Fork Tube Polishing

[CraigS]

I have a couple of dings in the inner fork tube on one side and that seal is leaking. Not sure if it's related or not, but either way I want to polish out the nicks. Any suggestions on how to go about it? I can start with fine sandpaper and progress to steel wool, do I need to polish on a buff beyond that or are steel wool scratches OK with the seals?

[Placerville]

I'd make them as smooth as possible. If that means hitting them with a buffer (after fine sanding the nicks out) to ensure that you don't have any leaks, I'd do it.

[wingless1]

I had to fill some rust pitting in mine (used a plastic/steel substance simliar to jbweld but harder and machinable) - then I sanded with 1000 grit, 1500 grit, then polishing compound. The smoother the better, but some micorscopic "texture" is not going to be a problem-take a look at how rough industrial grade hydraulic cylinders are when new.

[jdvorchak]

I had an 85 aspy that was leaking bad from the left seal. When I got the fork tube apart I noticed some scratches that I thought were too deep so I tried some emery cloth. I figured what the heck if the tube is ruined I won't hurt it with the emery cloth. I got the kind that is about an inch wide and on a roll about 30 feet or so. I tore off a piece about a foot long and started buffing. I held an end in each hand and buffed across like the old time shoe polishers would do in movies. Kept the cloth moving up and down over the scratch. In a very short time I couldn't see the scratch anymore and I couldn't feel it either. Put is all back together, with new seals, and it was fine for thousands of mile. I sold it a year later but no problems noted. Now I did not do any buffing other than the emery cloth and it ended up shiny as new. Which was a surprise to me. But I did finish and I gave the entire tube the same buffing treatment with the emery cloth mainly to make the surface look uniform and also cleaned some dirt/grime and rust from the top part. Made inserting the tube into the triple tree smooth as glass.