Straightening triple clamps

 

When I put the forks into just the lower triple clamps of my DRZ &
sight along the sides of the fork tubes, they are non parallel.  It is
clear that the lower triple clamp is slightly twisted.  I got another
pair off Ebay & found them to be even more twisted.  This is 4 sets of
DR/DRZ triple clamps that I have seen tweaked (2 of those were
Paula's ;-)   These things seem to be damn soft.

Rather than get another twisted set off flea-bay, I think I'll just
try to straighten mine.  They seem to bend so easily that it can't be
too hard to straighten them.

I'm thinking of trying this process:

-Place the top of the forks into the lower triple clamps only.
-About 12-18" below the triple clamp, insert a BFL (2x4 or steel tube)
between the fork tubes.
-Twist like hell.  Periodically check for parallelism between the fork
legs.

Anyone else had success with straightening triple clamps?

-Jeff-

 

HellSickle asks:


No.  In a past life I, and the guys that reported to me in
the service department at Yamaha-Suzuki of Clevo, straightened
tons of fork tubes.  The triple clamps were generally bent too
so we tried to straighten them many times.  I don't remember
a single time that we were successful  The problem is that both
the bend that's there and the bend that you put in are not
easily measurable.  A fork tube you can put on V blocks and
measure with a height gage.  You need some sort of polar
angle device to figure out where a fork tube in a triple clamp
is wrong and then you need to be able to put a force on in
the right direction.  In addition, which side of the triple do
you take to be the "right" one?

So if I was you, I'd do exactly what you suggest and it'll
be close ehough if the tubes go into the upper clamp
without a BFH.


Go fast. Take chances.
Mike S.

 

On Fri, 14 May 2010 10:35:06 -0700 (PDT), sturd


How much for some aftermarket clamps????

Mike Baxter

 


No matter what, I would not use the fork tubes as a pry bar... Make
something else for that.

 




I was originally going to do that, but thought the forces would be too
different from the ones that bent them to have a predicable result.
It really needs to have a torsion applied in the same manner that
caused the bend in the first place.

I will make sure the fork tubes are adequately padded.   The key is to
have a sense for strength of the tube vs. the triple clamp.   It's all
about ZAMM.  Be one with the metal.