Observations from my GS550 fork rebuild

[Pendulum]

I'm now finished with the disassembly of my '79 GS550 forks and wanted to post a couple things about the process. Mainly, a part that differs from the bigger bikes.

Firstly, the easiest way to disassembly everything is to break the fork caps loose while everything is still bolted together. The same goes for the 12mm bolts on the bottom of the forks, that hold the axle spacers/sleeves in place. Once those are broken loose, remove the forks from your trees and use a small screwdriver and your fingers to remove the dust shields. Using a standard flat-head screwdriver, remove the snap rings. Next, remove the fork caps, springs, and washer. Drain the old oil.

Now here's the part that's really different from all of the GS fork rebuild guides I've seen. The 550 doesn't have any way to insert a t-handle into the fork damper! The "special tool" you'll see everyone talking about doesn't apply. We don't need it What I did was drill a hole through my wood work bench and ran a bolt (with the widest washer I had) through the work bench and into one of the fender mounting holes on the fork. This held the fork steady while I removed the 2x12mm nuts, the axle spacer, and the 6mm (rather than the 8mm on the bigger bikes) allen bolt from the bottom of the forks.

[cowboyup3371]

That is true Pendulum; or you can put the spring and top back into the fork after draining the oil and use a drill with a socket adapter and allen head socket to loosen the bolt

[Pendulum]

That is true Pendulum; or you can put the spring and top back into the fork after draining the oil and use a drill with a socket adapter and allen head socket to loosen the bolt

I actually looked at my drill for a second and considered that method, but I don't have an adapter to put a 3/8" socket on my drill.

[Missile99]

Exactly Pendulum. I essentially did the same thing except I had someone hold a screwdriver through one of those fender mounting holes while I broke the Allen free. I had already struck the Allen a few times to shock it free then compressed the forks.

[Pendulum]

I just finished re-assembling my forks, and the best way to get the allen bolt in the bottom of the forks to tighten is to put the damper rod, oil lock, and springs/washer all back together and put the cap bolt in. Tighten the cap bolt as much as you can by hand, then install the allen bolt in the bottom (don't forget the NEW crush washer and loc-tite) of the fork. Once you have the allen bolt torqued to spec, then you can pull the the cap bolt back out and fill 'er up with 165ml of fork oil.