I think I didn't describe things correctly somehow.
I'm not talking about the steering pivot joint with the 1/2" or 5/8" bolt.
I'm talking about the slider section of the front fork. One tube slides inside another tube 2-3" back and forth. It is the suspension travel portion of the front end where the coil springs are. Some minibikes DO have nylon or plastic sleeves there. I know for sure Rupps do as I had 3 of them
Here are a couple picts of the kind of front suspensions I'm talking about.
The older looking picture is an Manco Thunderbird front end. The sandblasted taken apart picture is from a Sears Best minibike.
It is interesting how companies have different designs of the same thing. The red Manco suspension has the bigger diameter tube on the bottom while the Sears has the bigger tube on top. Seems like the Manco design is prone to "stuff" getting between the tubes easily, especially water.
Neither front ends
have any sleeve bushings in them. I'm sure 40 years ago when things were new and greased up, they were fine. Now, with age and rust, things get sloppy.
Who makes the sleeve bushings besides Rupp? The Rupp bushings have to big of an outside diameter...
I'll have to mic the tubes to find out exactly what sizes they are but 7/8" outside and about 1" inside diameters are very close.
Danford1