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Front end freaked me out a bit!

SoonerSoftail

SoonerSoftail

Active Member
A couple of weeks ago I had oil all over the left side of the bike when I got home from my favorite hangout. After searching a bit I found it coming from the left fork. Seal right? Ordered lots of parts to upgrade suspension and chrome. Everything had arrived and I started taking everything apart Sunday morning. When I took off the tins I almost had to change pants. It wasn't the seal. The left pinch bolt had snapped and the left tube had unscrewed itself and dropped a couple of inches leaving the spring showing. When I got to the right side I found that pinch bolt had also snapped off and that tube had unscrewed a couple of turns. SCARY! I put it back together with new grade 8 bolts and marked the tubes so I can check for rotation without taking anything apart.
 
Wow, you are one lucky dude - hope you immediately went out and bought a lottery ticket!

Do you recall any incident that might have caused both bolts to fail like that? Something like hitting an above average pothole or something similar?
 
this is nothing new been going on for a long time. on my 92 i installed grade 8 bolts and i always look at every thing when i wipe it down. good erason to clean up bike after every ride and put your hands on everything including spokes.
 
Dr. Dolittle said:
Wow, you are one lucky dude - hope you immediately went out and bought a lottery ticket!

Do you recall any incident that might have caused both bolts to fail like that? Something like hitting an above average pothole or something similar?
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Not really. Oklahoma City roads can be the pits but I haven't hit anything that bottomed out or such.
 
I have seen this before twice as well. My brother-in-law had this happen on his 02 Fatboy and one of my riding buddies had it happen with his 03 heritage.
 
You are a very lucky man indeed!

Is it possible the pinch bolts were over torqued, the service manual calls for 25-30ft/lb on top and 30-35ft/lb on the bottom.
 
gator508 said:
You are a very lucky man indeed!

Is it possible the pinch bolts were over torqued, the service manual calls for 25-30ft/lb on top and 30-35ft/lb on the bottom.
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Could have been before I got it. I've never had the forks off until now.

Also, after getting everything back together with Progressive mono-tube cartridges it rides great. Should have put these in a long time ago.
 
SoonerSoftail said:
Could have been before I got it. I've never had the forks off until now.

Also, after getting everything back together with Progressive mono-tube cartridges it rides great. Should have put these in a long time ago.
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All's well that ends well!!
 
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