Possible Bad News

Questions and comments about converting to beefier forks..
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m0rie
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Possible Bad News

Post by m0rie »

I think my lower KX fork tubes might be bent :cry: I assembled one of them and had a pretty bad "stick" about 4 inches into the travel. If you push it thru the binding section then it slides the rest of the way without a problem. Test assembled the other fork and had the same stick in the same area :neutral: So i've got to take them apart again and check the lower tubes with a straight edge and see what they look like. If they are bent it can't be much as its not visible to my eyes. They might possibly be slightly egg shaped in one spot. Hopefully they are not bent. If thats the case then i'll be looking at the bushings. They are worn but I wouldn't have expected them to cause binding issues. The joy of used parts from ebay... :rolleyes:
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Post by layoutd »

i think i read somewhere that you may have your clamps too tight. i may be wrong, but i read on here somewhere what the best torque settings for the top and bottm clamp are, not sure what they are, but they are on here somewhere.
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m0rie
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Post by m0rie »

Only problem is they are not in the clamps :neutral:
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Post by IdahoCharley »

Worn busings can cause binding issues. I chased a fork problem on a Yamaha for some time before someone suggested that I check the bushings. I replaced the fork bushings and it was all smiles from there on.

HOWEVER - my situation was the forks felt fine off the bike when pumping the individual legs - only when mounted at about 1/3 the stroke they bound seem to bind up. (Triple tree clamping forces were fine)
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m0rie
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Post by m0rie »

Well I checked out the fork legs with a straight edge. There is a slight bend front to back on the lower fork legs. Evidently enough to cause the fork to bind when it was stroked thru its travel. I'm going to call around to the local machine shops and see if anybody wants to look at straightening the fork legs but i'm not all that happy about the idea. Barring some amazing outcome I think this set of forks is going to canned for parts.

Let this be a lesson to those who follow. If your going to buy forks from Ebay or a similar place, take the springs out and run the fork though its range of travel and check the fork with a straight edge if any binding is found before buying the rest of your parts (seals, bushing, etc).

Anybody need a 94 KX125 clamp or seals?
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Post by skipro3 »

What did the seller's auction say about the forks? If he sold them as working forks, you might appeal to his sense of fairness and see if he'll make good on the trade with a refund. It's worth it to ask at least. Good Luck!!
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Post by Indawoods »

>|<>QBB<
m0rie wrote:Anybody need a 94 KX125 clamp or seals?

Yeah... seals.... still got the bushings? ....depends on price! :mrgreen:
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Post by canyncarvr »

Wow! I missed this post.

Sorry to hear that m0rie. That's rotten!!

Curious...bent which way? Something got run into (bent to the rear), or landed too hard (bent forward). 'Front to back' I understand to mean the former?

Cripes. Sorry, man. :cry:

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