How to polish the chromed fork tubes without taking them off the bike ?

D

DennisMo

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Jun 6, 2023
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I am rebuilding my forks and pulled everything out by jacking up my bike and leaving the forks in place.
I would like to polish the fork tubes that are still attached to the bike.
It looks extremely labour intensive as I think I don't want to use 2000 wet/dry paper on it which leaves me only using chrome polish.

Does anyone have any suggestions??

Always grateful and with thanks

Dennis
Vancouver
 
DennisMo said:
I am rebuilding my forks and pulled everything out by jacking up my bike and leaving the forks in place.
I would like to polish the fork tubes that are still attached to the bike.
It looks extremely labour intensive as I think I don't want to use 2000 wet/dry paper on it which leaves me only using chrome polish.

Does anyone have any suggestions??

Always grateful and with thanks

Dennis
Vancouver
Click to expand...
The chrome is hard chrome
It's already polished
 
DennisMo said:
I am rebuilding my forks and pulled everything out by jacking up my bike and leaving the forks in place.
I would like to polish the fork tubes that are still attached to the bike.
It looks extremely labour intensive as I think I don't want to use 2000 wet/dry paper on it which leaves me only using chrome polish.

Does anyone have any suggestions??

Always grateful and with thanks

Dennis
Vancouver
Click to expand...
This sounds a bit strange. Unless the fork tubes are in bad shape all you need to do is give them a clean with any cleaner or at most brake clean and then give them a light polish with solvoautosol or similar.

Should take 3 minutes max.

Are they corroded? If they are and the corrosion also covers the seal area then you have a problem. The seals will probably leak.
 
I don't want to drop the forks out and my major objective is the fix the metallic clank that happens
when the forks extend.

There is a little spotty discloration of the chrome on one side. There is no
pitting corrosion at all but there are a few little axial wear scratches etc.

I think I have traced the metallic clank noise to the right side lower steel fork bushing. It has 18 thou of axial clearance and with my fingers holding the bushing, I could move it up and down with my hand and hear a metalic noise.
The quiet right side has a metallic bushing with only 8 thou of clearance and I could not get it to make any noise when I slid it up and down with my fingers (ie it basically would not move)

Love to get your comments on it

Dennis
Vancouver
 
Have you checked out the damper rods and valves? My forks didn't really clank but they did leak from the main seals so I upgraded with a bush and seal kit from NYC and damper valves from JSM. Straightforward swap and a big improvement, much smoother action and damping more progressive.
 
I have taken it all to bits and of course a lot of crud in the bottom of forks and valves.
The metallic clank happens in right fork when fork is extending and I am fairly certain that the
right fork lower steel bushing is the culprit as is has 18 thou of up and down (ie axial) play compared to the
left side that has 8 thou.

With bushings exposed, I could make a metallic sound by moving the right fork lower bushing up and down, but no sound when I did this to the left. The right bushing is about 10 thou shorter than the left bushing so I think that new bushing should clear this up.
Well I hope....
Dennis
Vancouver
 
The forks "topping", which is the noise you're hearing, is pretty normal with the standard dampers. Polishing the stanchions won't stop it. Best solution IMHO is to change the complete internals for Lansdowne ones. Do a search on here and you will find out about them.
 
I am not saying that polishing the forks will cure it.
I am doing that while it is in bits.
I think that the lower fork metal sleeve on one side has too much up and down clearance and is slapping against the circlip when the fork extends
Dennis
 
We would need to see some photos of the problem at this stage . And of course , all above cure$ involve plenty of money to get it right or hopefully much better .
 
DennisMo said:
I don't want to drop the forks out and my major objective is the fix the metallic clank that happens
when the forks extend.

There is a little spotty discloration of the chrome on one side. There is no
pitting corrosion at all but there are a few little axial wear scratches etc.

I think I have traced the metallic clank noise to the right side lower steel fork bushing. It has 18 thou of axial clearance and with my fingers holding the bushing, I could move it up and down with my hand and hear a metalic noise.
The quiet right side has a metallic bushing with only 8 thou of clearance and I could not get it to make any noise when I slid it up and down with my fingers (ie it basically would not move)

Love to get your comments on it

Dennis
Vancouver
Click to expand...
"Topping Out" with metallic clunk is a "designed in" feature of Norton Roaholder forks - they have no rebound damping.
Other than the Lansdowne solution recommended by @Nortoniggy above (good, but not cheap) there is a cheaper solution to correct the OEM shortcomings WRT damping.
Look up "Covenant Conversion" - essentially longer bushes and redrilled ports. Doable by home mechanic.
PM me if you're interested but can't find anything.
There was a paper on this by one Peter Crespin (I think)
Cheers
Cheers
 
Mine are the standard forks. They do it. But only when I pump them in the garage. Don't ever notice it when I'm riding. They work pretty well on the road. Much much better than 70s Honda equivalents.

Like a number of things on these 50 years old bikes, I chalk it up to being part of the character of a classic bike, rather than a modern retro.
 
Cheaper still, just put the correct amount of oil in the forks, at least 180cc will cover the damper tube completely. The 150cc quantity is for the short roadholders which have a damper tube which is nearly 2'' shorter than the Commando damper tube.
 
robs ss said:
feature of Norton Roaholder forks - they have no rebound damping.
Click to expand...

Not correct.

Why noise from my right fork?

If I bounce the front up and down, there is a metallic fork clunk when the bike goes up and the fork hits its limit. It seems to come from the right side. It sounds like the fork has hit its metal sounding limit. It never made that noise before. It may be a coincidence, but it started after I...
www.accessnorton.com www.accessnorton.com
 
L.A.B. said:
Not correct.

Why noise from my right fork?

If I bounce the front up and down, there is a metallic fork clunk when the bike goes up and the fork hits its limit. It seems to come from the right side. It sounds like the fork has hit its metal sounding limit. It never made that noise before. It may be a coincidence, but it started after I...
www.accessnorton.com www.accessnorton.com
Click to expand...
Hmm - obviously haven't done my homework since then.
I'll have to pull my finger out!
Cheers
 
I have not heard about putting 180 mls of fluid into the forks instead of 150.
Seems like it might not hurt??
Dennis
 
DennisMo said:
I think that the lower fork metal sleeve on one side has too much up and down clearance and is slapping against the circlip when the fork extends
Dennis
Click to expand...
Unlikely. The steel bushing already sits against the circlip while extending.
The 'clunk' is almost always the valve hitting the damper cap with force, usually caused ( or aggravated) by a worn cap or insufficient oil.
One-sided 'clunk' is probably different length damper rod.
 
DennisMo said:
I have not heard about putting 180 mls of fluid into the forks instead of 150.
Seems like it might not hurt??
Dennis
Click to expand...
Have a look at Andover Norton on Youtube, there is a short video (11 months ago) on forks, oil type, and amount of oil, on a cut away fork. Might help.
 
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