly deep, nor are any of the pits more than say a milimietre in diameter, in fact most would be considerbaly smaller, but they are noticeable. I immediately thought just get them rechromed, which is cheaper than buying new ones. Then I rang around various places to see about getting them dismantled, as I knew that they were glued as well as screwed together. Several places indicated that with such old forks, a lot of heat would be required and some said that it may not be possible to seperate the old stanchion from the fork leg without destroying them. Now, these are the higher spec, fully adjustable forks from the WSBK homologation version of the ZXR, not the vanilla J or L forks, and so are rare enough. Hence, I'd like to keep them. However, one guy told me another solution, This is a very respected mechanic with a good reputation among the racing community, who works with a lot of Irish road racers. He said simply polish the fuck out of the pits with some aluminium foil. He said that as long as the pits were not too deep, and were in fact pits and not raised protruberances, then the high quality OEM seals will be OK and should not leak over the polished down blemishes. He said obviously they will not last as long as on unblemished stanchions, but should last well enough on my occasional road and mostly track use on a couple of trackdays a year. So, my question to the PB hive mind is this: has anyone any experience of simply polishing out minor fork pitting? Is aluminium foil the way to go? Will the solution stand up to a couple of track days a year? Is it really that hard to seperate the stanchion frm the lower fork leg, even on 20 year old forks? Does my bum look big in this? Answers on a postcard to...here! A Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lorenzo Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 I've never tried it myself, but I've heard many people, maxton and reactive suspension being two of them, saying that on older forks (neither of which were 20 years old) getting the ends off them can be a hazardous procedure. I realise there's a good chunk of water between you and them, but all bike do pattern parts for fork legs, and I guess that the bit that'd be killed in the getting them off would be the stantion (when they have to apply enough pressure to get a grip on it) and hence the bottom could be salvaged and attached to a tidy new stantion. I'm sure that there's somewhere in oirland that'd make a pattern stantion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lorenzo Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 And also, yes, your arse is huge. HTH. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cagimaha Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 It is true that as long as there are no sharp edges to tear the seal the rate at which the fluid will weep past is pretty minimal. As has been mentioned in other threads recently a lot of race bikes run much more minimal seal setups which often weep even when new so I don't think you'll have a problem on a bike that's not doing a massive mileage. Another technique I've seen used is to fill the pits with araldite then smooth them down with very fine wet and dry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ascalon Posted February 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 Thanks for that guys. @Lorenzo, as regards, new stanchions, that is not a problem, but they are pricey. I can get mine rechromed, if I can get them out, for €180 a pair. New stanchions, from Wemoto, are £99 a piece, before shipping so, that would be about €235 and shipping on such heavy items would likely be around €30+. The issue is the serparation. @Cagimaha, yeah, fine wet and dry was the first thing that I thought of to try to polish it down, but I am told, even with the hard chrome, that would be too abrasive. I think I might try ScotchBright, as I spent about an hour yesterday evening and I did not seem to be getting far with the tinfoil, even when used under pressure with a pad. Yeah, fuck it, I think I'll just go with the polishing as none of it seems to be too bad, so that combined with the occasional use side of things and I reckon I can just keep on top of regular oil changes. Cheers, A Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dodgy_tom Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 With regards to the polishing, make sure you go perpendicular to the stanchion with your direction, not up and down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexp5 Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 Look out for a product called Micromesh. It's a wet and dry paper used mainly by jewellers and scale modellers and is available upto 12000 grit. Yes, that's twelve thousand! Amazon list it but it's currently unavailable: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Polishing-MicroMes..._pr_product_top Do you have any jewellery suppliers or model shops local? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lorenzo Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 So, how fine's the grit they use to polish model jewlery then? The mind boggles.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ascalon Posted February 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 Look out for a product called Micromesh. It's a wet and dry paper used mainly by jewellers and scale modellers and is available upto 12000 grit. Yes, that's twelve thousand! Amazon list it but it's currently unavailable: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Polishing-MicroMes..._pr_product_top Do you have any jewellery suppliers or model shops local? Cheers Alex, will check that out. A Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
banoffee Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 if you wanted them rebuilt and rechromed I can recommended www.pittedforks.co.uk as used them a little while ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thefatman Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 You should be able to buy micromesh at your local car paint shop. Its called mirka abranet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ascalon Posted February 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 if you wanted them rebuilt and rechromed I can recommended www.pittedforks.co.uk as used them a little while ago. Yeah, heard of these guys before but £320 for a pair of USD forks is a bitr beyond me at the moment, not to mention shipping there and back. @thefatman - Would that include Halfrauds? A Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
banoffee Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 Yep, not cheap but good work. Price includes courier there and back from memory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thefatman Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 Halfrds probably wouldn't have it. Have a look in yellow pages, possibly in car parts or vehicle refinishing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark/Foggy Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 ABE Used this lot quite a lot over the years, cheaper than WeMoto and can get the ends off for ya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ascalon Posted February 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 ABE Used this lot quite a lot over the years, cheaper than WeMoto and can get the ends off for ya Cheers mate, might give them a call and see what the deal is. A Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3SIX2SEVEN Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 Look out for a product called Micromesh. It's a wet and dry paper used mainly by jewellers and scale modellers and is available upto 12000 grit. Yes, that's twelve thousand! Yer bugger! The finest I use for prepping is 1500 grade, and my mate who does the polishing uses 2000 and 3000 grade, and I thought that was fine enough. 12000!!! Blimey Charlie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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