Shortening upside down forks............?

[Dirtcrasher]

Can anyone tell whats realy involved within shortening MX forks to get a decent front end height?

I can work with the rear shock to get the rake I want, but I always felt MX forks were a few inches too high to make them work. I don't know if I have the right machines here to make the swap, I certainly CANNOT make new internal threads, but maybe that isn't the deal??

Triples I can hand make in my Bridgeport, my main concern is the forks as I honestly have never had one apart! and I'm unsure what or hope they are shortened?

IDT Kasey posted up the forks he found which were very close to being similar to the stock height......

So, I have to go back to seeing whats involved with making MX forks work.....

THANKS for any help! :beer

[audioworks04]

Its not an easy process from what I understand to make everything correct. You need to shorten the tube itself and also the spring and then valving and spring rates will be affected. I know Im not much help but thought I would throw out what I know.

[Jason Hall]

DC It does Involve cutting Internal metric threads, and a steady rest for your lathe. The chrome tube, outer tube and everything Inside needs to be shortened In order to do It right. It's VERY Involved, and the chrome tube Is rough on cutting tool's. Give me a call If you want to talk more, to explain everything would take ALOT of typing that I'm not real good at LOL.

1-517-206-7635.

Jason.

[Dirtcrasher]

THANK YOU BOTH!! :beer

Not sure if this will make sense to anyone, but the ID would need to be a hair small so that threads COULD be cut.....

When I look at 200X/350X forks internal threads, it seems as if they only made THAT areas wall thickness enough to cut threads (hopefully, that makes sense). It would seem that if you "shortened" the tube on those type forks, there would be nothing for the 60 degree cutter to CUT. Thats what I wasn't sure of with these new type forks...........

Jason, I won't even bug you right now. When I have all the parts in front of me and know what each piece is called, then I can at the very least ATTEMPT to have an intelligent conversation with you! I'm sure there's more to it than just shortening and re-threading the top tube but I'm not ready to do it at this point.

It seems like EVERYONE is bidding againsr one-another for the KTM85 forks.


PS - At least I know I can make triples and I have the material to do so. Hub mods and other stuff doesn't scare me, :lol: !!!!!!!! They won't be anything "spectacular" but the will be built well and "functional". I'm just dreaming at this point :D

I can find CR"Lites" forks easier or I'll buy a whole bike, keep the motor/electronics and forks. Maybe I'll email Bubba and ask him for his "outdoor" forks for the races he skipped out on last year, :lol:

I hear ya about the long and in depth conversation, any and all typed info is appreciated!! But when the time actually comes, I'll certainly hit you up.........

THANKS VERY MUCH to you both and any other info would be great!

Take care guys! Ride fast but ride SMART!! :D

[jeddy]

Might be a bad idea, but what if you used a cutoff tool in a lathe and cut off the threaded section and then whatever length you needed out of the top of the fork tube. Then weld the threaded section back on to the shortened fork tube with a TIG or something that would make a good weld, maybe even sleeve the OD and plug weld it for added strength (if you're making your own triples you could possibly account for this, but you might have to assemble the forks on the triples...). I would just be leary about the weld, you could stress releive it with a torch if you're careful. Might even have to be more of a brazing process, I'm not sure. Between the welding and the stress relieving I would think there would be a good chance the threaded area would warp, so I'd watch that very carefully.

The other option would be to just run the forks out the top of the triples and make a set of handlebars to clear them. Not very pretty, but simple. You could always mask them with Redbull cans or something similar. I would consider putting some sort of a clamp on the top of the forks though. I don't know if it really does anything, but I like to think that the upper triple helps hold the fork caps on.