Fofk shimming article

[The Doktor]

Many years ago, there was an article in, I believe, Cycle magazine or possibly Motorcyclist, about how to shim the bushings and other tricks to minimize stiction in the forks of the GS 1000 & 750 series bikes. I could swear I've seen a copy of it somewhere in the forum, but I can't find it. I've searched the archives, but no luck. Any help out there?
Thanks.

[RJ]

You may want to respell "fork".

[1980GS1000E]

I remember that article. I used strips cut from an aluminum can behind the fork bushings and it really made a huge difference on my '84 Kawasaki 900 Ninja.

[tkent02]

I remember that article. I used strips cut from an aluminum can behind the fork bushings and it really made a huge difference on my '84 Kawasaki 900 Ninja.

Can you explain this a little bit?

[sharpy]

If i wasnt cleaning up ill have a look at my old mags for the article. They where using feeler gauge strips to "shim" the lower fork bush to take the slop out.

[1980GS1000E]

Can you explain this a little bit?

Sure. On my Kawasaki, there are bushings positioned on the inner fork tubes at the bottom. They are secured to the inner tubes in channels and the outer tube rides on them. They look like small tubes about an inch long and are constructed so they can be opened enough to be removed from the fork tube once you take the forks apart.



It is at the bottom of the framed area in this parts fiche diagram.

The forks were slightly sloppy even after fitting a fork brace, so, following the article, I removed the bushings and shimmed them by using a strip cut from a soda can. This, as luck would have it, was perfect and tightened the forks up beautifully.

[tkent02]

Sure. On my Kawasaki, there are bushings positioned on the inner fork tubes at the bottom. They are secured to the inner tubes in channels and the outer tube rides on them. They look like small tubes about an inch long and are constructed so they can be opened enough to be removed from the fork tube once you take the forks apart.

[ATTACH]3906[/ATTACH]

It is at the bottom of the framed area in this parts fiche diagram.

The forks were slightly sloppy even after fitting a fork brace, so, following the article, I removed the bushings and shimmed them by using a strip cut from a soda can. This, as luck would have it, was perfect and tightened the forks up beautifully.

So the shim goes inside the bushing expanding it and makes the clearance tighter?

[Joe Nardy]

If I recall correctly there were two parts to this mod. One involved shimming one of the bushings (lower?) and the other involved dimpling the other (upper?) bushing with a punch to effectively increase it's thickness. I remember doing this mod to my '83 GS1100 in the basement of a house I rented in '85 or '86. The article would have been in Cycle, Cycle World, or Motorcyclist magazine. The guy who came up with the procedure was Pierre DesRoches, I believe.

Thanks,
Joe

[1980GS1000E]

So the shim goes inside the bushing expanding it and makes the clearance tighter?

That is correct.

[chiphead]

Look here:

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=118217

[Mark whiz]

Yeah - chiphead posted the link to a copy of that article I put in awhile back. It works well.

[The Doktor]

Fork shimming article

Thanks everyone. I did this years ago when I did a restoration/upgrade on my 78 GS1000, and it does indeed work. I need to get into the forks of my vintage Husky race bike this weekend, so I wanted to be prepared. The shim stock (12" long) is readily available at industrial supply stores like Fastenal, in case anyone else is interested.
We motorcyclist lost someone very special when Pierre Desroches died in the helicopter crash. He was a very innovative tuner, mechanic and writer.:-D