I want to swap out the aluminum lower forks on my 06 Wide glide with chrome lowers.
I have the Clymer manual and the Harley Service manual. Both of them only explain how to do it if the entire forks are removed. I want to know if I can keep the uppers attached and just swap out the lowers. Also.. while I am in there.. are there any upgrades I should do?

 

I had mine Chromed. A lot of shops will try to swap you, but I was not comfortable with that. "THE" best upgrade I have done to my bike was to install Riccor Intimator Dampners. There is a great thread on this just recently. Fantastic results.

 

If I understand you correctly you want to swap the lowers while still keeping your fork tubes in the trees. If that's the case I think the tricky part would be driving the fork seals in once you go to reassemble it among other things. I would think it would be possible but I would also guess it would make the job more of a PITA than it needs to be.

As far as upgrades I would definitely do springs. I completely regret not upgrading mine. Im going to go back in and add springs and Riccor Intimator's in the near future.

 

It takes only a few extra bolts to get the fork tubes out of the trees. As long as the bike is in the air high enough the tubes will slide right out making your job a lot easier. Leaving them in the trees really saves you no time. And also it will make removing the sliders easier because you have more of a slide hammer effect to work with instead of rocking the bike all around. Again just easier off of the bike.

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Thanks for the info... I wasn't sure if there was an alignment issue I would have to deal with if I remove the forks from the trees because the service manual doesn't make any mention of it. They state that after the forks are serviced I just slide them up into the trees, make sure they are 1/2" from the top of the top bolt to the top of the upper tree and torque them down with the pinch bolts. THEN.... install the wheel and the front fender.
I would have thought I shouldn't tighten the bolts until the wheel is installed.

If that's the case... I'll just remove them and work like a gentlemen.

 

You will need to align the front end regardless of how much you disassemble. Not sure exact steps on the 06 but if you don't align it properly you may/will have a stiction issue with the sliders.
I would take the tube out as well it will make life easier.

 

Just follow the manual, have done many and there is not alignment procedure. Some people try a method not described in any manual I've seen, but they do it while installing the front wheel. I believe they only snug the bottom cap nuts and push the front tire up against something solid and compressing the forks and releasing. Then final torque the cap nuts.
Again I don't do it and never have had a problem.

 

Really?!?

Do you know what the hole in the front axle is for?

 

It is only used to set the front forks on a dual disk set-up. This guy has a twin cam wideglide that only comes with a single front disk.

 

You have no clue what you are talking about. The purpose of the hole is to align the forks on the wheel, if not done correctly you may cause what is called stiction of the sliders.
It is not just for dual disc setups. I have a single disc Wide Glide as well, my axle and every other axle has that hole just for that purpose.