Bent scat bat forks fix?

[tundrabeagle3]

Got a scat bat frame on cl the other day and just noticed the bars are bent to the side . I was thinking of beating it with a rubber mallot with the forks positioned like in the pic any better way of fixing my forks? Don't have a lot of tools like a press, anvil etc. Any tips , I am also considers a trade for a another frame thanks
tb

 

[jeep2003]

i think you need to completly disassemble them and see exactly what is bent and go from there. trying to bend them back assembled is likely to make it worse

 

[Bikerscum]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^this

 

[tundrabeagle3]

How about putting a piece of 2x4 in between the forks the same size as the tire and hitting it with a rubber mallet kinda like in this thread

http://www.oldminibikes.com/forum/strictly-us-vintage/87205-nice-original-bbbbird-2.html

 

[george3]

You will end up making them un-fixable.

 

[jeep2003]

its not hard to take them apart just take the wheel off and the springs unscrew from the cups allowing the lowers to fall out

 

[Mark G]

i think you need to completly disassemble them and see exactly what is bent and go from there. trying to bend them back assembled is likely to make it worse

its not hard to take them apart just take the wheel off and the springs unscrew from the cups allowing the lowers to fall out

That is exactly what I did with my front end that was tweaked. You HAVE to get it dis-assembled, otherwise it will just get worse. I straightened my lowers in a shop press, but you can get the same result with a vice. Just clamp them in, and slip a larger, longer (at least two feet long) piece of pipe over the end and slowly bend back into shape. DO NOT USE HEAT! It weakens the metal.
I did the same thing with the upper part, as one of my bars was bent back quite a bit. chuck the triple tree it in the vice, grab the bent bar and push in the opposite direction. you would be surprised how easily these things bend back. Good luck!!

 

[jeep2003]

yup they bend pretty easy when you do it one pipe at a time with a cheater bar

 

[tundrabeagle3]

I fixed the bent the forks back by following your guy's advice. They look pretty straight much better than before . I went to put on the front wheel on the forks and relized that the tire rubs on the forks :doah:. I believe it is the original tire because it is a Carlisle made in USA ... but im not sure. Can I just run the tire in the forks until it makes itself fit? Thanks guys for the advice it has helped me out a lot so far .

tb

 

[Bikerscum]

DO NOT USE HEAT! It weakens the metal.

I've seen this stated a number of times, I don't quite understand it.

Cold rolled steel, DOM tubing, 1010, 1018, etc. is as soft as you can get in the first place. It's low carbon steel.... nothing there to be hard, or get hardened.

Why would heating soft steel make it softer?

Now, heating high carbon steel, like springs red hot can ruin them, burn the carbon out & make them low carbon steel.

Are minibike frames made of higher grade, such as chrome-moly tubing? If not I just don't get it.

:shrug:

 

[jeep2003]

I've seen this stated a number of times, I don't quite understand it.

Cold rolled steel, DOM tubing, 1010, 1018, etc. is as soft as you can get in the first place. It's low carbon steel.... nothing there to be hard, or get hardened.

Why would heating soft steel make it softer?

Now, heating high carbon steel, like springs red hot can ruin them, burn the carbon out & make them low carbon steel.

Are minibike frames made of higher grade, such as chrome-moly tubing? If not I just don't get it.

:shrug:

yea you might make it weaker by quenching it but not by letting it cool on its own. the main thing with heating it is to not get it so hot that it distorts the tubing. pretty easy to do that when your bending it around. In reality your probrobly making it weaker by bending it without heat. but genrally you dont need heat anyway unless its crazy bent. Like anything minibike this isnt rocket science. I had a handlebar on my cat snap off a couple weeks ago and i barely noticed. rode it home no problem. Its never going to fail so catistrophicly that your gonna injure yourelf unless your doing somthing stupid anyway.
I wouldnt run the tire like that though. the tire wont stand for that for too long. sidewalls melt and blow out pretty easy when theyre rubbing

 

[tundrabeagle3]

I used a long tube to bend the forks back with out heat. I am going to get a new tire for the front, looking at the chen shing 4.10x350-6 studded tire instead.
thanks for the help
tb