It's been a while, but I pretty much finished the conversion today.
I ran in to more issues than originally planned (as it always goes).
The KDX stem is a little bit smaller than the RM one so I got it knurled and pressed in with some loctite.
But before I had it pressed in I had the RM lower triple milled down where the bearing sits. The RM one is a little taller than the KDX which would cause the bearing to sit higher, effectively shortening my stem.
With the milling taken care of and the knurled KDX stem pressed in to the RM triple I installed the lower bearing and thought I was on the home straight.
It turns out that during the pressing, there was so much force (15 tons even after heating it) that it mushroomed the upper threads for the top nut.
I ended up reworking the threads with files for hours until the nut fit nicely. Had I taken it back to the machine shop they probably could have fixed it in no time.
With the top nut now fitting well, I made my own shim for the upper triple out of a little strip on galvanized steel sheet. With a little work everything fit together like a glove.
So I regreased the bearings (yes I am reusing the old ones, I'm cheap and they aren't totally shot just yet) and put it all together. Fits beautifully.
My new fork legs required a little cleanup (cleaned seals, changed oil, etc.) but should be perfectly functional now.
Now the only issue left to deal with is the steering stops which are too far apart causing the upper triple to contact the tank at full lock. (it never ends does it
![Rolling Eyes :roll:](./images/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif)
)
I am probably going to get the frame stop welded to widen it so it contacts earlier, we'll see.
I will hopefully take it out for a light ride tomorrow to see how it handles.
I haven't taken pics yet, they will also be up tomorrow.