Hi all,

Are lightly rusted/pitted fork tubes repairable? I have a DT1F project that has some light rusty spots in the critcal areas and was hoping find a process to make them usable agiain if possible. I will take better pictures of the forks when I get home and post.
 

Yes.

They can either be re-chromed by a specialist in hard chroming, or the pitting filled and rubbed smooth. On that latter method, someone posted here quite a while ago of some miracle product that actually worked for them (can't remember what it was called, though!  ).

Paint scheme in your bike in th background looks familiar. .Maybe look for a used pair.  Might be more cost effective than rechrome.  I'd be interested in the dyi repair too.

My DT has a bit of that. Light pitting sprinkled into the chrome with some rust visible. I was doubtful they could be saved but with some careful filing they have been doing just fine for a few thousand miles now. New seals have not been damaged and no leakage has occurred.

I used an ordinary hand file, about an inch wide. You just want to knock off any edge until the fork is smooth to the touch. Doesn't take much. The chrome is very hard and the file should just skim right over it. It is easy to do with the forks off the bike. Roll the fork back and forth while sliding the file across the tube.

The rule seems to be smooth to the touch. If you can't feel it the fork seals won't either.

Thanks, those were my thoughts too. If I can't feel it than it should be good enough.

Like everything on this bike, the forks are stuck solid and so are the rear shocks. The slide in carb has become one with the body. I have it soaking in mystery oil. The motor was stuck too but i got it lose with mystery oil and some TLC. The bike looks pretty good and you would not think from looking at the pics that it was so petrified.

BTW the picture is from the eBay add. 

I just want to say how cool I think this bike looks and the efforts you are putting into its rebirth!  I look forward to hearing it run soon!

Try cleaning them up with 0000 steel wool dry. That will clean good and won't scratch chrome and give you a better look at that. Just make sure you use 0000 ott steel wool !!! anything less the 4 zero's will scratch the chrome like nobody's business !

 

These are mine. Visible pitting, no filler. No problems though.

A friend of mine who is into vintage MX racing has had success with pitted forks by spinning them in a lathe and sanding them with fine emery paper. He said it leaves a visible cross hatch pattern but the end result sealed well.

Great to hear that there is hope for compromised fork tubes. Rusty forks are usually a deal breaker for me when it comes to looking at projects. And thanks msavitt for the kind words. I was going to use my other machine as a doner bike because I could not get it to run. I broke down and took it to a shop to get it timed (Vape ignition system) I just could not get it but its going pretty well now. So the DT will be its own bike now that  I think I can get the forks to work. I have spark. I just need to get a carb and give it a try.
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