Your lowers looked black, is axle hanging up on powdercoat??

 

tap a small screw driver in the slot at the bottom of the right leg and it will go right in

 

Ding Ding Ding!





Axle now fits. I can get back to work (and not waste my brand new tire on my wagon-wheel for now...).

 

Do you need different wheel spacers to get the calipers lined up?

 

I've never been told so, but haven't mocked up the wheel yet. I have the 25mm spacers still and will compare the two (but it's likely this was an ABS front end so I'll have to watch out for the spacer size).

I didn't take a close look at my slider covers, and they were too scratched up for my taste, so I need to get them painted and installed before I get on with the main install.

 

You can fix this in many wrong way or one right way.

• Big hammer & Screwdriver X
• Electric drill & sanding wheel on aluminum slider X
• Turn the outside axle by removing material & rust preventive plating X
• Aircraft stripper in spray can which is cheapest (Home Depot) & a small brush and a plate of some kind to spray the stripper into than use a small brush and make sure the stripper does not get on anything you do not want gone. Small swab (in this case) and lots of be careful!! Wait for the powder coating to get soft than remove either by flat knife or swab.

I went to the shop with brand new fork tubes & measured them. They are (-)0.004 of 49mm (49 millimeter = 1.929") OD. The program for the fork caps cut them at 49mm (-) 0.001". This use to work when we made the program for the original HD fork tubes as 0.001" slip fit worked well. I have changed the program.


I modify all 49mmm fork tubes with a specially made collet for the CNC. The aluminum collet with 7 pounds of pressure assures of no damage happening. It closes round and exerts pressure around the OD of the fork tube. It is not necessary to insert into the ID a plug.


You are doing a great job explaining things to all. I will duplicate your fork stop bushings once you give my your exact OD & length.

 

No caliper spacing is necessary if you align the rotors direct center into the calipers. I have smaller length spacers and put that single one on the nut side of the axle than align using feeler gauges pushing against the hub to get it tight. I than cut that New spacer.

Install and check the new spacer but also put two (2) shorter spacers on the reminging side & measure in between the two with a feeler gauge. Measure both spacers than add the feeler gauge thickness. Your wheel will turn freely with minimum drag.

 

Great to hear you were able to make a fix for the fork caps. Thanks for reading Howard.

Stripper is definitely the safest way to ensure the integrity of the ID of the fork lower. That large dark patch is still there, but I did go in with a finger and run some 400 grit to get off the overspray that was sort of everywhere. Interesting to note that I didn't have much of a problem removing the 25mm axle when I acquired the front end, but the older axle wasn't happy with the remnants. I'll use the stripper to get the heavier patch of PC off.

Good tip about the feeler gauges to get the specific correct spacer (down to the thou). I'll use that if the original spacers don't manage to put the wheel in the correct spot. Howard, off hand, do you happen to recall what the typical spacer size has been? Are original spacers working or do you always hand fit the distance with the feeler gauges?

Do you feel the optimum reference point for the wheel spacers should be to center the rotor within the caliper? I understand that having it centered will result in the lowest drag from the pads at rest, but my concern would be spacing the wheel to a reference that is potentially variable based on coating thickness of whichever lower is being used. The caliper bolts onto the lower, and someone may paint the lower, which would be a different thickness than PC or chrome, compared to a raw lower. This would potentially result in different distances "caliper center-to-caliper center" if your reference was the calipers. There could also potentially be production variability in OE calipers versus aftermarket, which may result in a measurable difference in center-to-center distance. Then there is also production variability in wheels, OE vs. aftermarket as well as rotors, all of which could add up to result in a significant difference in distance from the OE specs.

I would think the best way would be to take the known distance between the midline of the fork tubes, and subtract the distance from midline to the inside face of the slider on each side. That should be the total length of spacer+wheel. Then subtract the width of the 2 wheel bearings and the inner spacer, which would leave you with the overall length of spacer required to maintain the distance between the forks to guarantee they are running 100% parallel. Once you have that length, you can center the left side rotor by measuring with the smaller spacer and gauge. However, once you create a spacer for the left side that perfectly centers the rotor, I would think the most mathematically correct method would to be to cut the right side spacer to length after subtracting the left side spacer from your total spacer length.

I know that was probably really confusing. I can try to write up a formula that might be a little clearer if it doesn't make sense.

 

I can measure again, but the original test bushing was made with 9/16" round stock, and was cut to match the existing pin in length. The ones on there are turned down to "a hair over 9/16" according to my neighbor, but for simplicity sake, I'm confident just using the 9/16" stock should get you there. I can email you with some numbers if you'd like.

 

E-mail me if you need one still.
GbourneUSMC@gmail.com