Old Yamaha forks

[Colorado]

I have two questions. The first one is for myself. just tore down, solvent cleaned and reassembled some old '75 MX400 forks with new seals. After doing it I was looking at my Clymers on a couple year newer IT400, and saw that I should have used locktite on the bottom allen bolts. I didn't. Is it safe to ride for a while, or better I tear them back down enough to do that? Will I need to use solvent to get the oil off the threads enough for the locktite to work?

The second question is for a buddy. His son is riding a '73 DT125 that he stripped down, changed to a narrower seat and plastic tank, and layed down the shocks and put on longer ones. He also put longer spacers in the forks to try to stiffen them, but is now wondering if that effected his total fork travel. The front is pretty harsh, and he's going back to the stock spacers, but started wondering if smaller spacers and longer springs might give him a little more travel. Someone else told him that DT250 forks from that year would bolt on and give him more travel, but I'm thinking that the technology was the same and couldn't do much in that regard, and that he'd have to find newer forks with the axle offset. Is travel completely based on slider length, or do other factors come into play?

Thanks!

 

[fretslider51]

Well I cannot answer your question but I think I might be able to help with your buddy's question, having riden and owned both a '75 DT175 and 250. From what I can see, the forks on the two bikes have the exact same mounts and could probably swap forks, but the 250's is maybe an inch or two longer. If you ask me your buddy could easily put another DT's forks on but the benefits of doing so may not be worth the trouble.