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Thread: Fork leak means tail swap time!

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  1. #1
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    Fork leak means tail swap time!

    My front fork was leaking, might as well use these tail swap parts I’ve been accumulating! S tail on Ss. This is just the figment mock-up. I think I may have a shop just move the bottom hole up to align, and reinforce with some steel pieces on the backside of the of the rails.

    266DC86A-1C69-4445-B57F-68A84F0C1DFC.jpg

  2. #2
    Senior Member rb70383's Avatar
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    More pics. Gonna look good. When you get done. Don't forget your fork seals are leaking...

  3. #3
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    Fork seals... yeah.

    I need one of these for an S:


    The Ss fuse holder takes up too much space. The S version looks "shorter". Right now I'm fitting everything up, going to cut my plastic tray bottom like Nitto12Ss did in his build, move the shock to the other side, all the little stuff.

  4. #4
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    The guys at St Paul Harley Davidson had the smaller Firebolt tray fuse holder, so I was able to pick that up when I ordered new fork seals. I could drop a lot of money on that website, with all the Buell parts they still have.

    Right now I’m going back and forth on picking up a cheap drill press to modify my S seat rails myself, or send it to a machine shop to drill in some nice clean holes... it looks like the integrity of the rails will be ok just moving the hole up about 1/8 inch to line up with the frame - there is a lot of meat around that hole. If something pops up on CL or something I might have to go for it.

    I did rotate the rear shock so that the reservoir is on the left side, and cut the bottom of the tray for clearance.

    I’ll probably remove my fork before the weekend and get some oil to prepare for when the seals get here. I also ordered the fork tool from Traxxion Dynamics, so I have a little time to work with before that arrives.

    Now I need a seat for an S. The fitting looks a little different online, my Ss has parts in the front to hold it down under the frame that the S seats don’t, I’m hoping there won’t be too much modification needed, but we’ll see. I may go the Enay route with the cheapest thing I can find and then have it leathered later when I’m all sorted out, or winter.

    That’s the update.

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  5. #5
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    Bracket arrived, much better:
    B5794772-4733-4565-99CD-C9D65A38E5CC.jpg

    Fork seals arrived. Going to get some oil and pull the fork, ready for tools to come.

  6. #6
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    forks done. different route on the tail swap: need to use brackets to raise seat - the gab between it and the tank/cleaner plastic was pretty bad, had to raise them up about 3/4 inch to get it lined up right. Brackets are done, just trying to figure out how I'll fill the gap. Never made a poly mold, thought about some thick rubber cut to fit, not sure what to do there. Anyway, also modified my rear brake reservoir, I never liked the stock look.
    IMG_0282.jpg
    bracket fits snug into the half circle.

    IMG_0283.jpg
    the seat rail is bolted to bracket, but also rests on the bolt head from the frame mount.

    IMG_0285.jpg

    IMG_0289.jpg

  7. #7
    Senior Member rb70383's Avatar
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    nice nice. Did you do the forks> I had to make a jig to compress them down. Figured next time I'll make it a little more sturdy

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by rb70383 View Post
    nice nice. Did you do the forks> I had to make a jig to compress them down. Figured next time I'll make it a little more sturdy
    I was trying to avoid that question, but what the heck. I bought the tool to get it apart pretty easy, didn't need a jig or anything else other than the vice to hold it. When I disassembled I found that the dampening rod wasn't connected. It's just a pinch up in the cap that holds it, and it's not exactly something that I want to fool with. Was it that way before or after I disassembled? Heck, could have been me, although it isn't hard to get it apart, it's not like anything needed to be forced. I bit the bullet and got some black ones off Ebay, although I think they're a little longer - it's what I get for not just finding a used fork and borrowing the cap w/rod and rebuilding what I have. The part number is SS/Long, but I don't know if the later years used a longer fork. They're also a little different to adjust at the cap, but fit fine and my brake line, etc. I thought I'd be done with the seat by now and got anxious.

    Still anxious today because the brackets fit good and I think I have it good enough to put back together and ride for the summer. I'm thinking of having a poly mold custom made over the winter to fix the space and let the seat rest on = give a little more sanity knowing my seat rail isn't resting only on a bolt/bracket - possibly do some other things but just want to get back to riding for now. When it's not raining in the NW, got to take advantage of it- I'll get some more pictures when I've got it all back together. It's all mixed color, but paint is another thing that can wait for winter!
    Last edited by ROOK; 08-04-2019 at 05:44 PM.

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  10. #10
    Senior Member rb70383's Avatar
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    That looks good. Oregon? I'm in Wa.

    What about getting a scrap set of rails and cutting off a section to fill the gap? Or use it to get something 3d printed?

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