pitted lowers ......should have said wind deflectors on fork sides

[John Hopkins]

upon receiving my 2001 drifter from tn I noticed the lowers on the front end appear pitted almost like they had been rusted or maybe rock hits. They are shiney almost chrome looking but useing a magnet they are not steel chrome plated so they must be alluminum. Do you think i should try sanding the pits out of these and rebuff them out as I am pretty sure they are aluminum.

has anybody else seen these pitted on the aluminum ones. Pretty strange the aluminum must be pretty soft. No other marks on the front end of the bike paint or anything.\\ Sorry guys did not mean the fork tubes but the add on wind deflectors that mount on the fork tubes below the windshield

t6

I think you are talking about "Lowers" which are used in conjunction with the windshield to stop the wind from bouncing off your tank and knocking your head off..

If so my advice is to take them off the forks, clean and polish the forks and the lowers brackets and then when you refit the lowers get an old innertube and cut bracket sized strips of rubber to fit between the bracket and the forks, this will save future damage...If you polish out the pitting on the brackets you can paint them with clear varnish to keep them shiney and just wipe them over with pledge once a week.

John.

[chief]

Lowers or lower fork legs??  I want to change the title of these posts if its lower fork legs...

[Troll]

You're talking about the lower fork legs, correct? The aluminum alloy they use is actually quite hard. It's seems different from one side to the other. The caliper mount side, took way more time and effort to polish than the right side. The clear coat deteriorates over time, turning the leg to a nasty, mottled grey. Removing the clear coat is not as easy as you might think. I tried several different strippers on mine, and the only thing that worked was good old ZipStrip. After I got the clear off, I was pleasantly surprised at the condition of the finish on the metal....but I polished it with brown tripoli and then white to finish. They came out pretty nice. I'm working on the cases on my W650, trying to remove black salt stains from them...I bought the bike from a guy in Florida....takes time and patience.

[49Reo]

Are they clear coated? it so, it could be the pitting is just in the clear. If the aluminum is pitted, most body shops could buff them out easy enough; when my cousin restored his Beemer, he re-polished the aluminum parts, which were in pretty rough shape; it turned out like new.

Regards,
49Reo

[Drift1]

T6......I'm really not sure on the Drifter, being I'm a wanna be pt mechanic,aka back yard mek-a-nick...LOL.I know my brothers Harley had the same pitting your describing here.That's the route he went,sanding the forks down and them repolished them.His scenario turned out like new,but I"M not sure if were talking about the same material here.There's plenty of men here that either have or have owned Harley's in there time that could better help you out.

[teamster6]

upon receiving my 2001 drifter from tn I noticed the lowers on the front end appear pitted almost like they had been rusted or maybe rock hits. They are shiney almost chrome looking but useing a magnet they are not steel chrome plated so they must be alluminum. Do you think i should try sanding the pits out of these and rebuff them out as I am pretty sure they are aluminum.

has anybody else seen these pitted on the aluminum ones. Pretty strange the aluminum must be pretty soft. No other marks on the front end of the bike paint or anything.\\ Sorry guys did not mean the fork tubes but the add on wind deflectors that mount on the fork tubes below the windshield

t6