Here are the forks disassembled with the longer tubes. Tubes are 4" over but the rake kit will lose an inch which will make it just right...
Rake kit for later models with out removable fork cups require replacement of the HD headstem which are a press fit. Extended stainless cups fit into the original steering head once the outer races have been removed. Just a note on rake... The purpose of rake while it looks good and allows for a longer front end primarily is to increase trail (think of a trolley castor). Increased trail improves straight line stability on a bike. The old bikes up to the 80's had minimal trail (2-3") and made for good tank slappers. Increasing trail to even 10" or more makes for a bike that steers itself and is very stable if a little slower in cornering. This is why you should never use raked triple trees as they decrease trail to dangerous levels even with 6" extended forks. Only ever do a true rake using either raked bearing cups or raking the headstem...
Easiest way to remove old outer races is to run a bead of weld around the inside of them and lift them out. This pair of bent files held together around an old bolt pivot with wire works a treat...
Bike was an FL with fancy fork covers that bolted to the bottom triple tree. Ugly!!!
Bracketry removed and new head stem being pressed in. Was able to do it in the hand press. Original HD one had to be removed in the hydraulic press...
Raked cups need to be centred. The have a locating punch mark, but the centre of the steering head needs to be found. On this model there is a central rib at the rear of the steering head, so I make a punch mark on top of steering head. Use this little gadget to line up the mark so I can put a mark at the front...
Here marked and about to be punched...
To find the bottom centre use a piece of angle iron as a ruler. On this model HD the bottom of the steering head is a bigger diameter than the top...
... so run a mark with the angle down each side and halve the distance at the bottom. That will give the centre. surface is cleaned with emery and thinners..
Top cup is a tight fit but bottom is a bit loose, so new bearing cup is liberally punched and both are installed with 'Bearing mount'...
Installed, primed and painted to match the rest of the frame. You can see how the new cups protrude 18mm. Outer races are also installed in the cups at this point, having been in the freezer for a day. they are pulled into place with a heavy thread and spacers.
Freezing the mounts shrinks them ever so slightly so they will pull in more easily.
Because of the protruding fork cups, the fork stops only just connect... maybe ok in normal use, but not with a hard knock. Not comfortable with this and add an extra 5mm to the fork stops. Taped up to protect surfaces from any weld slag...
Faired in and ready to paint...
With triple trees installed (sorry no pic) the lower legs are polished as requested by owner...
Polishing involves removing casting marks and any dings. I use a die grinder, an air sander and mini belt sander before hitting the polishing wheel... all hard work and the ol back suffers at the polishing wheel after an hour of polishing!!...
Bottom axle cap installed showing the difference after polishing. I took the liberty of replacing the original nuts with chrome acorns and a polished stainless acorn axle nut....
NOW FOR THE HANDLEBARS...
Wiring is to be run outside the bars for convenience. Wires are cut 30mm apart so there is not a big bulge in the loom when they are soldered to lengthen them...
Holes are drilled in the controls and burrs carefully removed so wires will not foul the bars and will not get cut through vibration...
Stupid stock screws are replaced by stainless socket head cap screws. They can be polished to a bright shine...
Pull backs mount directly into the top tree. First step is to make up some threaded inserts. I always use UNF in steel as it pulls up better and is less likely to loosen through vibration. Stock threads are UNC...
Inserts mounted...
1" stainless tube measured and marked for both bends...
Bent in the bender and then tested for the owner. They were made purposely longer and higher so we could cut them back to suit.
Width worked out fine and they were lowered by a bit over an inch. A pair of risers bolted to a piece of bar are used to hold them in place once we work out the right position of the two bars...
A piece of square tube drilled to 89mm centres locates the bars while we lay them on flat board to get them square for welding...
A 3mm steel plate is cut, shaped and welded. Welds are ground down and lightly polished then low spots filled. This happens about four times till we get it right. Weld is built up at top corners to provide a seamless join to round bars...
Partway through polishing with controls assembled...
Just need to finish polishing and hook up wiring. All wiring will run into back of headlight and be joined in there for better looks, convenience and water proofing.
Should be finished next week after a couple of other jobs are done.
Today Lou came up to have a set of 1.25" bars built out of stainless.Unfortunately I didn't take any pics of the process. I used heavy wall 1.25" stainless so that 1" would slide in as an interference fit. I could have simply used bearing mount to secure the 1" tube, but decided on overkill and plug welded them on the underside. Bars were made to be an exact copy of Lou's 1" flat bars. Job took a little over 2 hours plus and hour of polishing some of which was done by Lou...
Finished job. Have shined up beautifully...
