Fork lock question

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Jul 26, 2007 | 02:38 AM

#11

Drelkor

Cruiser

Joined: May 2007

Posts: 189

Likes: 0

From: Birmingham, AL

RE: Fork lock question

Quote:

ORIGINAL: rider

I beleive you said it had a cover on it, some of the after market covers would not let the key go down as you said, have to grind down the key or replace the cover, some guys just get a spare key without the plastic on it and grind it to fit!!

Agreed. I put one on my 97 Road King and couldn't figure out why the lock wouldn't turn. The key wasn't going far enough into the lock was the actual problem. I didn't have to cut the key down, but was able to slightly tighten the fork lockmore to get just enough clearance for it to work. It still hangs occasionally if the handlebars aren't in the perfect position when I try to turn it, but I'm always able to get it to work. If you need to trim the key, it's thearea where the flat tapered area meets the barrel on the key that needs to be shaved. Only some keys have the problem. To check it, watch when you insert the key to see if the tapered flat area contacts the top of the new fork lock cover. If it does, you may want to trim off just a bit of the tapered area with a Dremel. It won't take much, so be careful not to remove a lot. See bad text drawing below:

--------
|O |
||
| /
| / <--- Trim key here, if neccesary.
||
----

Jul 26, 2007 | 05:54 AM

#12

Hogwallop

Tourer

Joined: Jun 2007

Posts: 425

Likes: 1

From: West Palm Beach

RE: Fork lock question

Speaking of trimming a key........I use a similar designed key for my vending machines. On occasion the barrel part of the key will loosen enough that after turning the lock, the key bendsallowing the detentto slip outin-between the two release positions of the lock. If that ever happens, just grind the detent from the key and re-insert the key in the lock to acheive the correct position again.

Jul 26, 2007 | 06:46 PM

#13

cookiemech

Road Captain

Joined: Jul 2007

Posts: 552

Likes: 50

From:

RE: Fork lock question

I had the same problem on my new 07 RK; the key wouldn't turn enough to engage the lock. The fellow who was showing me all the bike's features before I took it home from the dealer was unable to use the fork lock and gave me paperworkto show that it was defective on the first dayso that they could fix it whenever I brought it in later. Well, since no one works on my motorcycle but me, I took it apart when I did the 1000 mile service. I removed the fork lock and it worked fine by itself, but sighting down through the fork lock mounting hole showed that it wasn't even close to lining up with the hole in the piece welded to the frame where the lock pin was supposed to engage. It turns out that the steeringcouldn't turn to full left lock, though it turned all the way to the right. A small nubbin of weld was interfering with the lower triple clamp as it turned to the left. I spent about half an hour with a small file cleaning up the weld, and now everything works fine.

I'd look at that before I started filing the key. Will your bars turn full left such that the rubber donut on the fork tube touches the frame?

Jul 26, 2007 | 06:55 PM

#14

StreetGlide2006

Road Warrior

Joined: Oct 2006

Posts: 1,650

Likes: 1

From: North West Ohio

RE: Fork lock question

If you or someone else has removed the ignition switch for any reason it may not have been installed correctly when it was put back together. I did the same thing with mine when I installed the switch for the passing lamps. It acted the same as you describe. I took it back apart and carefully followed the manual directions again and it worked just fine after that. The manual has the step by step instructions and must be followed exactly.

Ride Safe,

Mike

Jul 26, 2007 | 07:03 PM

#15

cookiemech

Road Captain

Joined: Jul 2007

Posts: 552

Likes: 50

From:

RE: Fork lock question

The original poster said that he has a RK Classic. Wouldn't that have a different fork lock setup than your Street Glide (the RK has a separate lock up on the bars and an ignition switch back on the console)? My 07 RK has a fork lock held on by two screws up on the bars (really on the top triple clamp).

Jul 26, 2007 | 07:07 PM

#16

StreetGlide2006

Road Warrior

Joined: Oct 2006

Posts: 1,650

Likes: 1

From: North West Ohio

RE: Fork lock question

Quote:

ORIGINAL: cookiemech

The original poster said that he has a RK Classic. Wouldn't that have a different fork lock setup than your Street Glide (the RK has a separate lock up on the bars and an ignition switch back on the console)? My 07 RK has a fork lock held on by two screws up on the bars (really on the top triple clamp).

Ahhh yes you are correct! I guess I just read right over that knowing I had the same trouble with mine. Thank you for pointing it out. Sorry for not catching that.

Ride Safe,

Mike

Jul 26, 2007 | 07:31 PM

#17

Nightrider2

Thread Starter

Road Warrior

Joined: Sep 2006

Posts: 1,379

Likes: 13

RE: Fork lock question

I think grinding the key down will fix my problem, i'll try it tonight, i noticed the key was off center in the lock when i first tried it, so, thats probably whats wrong, thanks for the help