85 250es front forks frozen

[Honda_Dude]

Yah. same guy here with the frozen forks. I haven't had alot of time to work on them since I removed them. Well, today I cleaned the insides (from the allen bolt on bottom). They were full of 24 year old dirt. I don't think they have had fluid in them for some time. I believe this trike sat for a LONG time. It was bought by a farmer in 1985.(It's an 85). 2ND owner had it for 1 month. I'm the 3RD.

I'm just wondering, anyone here ever dealt with frozen forks? I've got all of the dirt/gunk out and filled them with PB Blaster to soak for a few days. I'm just thinking I may have to take them into work and use a press on them to free them up ?????

I'm having a hard time so far even trying to depress the cap to remove the lock ring and check the spring. May need a press for that ???

The outsides actually look pretty decent but that dirt has been in there awhile I believe.

I'm going to replace all that's shot inside of course with the seals and o-rings at minimum. I'm just not ordering anything until I get them freed/torn down.

I've got a manual and such, just never done forks before, so any tips, pointers, ideas, suggestions, etc..... would be welcome.

Maybe I'll post an ad for some good used forks or check ebay. This trike runs G-R-E-A-T other than this fork issue. THANX.......

[oscarmayer]

the time and effort and $ you'll spend trying to fix them, you may be better off just getting good working ones off ebay.

[Honda_Dude]

Well, that's what I'm looking into. For the new seals, rings and boots, it's only about $112.00 plus shipping. That's provided all of the springs and such are useable inside. It doesn't take much $$ to tear into them but yah I have started checking for some good used ones.

Externally, mine look good, but what comes out may be pretty ugly.