Nifty, like the fork alignment gauge. Been using eyeball for over 40 years but a gauge could be on the cards. These forks need all the help they can get.
Yes, they move alright. Just lifting bike on/off sidestand with the axle clamp loose, can give movement that can be seen. I like to compress forks as well to tighten clamp.I found that after the axle nut is tightened, the lower clamp should be loosened and the fork bounced a few times to center the axle in the clamp, and then tighten it.....
....RooDog...
Nice idea to gain a small drop in front end height. I might end up using this idea plus I'll nibble a bit off tube length.Should have added i lowered forks by fitting a spacer under the rebound spring of the require length and if you have preload spacer remove the same amount that u fit under the rebound spring. Also Showa is marked on inside legs unless some one removed cast markings
OK, you got me sold. Are these the ones I see on Ebay, Aliexpress and amazon? Quite a few developments today.
Went to my local Harley maverick repair shop and showed Dave a tube. He said it was the early tube, later went to lower bushing. He went on to say don't be surprised if it's a repop front end. He said there might be some tubes in a shipping container but it was locked away in a storage yard and there was no plan to getting to it in the near future.
looked at the Springs also the spare FLH Pan ones. They are closer than I thought, just a few thou difference in OD. A quick test to compare spring weight and the Shovel's are marginally heavier. I straightened the bent one.
Looked at the fender mounting bosses. Effectively there is about 5- 6mm discrepancy compared to fork tubes. Worse though is they're not machined true to fork tubes either. At least one thread could use a helicoil with a few of the first threads eaten out. There's been a lot of heavy handedness on this bike. Had to helicoil another handlebar clamp bolt. They are all helicoiled now, one was done 8mm before I got the bike.
Set front end up how I proposed above. As soon as I tighten the RH axle clamp, stiction gets bad. The clamp half of the fork leg is not nicely machined.
The LH side has been opened out to 3/4" by PO.
Wasn't having much luck getting forks to move nicely so I decided to check the "axle bores" of each fork leg. Yep they aren't true by an means. Right there is a major cause of stiction. Churning options ATM.