I bent the fork tubes on my 07fxstc,took the old ones out(tough job,the lower tree was rusted on the inside!!).got the new tubes and am having one helluva time putting them in. I cleaned and sanded the rust out,greased the tubes and tried to slide them in,no deal!! I'm thinking maybe I spread the slots too far and oval shaped the holes.thinking about re-tightening the pinching bolts and trying again.Anyone out there got any other ideas? riding season is about 3 months away up here (VT.)and I'm getting a little antsy already.

 

Get a caliper and make some measurements to see how far you need to go.Can you even get them to start in the tree?Maybe the cap of the tube will have to be filed a little.If it`s just the tree hole being too small ,get a flap brush(sandpaper type/60-100 grit)mount it in a high speed grill or die grinder and clean it up til it fits.Twist the trees away from each other and insert the tube into the top tree and see how the fit is.This may be a good indicator. The flap brush should be good enough to enlarge the hole a bit and still keep it reasonably round.Use a good lube when you`re ready for the final installation. And just in case you made them out of round on the spreading,pinch them a bit at a time and keep trying and they may go in .Good Luck,Toby

 

See if the old tube will slide back thru lower tree, measure O/D of old tube against the new tube. Did you rebuild your shocks and just replace the tube or did you get a hole new shock?Otherwise I think toby covered all the basses. Good luck!!

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Thanksa lot toby and Icut1,I'll give the flap brush a shot after I tighten up the pinch bolts a little.I'll keep you informed

 

Before you do ANYTHING, measure the old tubes and the new ones.
If I had to guess, it sounds like your trying to stuff 41mm tubes into 39mm tree's.
And that my friend is NOT going to work real well.

 

You just need a bigger hammer.
Ron

 

I assume they are the correct tubes or the lowers wouldn`t have fit very well.Unless he did a wholesale swap of the whole assemblies and his dealer gave him the wrong ones.The fxstc should have come with 41`s (I believe)so anything else would be too small-from Harley anyway.Correct me if I`m wrong.Toby

 

an '07 should be 41mm tubes

 

I had the same problem on my RoadKing, bent fork tubes and the new ones would not go in, The lower triple tree was distorted, I replaced it and all was good, It maybe your problem.

 

Never did say how they got bent!I`m sure you didn`t run over a frog.Gqist may be right if you hit something pretty hard. The lower tree could be tweaked.If you get the tubes to go thru and they don`t go into the top tree very well ,you`ll have your answer for sure.Toby