I know what you mean... ours looks fine, and we're both good about not abusing the nosewheel, but I do fly into grass strips from time to time, and there's always that Oshkosh taxi experience. Full aft stick all the way, but it's still pretty bumpy. It would be really, really nice to know whether they just suddenly fold up when they fail, or if there's a period of time when a crack is visible. Not knowing that, it seems like pre-emptive replacement might be the way to go.Like many others on the forum I decided to install the new fork preemptively. I just finished servicing my nose wheel fork last month and it looks fine.
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However, from photos of the failed forks, and a mangled one I have seen first hand, the old design just crumples when it fails. I really think the failures are due to neglect and abuse, but an off runway excursion is always a possibility for any pilot.