Issues with Hydraulic Forks on '53 Chief.

[Tobydog61]

Had a quick question regarding my '53 Chief and it's hydraulic forks. The bikes was restored a number of years ago and ridden very little. I have been showing and riding the bike and enjoying it very much. The one issue I have is that the black painted fork lowers will get scraped by the chrome uppers but only on some rides. Not sure if maybe this occurs when hitting a particularly rough road or crossing train tracks but it's just enough to have the edge of the chrome cover scrape the paint. It occurs on the front of the left fork lower only and the chrome cover appears to be centered on the lower with equal spacing all around. So I assume it is flexing slightly causing this. The lower pinch bolts appear to be tight. Any experience with this from others with hydraulic front ends?

Thx

Jeff

[tfburke3]

Had a quick question regarding my '53 Chief and it's hydraulic forks. The bikes was restored a number of years ago and ridden very little. I have been showing and riding the bike and enjoying it very much. The one issue I have is that the black painted fork lowers will get scraped by the chrome uppers but only on some rides. Not sure if maybe this occurs when hitting a particularly rough road or crossing train tracks but it's just enough to have the edge of the chrome cover scrape the paint. It occurs on the front of the left fork lower only and the chrome cover appears to be centered on the lower with equal spacing all around. So I assume it is flexing slightly causing this. The lower pinch bolts appear to be tight. Any experience with this from others with hydraulic front ends?

Thx

Jeff

Most likely the tubes,upper leg bushings or lower tube steel bushing to leg bore clearances are loose.Wiggle the lower leg with wheel off,if its wobbley you need rebuild,otherwise the covers are often misaligned() although that seems not your case).Jerry Greers sells spacers that prevent this but they go on during assembly.
Tom

[Yellow53Chief]

Hi,
On my 1953 Chief, my chrome upper covers do scrape my lower legs, and I just tolerate it. I've checked several times, and my fork legs don't appear to have any excessive looseness in the bushings. My forks also leak a little also; which is also something I just tolerate. The way the upper fork covers are secured, it does not make for a very trouble free set-up cover-wise. If my covers rattled at all, I would have to do something to fix it. I do know guys who run the spacers that prevent paint scuffing, but the spacers I have seen are visible, and they can also over time wear the paint. I think that people who drive their Blackhawk 'Eighty' Indians are going to have some issues with the fork covers, and this is a result of a too-close factory fit and an imperfect mounting system. On my bike I run spotlights that have their mounts wrapped around the covers, and the mounting of the spotlights aggravates the cover issues. As my bike has many scars from the nearly 175,000 miles on the bike - my fork cover issues drift into the background. At least my covers haven't fallen off - and for that I am thankful.

[Tobydog61]

Thanks Yellowchief, I at least feel better that this is not specific to my bike. I feel as if my front end is functioning properly and do not seem to have any play in the front end that is allowing the front to flex. My plan was to pull the forks off next winter and repaint them but unless I can find a fix, that would be a waste. I now see that my right fork is dragging slightly so I may just have to live with this and continue to use toucjh up paint to cover the scrapes.