my brother hit a car with his 12 streetglide and bent the fork tubes. the right side is bent pretty bad and the left side is only about an 1/8. we had a hell of a time getting the right tube out of the lower tree. i've had many of front ends apart over the years but this thing was tight. we even drove a little wedge in the lower tree to open it up some. is there anyway i can check to see if the lower tree is out of whack ? we are going to put the new tubes along with a set of new lowers sliders he's had for a long time together and see how they line up.

 

Insert the bare new tubes in the trees and compare them one to the other, to check they are parallel. Take note of how easily each one fits into the trees as you insert them. That will alert you to any problem. The two trees may have moved due to the crash, relative to each other, but if you cannot get the two tubes parallel then one or other is doomed.

 

Hope your brothers OK. Try sliding the left fork up the right side to see if it goes easy. Also check the top end of the right tube with a straight edge and see if it's bent between the top and lower clamp. You can get Level apps for smart phones and do like Graham suggested.
Good luck

 

if it bent the tubes,you can bet it tweaked the trees.

 

I would be just as concerned about a small stress fracture of the trees if he hit that hard. Just because of the nature of the parts I would be very careful on that repair to make 100% certain that you double check everything.

 

Good advice. Take a hard look at all front end parts. If in doubt replace.

 

If it was that bad to remove, I would replace the trees as well, don't chance it.

 

he's ok. it was kind of a glaceing hit it took. i was thinking if it bent the right tube that the tree would be tweaked too. they said the tubes were 5 days out so as soon as we get them i'll put them together and then we will see if they will slide back in. i do know when taking them apart the top of the tube was lined up with the top tree just fine. even while spinning it out the top of the tube did not wobble around at all. we are going over the entire front end, new wheel bearing, tire and brake pads while it's apart. the axle was not bent at all either so he's hoping the trees are ok too. i just hope the bike tracks good afterwards. thanks guys for the advice !

 

You may want to check the neck bearings as well, if everything was tight it should be okay, but if it was a little loose the hit may have caused some bearing or race damage. while you have everything off check to make sure the side to side does not feel like it is binding.

 

I rebuilt a totaled 12 Limited 5 yrs ago and had the same issues. Even going in with the new fork tube was tough, dead blow hammer seated it. My wife rode that bike for 2 years and put 20,000 miles on it. Never had any issues with the front end.
Good luck