Chopper Rolling Chassis

The rolling chassis is now complete. I’m really happy with the way this is starting to look. The frame is low to the ground, long and narrow. I can’t wait to get the engine in.

The real fun here was measuring, ordering parts, waiting for, and assembling the front end. Using a wire brush attachment for the angle grinder, I cleaned up the stock lower sliders, taking off the ruined finish and giving it a rough surface. I’ll clean them up a bit more and then polish.

I disassembled the forks, and put them back together with 8″ over 39mm tubes. I’m using the stock triple trees (no rake) but needed to get new neck cups and bearings. I struggled getting the cups in, finally resorting to a hand-made neck cup pressing tool using 3/4″ threaded rod, and a stack of 1″ washers welded together on either end. I was able to get the cups most of the way, but will need a press to set the cups into their final position after paint.

I finished up the basic rear axle configuration enough to hold the wheel in place, although I’m going to have to get creative with the axle spacers. The left side is going to need a spacer with a collar to vertically center the axle in the slot. That’s a problem for later.