Part 12 - Forks Triumph T100R

I've been working slowly on the forks for the past few weeks. A lot of distractions lately, but things are still moving.

From an appearance point of view, I knew I'd be repainting parts, but the curiously named "Dust Excluder Sleeve Nuts" also needed some attention. The chrome was pitted, there was a deep abrasion through the plating on one of them, and there had been some kind of trauma that left one of the nuts out of round. It's a little hard to see in the pictures, but one unit was distorted enough that the suspension spring had been rubbing on it. The right picture shows a mandrel I turned to force into the out-of-round opening. A little careful work with a soft hammer convinced the errant excluder to be round again. After that, it was off to the platers.

All the painted parts got either sand blasted or chemically stripped.  On the left are the two "Bottom Members"  almost ready for paint.  The other pictures are the Top Covers after sand blasting, priming, and a coat of paint partly rubbed out.  I got a little finicky about the spot weld depressions, so I filled them.

After plating and paint. Paint is 4-5 coats of black, hand rubbed after each coat, and 3-4 coats of clear, also hand rubbed out.

The next sad story came when I got a good look at the stanchions. They were both deeply pitted where the top bearing rested for thirty years.

So here are all of the parts for the forks, ready to go together. The top and bottom bronze bearings are new, along with the seals, O rings, and the sealing washers under the restrictor bolts. Also new gaiters.