Quote:
Originally Posted by b-man
Maybe buy a new fork.
Or send it to a heavy equipment repair outfit and let them handle it.
Don’t hurt yourself trying to save your company a few dollars.
|
If you are making a decision for an employer, this is good advice.
Consequences of a bad decision are clearly different than if you are your own boss.
In theory, the risk for weakening the fork by straightening is low IF the bending was uniform along the fork AND the plastic deformation strain was low. If all the deformation happened in the tight root radius, risk for weakening by straightening is much higher. If the deformation strain is spread out along the fork, it will be much less likely to cause irreparable damage than if the strain was highly localized on the OD of that small root radius. But this is just theory and visual inspection might miss the truth. Not worth risking a failure if you are making a guess for your employer.
Sirrotica - are there shops that can "certify" a repair by "proof load" testing? Or is fatigue risk a big factor that makes it difficult to certify a repaired fork? Just curious.
Mike