GL1500 Fork Wear Issues

[jmoraniii]

I took my 1997 Motor Trike GL1500 to the shop and was told that with 4.5 rake kit that the forks would have to be rebuilt every 7 to 1500 maybe 20000 miles. I have a stabilizer and good head bearings. The trike has 142000 miles and the kit was put on at 115000 forks rebuilt at 118000 and again at 134000. Since I put the kit on I have scolloped 2 tires early in the wear time. One at 15000 and the represent one at about 10000 miles. I got 26000 out of the tire I had on before the rake kit was put on. Has anyone else run into this problem?

Thanks, John

 

[Gold Rush]

I took my 1997 Motor Trike GL1500 to the shop and was told that with 4.5 rake kit that the forks would have to be rebuilt every 7 to 1500 maybe 20000 miles. I have a stabilizer and good head bearings. The trike has 142000 miles and the kit was put on at 115000 forks rebuilt at 118000 and again at 134000. Since I put the kit on I have scolloped 2 tires early in the wear time. One at 15000 and the represent one at about 10000 miles. I got 26000 out of the tire I had on before the rake kit was put on. Has anyone else run into this problem?

Thanks, John

My Wing is an 1800 but I doubt it makes any difference with this subject.

I installed the rake kit and totally rebuilt my shocks soon after converting my '06 with 74,000 miles on it. 25,000 miles later I was doing some winter maintenance so decided to check the forks to see how much they had worn. Imagine my surprise when I discovered they were more worn then when I did the rebuild. I expected some ware but not that much. The added weight from the conversion and stress from the rake kit sure accelerates the fork ware.

Some guys are doing some form of TRAXXION suspensions. They have a few options you might want to consider. Pretty costly but might be worthwhile. :xszpv: :xszpv:

 

[John Luciano]

Triker 64,000 no rake forks never rebuilt. I live with the road feel.

 

[3W-lonerider]

I have a Valkyrie interstate trike with a motor trike kit trike has 171,000 miles on it. has a 6 degree rake on it and hav'nt rebuilt the forks since it had 72,000 miles. almost 100,000 miles and no wear or leaks.
one thing I have to ask is. when they are rebuilding the forks are they replacing the wear bushings or just the seals.
if they aren't replacing the wear bushings it won't take long for new seals to wear and start leaking.
here's the run down on my bikes timeline.
bought new with 0 miles.
rode it as 2 wheels for the first 72,000 miles.
forks rebuilt and converted to a trike.
at 85,000 miles installed a 4.5 degree rake.
at 152,000 installed a 6 degree rake.