Start the pinch bolts in backwards and put a piece of flat stock in the split. Tighten bolts against the stock to spread the clamp. Should help free things up.
^I ran out into the garage to give it a try. I tightened the bolt in as directed against steel stock in the slot as tight as I dared with a closed end wrench (pretty tight), twisted, pulled tapped with hammer on top with spacer - no joy. I gave it another shot of penetrating oil. How much force should I tighten the bolt? Many thanks!
Be careful. I wouldn't get too eager on that, especially if the triple is a casting. All you want to do is relax any tension it might have. Let it soak and occasionally tap the clamp with a plastic hammer. If you can get a strap wrench, you could try twisting the tube to free it up.
again, heat and kroil will be your friends in getting the leg to budge . . . and those triple trees are kinda fragile (learn from MY mistake and make your own new ones)
Yeah, I didn't think that really cranking on the pinch bolt was safe (and glad I didn't do it!). I'll keep up the soaking (the other leg was really rusted on the lower clamp) and tapping it while I round up a strap wrench (excellent suggestion!). Online and locally there seem to be a lot of cheap strap wrenches that don't even survive one use. It's too bad for me my neighbor the plumber retired and moved south - he would probably have had 3 good ones! Many thanks again, guys!
Take the top bolt (the 1 3/8" one) and loosen a couple turns. Then whack it (the bolt) with a dead blow hammer a few times driving the tube downward in the trees. You'll have to remove the bars to get a good shot at it.
Well, unfortunately I didn't do EXACTLY that. I had removed the top bolt, and had used an old, wasted deep socket as an extension/buffer to hammer the fork tube down. I was unable to twist the tube at all, and the only way to move it was by hitting it ALL the way down (it never seemed to loosen, and I continued to oil the tube). There was A LOT of rust in the lower clamp, and quite a bit in the upper, too. Unfortunately, the socket bouncing around buggered up the first thread in the "fork plug". Lacking a 16mm x 1.5 rethreading tap, I guess I will Dremel out the damaged part of the top thread (my diesel mechanic neighbor suggested that) unless someone has a different idea. Worse come to worst, I guess I can replace the "plug". Here's my "handiwork" (Plenty of rust visible) I've never had to deal with such a stubborn fork leg before. I don't know what else Mr. Murphy has in store for me after this...
Success! A friend of mine lent me a tapered end mill larger than the plug opening. We pushed a scrap of foam rubber into the fork to catch the metal filings. I used an air die grinder with the mill and cleaned up the top thread area. I could start the nut by hand, and worked it down with Tap Magic. Then took out the nut, used a shop vac to suck out the metal scraps and pulled out the foam. Now I can start putting the front end together! Thanks to all!