eliminate fork air collar

[Nails]

I'm putting in Progressives. Has anyone else tapped and plugged the air hole in the forks? I don't want to tote around any superfluous crap.

I think the decreased air volume would be good. (I'd go with 160mm instead of 145mm.)

[Thadbaker86voyager]

Previous owner had cut tubes off and welded holes shut. Welds weren’t good and oil leaked all over top headset area, more like sprayed! Anyway had to disassemble to find problems and I rewelded them. Leak fixed, no problem since. I personally would rather see them left as is, or as you were thinking tapping and plugging. I was conserened that the heat from welding would warp the rings and cause them to leak. However that wasn’t a problem, since it is more of a spot weld, less heat. Good luck!

[Nails]

After thinking about it some more, I'll use some gasket material, a little black ultra, and a hose clamp. A plug could only screw in the thickness of the tube -- not mess with the spring. I'm not too confident of that.
But all that air crap is coming off the bike.

[Mr Jensee]

Neal I would just leave it as it was factory. It wont hurt anything and so much easier to live with. Try not to over think it. PS trying to contact Gator Mike to see if he and his wife can make it on the 6th of July.

[Nails]

Oh, you don't know me. I still think about all the badges and crap I took off. And the radio, including its entire harness. And the goofy handlebars -- now I got simple tubing like god intended. And a bunch of other extraneous crap that I don't want.

The shop offered to spot-weld those holes, but I think I can seal it up without messing with the fork tubes (such as filing a weld to fit through the triple clamps). Forevermore, I'll pretty much constantly think about how much lighter and simpler it is without that superfluous air crap. (Psychologists probably have a name for this.)

Waiting on brake pads/lines from Don. I'll take the fairing off, again, tomorrow -- too hot right now. Hope to find a loose wire that's messing with the cruise, probably a connection I made when I moved the controls from the "tank" to the fairing. Also gonna defeat that OD switch so I can cruise in 4th if I want.

Then I'll replace the oil pan gasket and clean up down there, put different ends on the mufflers, and finally get a darkside rear tire. Maybe LED running lights, dash, and headlight. It's coming together nicely, just about a year late.

Gator Mike is already "in". He was on some of our emails. (Wish I could show off my bike!)

--
Neal

[Mr Jensee]

Thanks for letting me know. Maybe someday you can show off your bike to me.

[gscoggan]

What about JB Weld?

[Nails]

Thought about it. Thought about brazing, too. I guess I had reservations about irreversible changes.
I got the forks back, and one tube was screwed up from a PO getting all gorilla on it -- I didn't notice it. I doubt the seals will last very long, and I'll have to do this all over again. I'll just weld them next time, just like the shop recommended.
So I need a right fork tube. And I need to put the front end back together -- installed the SS brake cables, LED (and associated electrical hacks), and some other work (mostly other LEDs) while the forks are out of the way.

[Mr Jensee]

Fork tubes along with other fork parts are still available new from Kawasaki. https://www.kawasakipartsnation.com/oem ... front-fork not cheap but at least you will know they are not scratched or rusted.

[Nails]

> not cheap

Yeah, I could buy a lot of seals for $400.
(But I would like to have it done right.)