bikemonkey
I live for the CABE
Most of the shops I worked in back in the 70s and 80s had a fork jack to straighten forks damaged in T-bone collisions. Now I am back on the bench again, I knew that sooner or later I would need one.
When this '59 Jaguar came in for restoration, the owner related how he nailed a ditch at the bottom of a hill and his bike rode funny afterwards....ya think?
I could not do this resto without repairing or replacing the fork. Repair was my first direction as I knew paint matching this faded fork with a replacement would be difficult. Also, the long pinstripes on the fork blade are terrific and I don't even want think about replacing them.
I realize that bending forks is not optimal and I informed the customer about the risks of the fork separating at the crown, either during the repair or under stress later. I was told the risk was acceptable to them and try repair first.
Called a couple of shops about 30 miles away but nobody 'round these parts has a fork jack, so I made this one with a $17 jack from Harbor freight and a spare 2x4. I wanted my own for the shop anyway. The construction design was something I did after thought experiments when driving back and forth to Raleigh last week.
Finally, something I made out wood actually came out ok and worked the first time (you should see the crappy bookcases I have made in the past).
So, if you need a fork jack, just go make your own!
Construction notes:
I drilled holes in the metal base plate of the jack and attached it with screws to the wood base plate. The two 2x4's are spaced in the center with a few 1.25" wood block spacers so the supports just fits around the down tube at the bottom bracket. I also made slight semi-circular cuts in the supports at that junction so they would not slip off the bb shell under pressure.
The wood supports are nailed together with large nails that pass through drilled holes in the spacers.
I used a dummy axle up front with a cut off handlebar end as a spacer to distribute pressure all along the axle. I flattened the bar spacer on a small section on one side in the middle so it would rest squarely on the metal jack tip.
When this '59 Jaguar came in for restoration, the owner related how he nailed a ditch at the bottom of a hill and his bike rode funny afterwards....ya think?
I could not do this resto without repairing or replacing the fork. Repair was my first direction as I knew paint matching this faded fork with a replacement would be difficult. Also, the long pinstripes on the fork blade are terrific and I don't even want think about replacing them.
I realize that bending forks is not optimal and I informed the customer about the risks of the fork separating at the crown, either during the repair or under stress later. I was told the risk was acceptable to them and try repair first.
Called a couple of shops about 30 miles away but nobody 'round these parts has a fork jack, so I made this one with a $17 jack from Harbor freight and a spare 2x4. I wanted my own for the shop anyway. The construction design was something I did after thought experiments when driving back and forth to Raleigh last week.
Finally, something I made out wood actually came out ok and worked the first time (you should see the crappy bookcases I have made in the past).
So, if you need a fork jack, just go make your own!
Construction notes:
I drilled holes in the metal base plate of the jack and attached it with screws to the wood base plate. The two 2x4's are spaced in the center with a few 1.25" wood block spacers so the supports just fits around the down tube at the bottom bracket. I also made slight semi-circular cuts in the supports at that junction so they would not slip off the bb shell under pressure.
The wood supports are nailed together with large nails that pass through drilled holes in the spacers.
I used a dummy axle up front with a cut off handlebar end as a spacer to distribute pressure all along the axle. I flattened the bar spacer on a small section on one side in the middle so it would rest squarely on the metal jack tip.
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