fork rebuild

[da prez]

  I do a lot of posting in the tech section to help trouble shoot problems that arise and include my $.02 worth (before taxes).  My brother old2soon had a fork leak and came back from IZ15 to stay with us for a while. Time to rebuild the forks. Have a small lathe so I make the installation tool for the seal and dust wiper.  Rebuild and put forks together and one fork is about 3/4" longer than the other. Take apart look  , read book , repeat and it is still longer. Call a couple friends to try to trouble shoot over the phone.  Wake up at night thinking about it. Repeat the procedure again. It is still wrong. I will condense the rest . Looking and reading I finally see the problem. On the right fork , the spring goes in the bottom and the spring collar goes to the top. I had it reversed. It fit together and will somewhat work. I called the phone-a-friends and told them what I did. I looked at the schematics and followed the instructions (I thought) to the letter. I guess I better stick to working in the Harleys (to support my Valk addiction)  See , even a professional like me can make a mistake.

(that is called self praise. I bet I do not ever make that mistake again)

                                       da prez

[nogrey]

You Da Man! Haven't had the pleasure of a complete rebuild. Just seals and fluids. I'm interested in this nice little seal seating tool you made though......

[Joe Hummer]

Hey Prez...

Recently had a similar issue...sort of.  It wasn't part of a leaking seal fix but Monica's bike was rough riding...and the forks seemed to bottom out.  I talked to a couple of folks and just couldn't figure out why it was doing that.  Took the forks off the bike and started troubleshooting things.  Changed fluid...still no go.  Scratched my head pretty good for a while and when I pulled everything apart again...I realized that the tube was below the spring.  Put it back together the right way...and all was good...had full travel and all.  YAY!!!

Good find...just too bad you didn't talk to me...since I have personal experience...now...  

Joe

[bentwrench]

I think the extended length of the forks is adjusted using rods that are screwed into the fork caps.with the forks in bike w/o the wheel the axle should slide right thru both legs with a mimimum of wiggling.

[old2soon]

At a bit over 105000 miles when we dumped the fluid from each fork it was sludgy. It looked like motor oil that had gone about 8 or 10 G over the recommended mileage. The bushings in both fork legs were rubbed and showing copper and i believe was the cause of the dirty fork oil. NOT placing any blame here at all but we were working from a Clymer manual. At my shop i have the Clymer and the Honda Valkyrie Factory manual. I WILL compare them to each other when i get back to Missouri. Enjoying my Brother and Sister In Laws hospitality here in the North West Burbs of Chicago.   Getting those forks right/correct/ready to go was a CHORE!   The thing we learned is to MEASURE from the top of fork to fluid level. We found out the HARD way that going by ounces overfilled both forks slightly-enough to cause a leak. Well live and learn i guess-THAT which doe's not kill me makes me stronger.   RIDE SAFE.

[da prez]

  Bentwrench , only the left fork is adjustable up to 3/8 of an inch. ( if I mis stated this , I am sure I will be corrected). The right leg has a little breathing room , but the settings according to the book makes it non-adjustable. As O2S stated , fluid should be set by depth. I have a calibrated measuring cup and followed the book and Honda's recommendation , and it was to full. The setting in the triple tree should be set the same.  We learned a lot and I would tackle them again knowing that the mistakes are behind me(I hope). It is a matter of me making a mistake.

                         da prez

[Gryphon Rider]

If you have the springs out anyway, it makes sense to use the measure down method.  I didn't remove my springs when I changed my seals, so I thoroughly drained my forks, pumping them many times and letting them drain overnight, then used a graduated cylinder purchased from a scientific supply company to carefully measure the oil I put in.  I don't think you can measure the ±2.5 cm³ (1 cm³ = 1 mL) without using a graduated cylinder.  I used a 250 mL cylinder which has 2 mL graduations and is accurate within 2 mL.  My forks work fine and are not leaking six years and 50,000 km later.

[Attic Rat]

Ross those hard lesions that we learn will stay with us a life time