polished lower fork sliders
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Cruiser
Joined: Mar 2006
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polished lower fork sliders
after looking on the forum at someone that had polished the lower forks on his wide glide i took it upon myself to try it on my street glide. I am very happy with the results. they now shine like the chrome uppers and all for about 20 dollars worth of sandpaper and probably 10 hours of labor. im buying a new computer tommorrow and when i get it up and running i will post some pictures. it did take me a little longer than i thought it would but i no longer have the weld lines on the brake attachments or fender attachments. now i just have to buy some chrome caps and bolts and its all done for a whole lot less than chrome lowers.
Extreme HDF Member
Joined: Sep 2006
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RE: polished lower fork sliders
I usually just pull the fork legs, strip the clear with aircraft stripper and then buff with my bench buffer. With a buffer, you can polish out both legs in less than 2 hours.
Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Sep 2006
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From: lancaster, pa
RE: polished lower fork sliders
I dont think Ive heard of that? I take a small dab of mothers mag/alum polish and lightly work a small area. then all this black stuff comes off onto the rag and the area looks like chrome. some one gave me this tube of polish one time but thru it out cause had all this gritty stuff in it and thought it would scratch. Sand paper sounds scarry[:-]
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Cruiser
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RE: polished lower fork sliders
its all wet sanding starting at 400 grit and going through 2000. all the cast marks are gone now and i dont have any of the deep holes (pits) in the forks they look much smoother now.
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Cruiser
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RE: polished lower fork sliders
use the 3m wet and dry sandpaper starting at 400,600,800,1000,1200,1500, and 2000 then polish with flitz or aluminum polish till it shines like chrome and lots of water
Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 3,236
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From: lancaster, pa
RE: polished lower fork sliders
that sounds doable. The mothers or comparable was a trick an ol biker showed me a long time ago. the trick is not to rub hard or large area. then after a minute the area turn black(like flashes to an oxidation level) and wipe it off with clean side of cloth. go to next area and so on. The next time you do it its a little easier if ya keep up on it. Thank god its just fork sleeves!
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Tourer
Joined: Mar 2007
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RE: polished lower fork sliders
Thanks Kerry. I'm going to give it a whirl. Years ago, I used Mothers to polish the aluminum outer primary on my shovel head. It was a lot of work, but worth it. Did you pull the lower legs off or just do them on the bike?
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Cruiser
Joined: Mar 2006
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RE: polished lower fork sliders
i did them while they were on the bike. i removed the front wheel, brakes, and front fender also. im here in wisconsin and had nothing better to do because of uncooperative weather. a jack helps on the back also. i think i might try to polish the rotors next
