In my 23 years, of GS ownership and 3 GSs, ive never had to rebuild forks. Unitl Friday.
Apologies for the lack of pictures, but they all came out blurry....
This project was backburnered, so when I finally got the parts, I eagerly got into it.
I removed the brake calipers, wheel, and since I was replacing the front fender, that too.
Not knowing if / how much I would need to raise the bike to remove the lower fork parts, I put the bike on the centerstand, then slung straps over the garage rafters and hooked them on the handlebars for extra support and safety.
With that sorted, I tried loosening the allen bolt at the bottom of the fork, but the fork bottom spun....
I would later find out that I was beginning to go down the wrong path... I put the fender back on to keep the forks from spinning, and went back after the bolt. At this point, the bolt turned, but I could feel that something inside was spinning, not loosening.
I consulted the factory manual, and it did not show much detail of disassembly. Clymer showed more....and the need for a special tool to hold the damper assembly.....
For some stupid reason, I didnt think this applied to my bike. This discovery was followed by a bit of frustration and anger.
I then recalled seeing here on occasion, homebrewed tools for this, so I gave it a go. I took a piece of 3/8 threaded rod and sandwiched a 5/8 nut between two 3/8 nuts.... too big. I next tried two 3/8 heavy nuts (11/16 wrench size). I could feel then catching a bit, but not enough. I thought it was the mismatch in shape, so I ground the points of the nuts a bit. No good. Turns out they were a bit too small, and I had no 7/16 nuts on hand to try. I ended up pounding the living she-it out of them, which made them wide enough to hold and allow me to complete disassembly.
I did one side at a time so I had one to look at if I goofed up. The slide metals, oil lock, wave washers and seals were replaced,
Assembly was initially a bit tricky because the oil lock and washers initially wouldn't stay put. A little fork oil was all that was needed to keep them in place. If this was done with the forks removed, it would have been a non issue. The last part, driving in the seals was a problem also. Turns out the top slide metal pieces didn't seat properly, preventing the seals from going in. Once that was discovered and addressed, everything slid in. While fighting with the seals, I put a couple of small dings in the fork tubes. Fingers crossed that they dont cause a problem. I filled them with oil and wrapped it up.
Ive yet to take a long ride to check, but did take a couple of short ones to the hardware store. One thing I happily noticed was that I can take my hands off of the handlebars and they dont start into a shake.
I havent been and to donthat in several years......
It took me about 3 hours, with 45 minutes or so figuring out the "special tool"
Apologies for the lack of pictures, but they all came out blurry....
This project was backburnered, so when I finally got the parts, I eagerly got into it.
I removed the brake calipers, wheel, and since I was replacing the front fender, that too.
Not knowing if / how much I would need to raise the bike to remove the lower fork parts, I put the bike on the centerstand, then slung straps over the garage rafters and hooked them on the handlebars for extra support and safety.
With that sorted, I tried loosening the allen bolt at the bottom of the fork, but the fork bottom spun....
I would later find out that I was beginning to go down the wrong path... I put the fender back on to keep the forks from spinning, and went back after the bolt. At this point, the bolt turned, but I could feel that something inside was spinning, not loosening.
I consulted the factory manual, and it did not show much detail of disassembly. Clymer showed more....and the need for a special tool to hold the damper assembly.....
For some stupid reason, I didnt think this applied to my bike. This discovery was followed by a bit of frustration and anger.
I then recalled seeing here on occasion, homebrewed tools for this, so I gave it a go. I took a piece of 3/8 threaded rod and sandwiched a 5/8 nut between two 3/8 nuts.... too big. I next tried two 3/8 heavy nuts (11/16 wrench size). I could feel then catching a bit, but not enough. I thought it was the mismatch in shape, so I ground the points of the nuts a bit. No good. Turns out they were a bit too small, and I had no 7/16 nuts on hand to try. I ended up pounding the living she-it out of them, which made them wide enough to hold and allow me to complete disassembly.
I did one side at a time so I had one to look at if I goofed up. The slide metals, oil lock, wave washers and seals were replaced,
Assembly was initially a bit tricky because the oil lock and washers initially wouldn't stay put. A little fork oil was all that was needed to keep them in place. If this was done with the forks removed, it would have been a non issue. The last part, driving in the seals was a problem also. Turns out the top slide metal pieces didn't seat properly, preventing the seals from going in. Once that was discovered and addressed, everything slid in. While fighting with the seals, I put a couple of small dings in the fork tubes. Fingers crossed that they dont cause a problem. I filled them with oil and wrapped it up.
Ive yet to take a long ride to check, but did take a couple of short ones to the hardware store. One thing I happily noticed was that I can take my hands off of the handlebars and they dont start into a shake.
I havent been and to donthat in several years......
It took me about 3 hours, with 45 minutes or so figuring out the "special tool"
