Fork Leg

 

Tools of the Trade

Finished this one yesterday for TVI. He's working on his old Harley Ferguson now that he's retired. He was taking the forks apart so he could get the lowers re-bushed and the inner leg/tube rolled off the bench. It pushed a spot in where it hit the floor and bumped out a bulge on the sides of the dent. Inside the tube about a 1/4" away from the end is a groove for a circlip that I didn't want to mess up while fixing the dent and bulges.

I turned a piece of aluminum to the match the ID of the tube and then machined a three degree taper on it. The piece was a cut-off from another job that already had a few 3/4" threads tapped in the end. That gave me something to tap on and grab onto to pull it back out of the tube. I supported the tube on some vee blocks that I covered with a piece of old inner tube, drove the tapered slug into the tube while tapping the bulges with a lead hammer. I repeated the process about three times, filing off the tapered slug where it had been dug into where the dent was. I put the mike on it and when it measured where I wanted it , I polished up the leg with some emery cloth, greased it up and put it together - success!

He might have to file the end just a bit after he gets the outer leg re-bushed or he can just bring it back and I can take care of it. I'm thinking it'll be good and the circlip groove came out unscathed as well. I love it when a plan comes together.

I caught the racoon that was in the shop. I'm hoping that's the end of them for the year. I did reset the trap, though. They are messy animals. This one made quite a mess under and around the trap so I had to bring all the boards the trap was sitting on down and wash them, as well as washing the trap as usual.

I think I've located a transmission for the jitney - comes with an engine, which I don't really need, but I'll have a torque converter, flex plate and starter which I do need. It's a ways off but still in state. Hopefully the deal goes through and I can get a tranny bolted to my block so I can fab up a crossmember and get everything from the cab forward finished.