82 GS1100 Fork spring guide substitute part?

[Rusty Studebaker]

Rebuilding my forks. Opened up the left one and there is no fork spring guide, part number 51172-38010. No longer available from Suzuki and none on Ebay. It doesn't seem like it would be extremely model-specific. Has anyone heard of a substitute? TIA.

 

[salty_monk]

This thing? I bet someone here will have one... I don't even think it's really necessary & I bet you could make something by bonding something inside your Schedule 40 ABS spacer that you'll likely need.

 

[Rusty Studebaker]

Yeah, that's it. Doesn't seem to be a vital part. BTW, that allen bolt on the bottom of the fork is stuck HARD. Not even my air impact wrench could loosen it. This is making it harder to get the old seals out. One is leaky so won't hold enough pressure to blow it out, and the other would not come out even with 100 psi. Maybe torching the bolt is in order?

 

[Nessism]

I wouldn't try to torch that bolt. It's way up inside the fork.

You can make a tool to hold the damper rod by using a spark plug socket, the type with a hex on the outside bottom, then stick some long extensions in the socket, backwards. In where the nut would normally go in. Anyway, the hex matches the hex in the damper rod. Hold that with one socket wrench, then use another, with a hex key bit in another, and torque that bolt out.

 

[Rusty Studebaker]

No worries, I cranked the impact wrench up to 110 psi and both of those bolts came out. Cleaning the parts now and waiting on the springs (Sonic), which are "out for delivery."
To hold the damper rod I used a 1/2 inch drive ratchet, daisy-chained all my 1/2 extensions and topped it with a 19mm male hex socket. Worked great. With the fork resting on the workbench, the ratchet handle couldn't turn so I didn't have to hold it while dealing with the bolt on the bottom of the fork.