[soprano]

I have a 1981 Lowrider. It has after market forks which I think have been home engineered. They are magnificent and I dont want to replace them and the whole triple tree just becasue the fork tubes need resurfacing. Can the fork tubes be chromed to fix the pitting etc....Any advice apprecieted. They are 41mm.

[hotroadking]

I would say it depends on the pitting, if it's superficial and can be machined out of the material to provide a smooth surface then you should be good to go, a good shop should be able to take a look at them and tell you if they can fix them up.

[SISK]

Soprano,

I have a buddy that had some mild pitting / corrosion on his forks and he polished them up with a buffing wheel and buffing compound. They look 100 percent better now. If your pitting is mild perhaps you could try buffing.

As far as chroming them, you may find that to be a bit more difficult. Chroming them won't fix the pitting, you will just end up with "chromed pits" (the chrome surface is only as smooth as the sub-surface) To do a proper job chroming, the forks need to be resurfaced to remove all pitting in order to acheive a smooth surface when chroming is done. Proper sub-surface preparation is essential.

In order to chrome the fork tubes, you will have to disassemble them and have them machined smooth. Therefore, I would suggest that you first take the fork tubes off and go over them with a strong buffing wheel and compound to see what kind of improvement you can get. Depending on the quality / thickness of the original chrome, you may be able to restore them to an acceptable condition.

Good Luck,

SISK

"If you're in control, - You're not driving fast enough! - Mario Andretti