I started the install of some RM 250 forks on my new 1996 DR 350. Aside from a little hassle with wheel bearings and wheel spacers it was fairly straight forward.....until now. For the life of me I can't seem to get the clamps to line up correctly. No matter what I do the front wheel wants to shoot off to the left. I'm back at the point now where everything is pretty much finger tight or less.

I can't find any signs of the clamps being bent but they are sure acting like it. I bought a 92 DR 350 parts bike that had the forks on it... Well kinda. They were pretty much just losely installed, incorrectly I should add. If I need to buy new clamps it won't be the end of the world since I only paid a couple hundred for the parts bike which only had bad cam journals and beat up plastics.

The week before I did the TM 33 pumper swap, I bough a new one from EBay, wow what a nice improvement that was. I'm really wanting to get past these forks so I can move on to the rear suspension work. I should mention that I'm not sure of the year RM these forks came off of but they are upside down forks and with my crude measurements are most likely 46mm, maybe 47.

Any advice you guys can give would really help me out, thanks.

So you are saying that with the axle clamp, upper tube clamps and stem all loose and the the lower clamp torqued you still can not get the wheel straight????????

If so something is bent.

Bruce

Yes.

Thanks for the reply, I was figuring that it shouldn't be that tough. Also, looking at that picture the clamps clearly look bent. Not sure why but in person it's not nearly as visible as it is in that photo. This now turning into a hassle since I have no idea what year these forks are. I tried looking at examples on eBay but they must have the years listed wrong on many of these forks. 2001 was a dead on match, only problem is the RM's didn't come with Showa forks in 2001, so much for ebays help.

First you need an accurate measurement of the fork tubes.
I am guessing you don't have a caliper so take one of the legs and find someone who can measure it.
Most any mechanic, bike shop, neighbor, ask around.
Then when you have the measurements (some usd forks are different sizes at top and bottom clamp)
Look at this fork diameter chart to narrow down what you actually have.
http://scandalon.com...diameter-chart/

Thanks for the info and the reply. I plan on picking up a caliper this weekend, or at least pricing them.

I found a very clean RM 250 for sale that is just roller. The price is silly cheap and it has more then enough parts to make buying it over simply buying new clamps make sense.