beauskie wrote on 08/29/12 at 14:06:06:...but the heart of the question that i am asking...
I think what these guys are al saying is that there isn't really anyone who makes a springer front end that will work easily for the Savage.
If you have the skills, time, and money of course you can make anything work, but fixing your fork seals; even paying a shop to do it will be VASTLY easier than doing a complete front end conversion.
However... If you want to look into it further, here's where I might start:
The guys at VOODOO vintage had a girder front end listed on their website a while back; I'm pretty sure it's custom made by them, and can be made to fit the Savage to your specs. I'm also pretty sure it was over $1,000. I don't see it there now, but here's their site. You could dig deeper, or maybe contact them if you are interested.
http://www.voodoovintage.com/products.htmlThere are also LOTS of places online outside of this forum to find helpful info. I would do a general Google search for "Girder front end conversion" or "Springer front end conversion" and also look for chopper/bobber websites and forums that might have info. ChopCult.com has a lot of cool bikes and projects posted there, as well as a lot of how-to threads. search through theior forums and you're bound to find someone whose done something similar. It'll be useful info, even if it was done on a different model of bike.
http://www.chopcult.com/default.phpHAVE FUN!!