Cleaning Fork Stanchions

[Redmist]

Anybody have any suggestions on cleaning my K4 USD fork stanchions as fitted to my SV1000?

The last owner left the bike sat for a while and there are some small pits aswell as some tough scaling on the chromed surface.

I know I can't really help the pits but what am I safe to try cleaning them with to get as much off as possible?

Thunks.

[barryreynolds]

Hi, I've just cleaned mine with a drill and wire brush attachment. It gets rid of all the corrosion and gives a shiny finish

[Fen Tiger]

If you are talking about the sliding surface I'd try some fork oil on a rag then wipe off any excess with a clean rag/paper towel, being careful not to contaminate the discs.

[Bibio]

green scotchbrite pad and autosol. do not under any circumstances rub up and down you must go round the stanchion. finish off with a rag and autosol. if there is deep pitting then the only solution is to replace the stanchions.

[wideguy]

Have you ridden it since it sat and corroded? Do the seals leak?
I'd take the forks out and disassemble them, then clean the sliders. I've used 600 grit wet and dry sandpaper with light oil, sanding around, as was said.(clean them well first!) As long as they were apart, I'd install new seals, and new oil will be good too.

[Redmist]

No I haven't ridden it yet, the marks are at the very end of the slider's, about the last 15 -20mm of fork travel so I hope it won't have affected the seals yet.

I will attempt the autosol and rag first and see if that removes the worst of the dirt.

Thanks all.

[barryreynolds]

I meant wire brush the Thingy-Ma-Jigs the stanchions go into, probably best not to wirebrush the stanchions themselves!

[andrewsmith]

I meant wire brush the Thingy-Ma-Jigs the stanchions go into, probably best not to wirebrush the stanchions themselves!
Fork lowers you mean
Wire wool or emery paper

[wideguy]

The service manual calls them inner tubes and outer tubes. That makes it easy to keep straight, whether they are USD or conventional. The inner tubes are chromed steel, the outer tubes cast aluminum.
Since you mentioned pitted chrome, I assumed you were talking about the inner tubes.
The outer tubes were coated with clear paint at the factory, but it gets chipped in use and corrosion can start where the paint is chipped.
Again, I'd remove and disassemble the forks, use paint stripper to completely remove the clear coat, then mechanical means such as sanding with aluminum oxide paper or scotch brite to completely remove all signs of corrosion. Then repaint and reassemble. You can do an on the bike version of this, but unless you completely remove all the original clear coat, repainting with clear will give you a mottled finish.

[Redmist]

Yes I was talking about the inner tubes. But there is some slight salt corrosion on the gold outside tubes.
Only in a small area on the inside of them.

[wideguy]

Yes I was talking about the inner tubes. But there is some slight salt corrosion on the gold outside tubes.
Only in a small area on the inside of them.
I have some polish called Alumi-Nu, made for polishing unpainted aircraft skins. It works really well for light corrosion. I'm sure there's many other suitable brands. I stole mine from an airline and am retired, so I cant get more and don't know where to buy it. Perhaps at an airport with maintenance facilities, an FBO.
If it's not too bad, something like that followed by a good wax will work well, as long as you keep it waxed.

[figaro]

An old dispatchers' trick for deep pits in stanchions (inner tubes) is to rub the surface flat with wet and dry or whatever, then fill the pits with Araldyte, and rub down again. Served me quite well in the '90's. Don't look good though.

[figaro]

Oh, and All Bike Engineering in Greenwich will make new stanchions for pretty much any bike, much cheaper than OE.