Russ, I have examined the nose fork and lower tube assembly I have and verified it to be unairworthy. It has the heavy duty fork and the chrome is good, but there is an area near the top of the tube smaller in diameter than the rest, where the seal rests with the strut fully extended. It may have been bent there in an off airport landing that snapped off the nose gear at the engine mount. I won't even use the fork without a magnetic particle inspection for cracks and a dimensional check.
