Fork rebuild, what a difference!

[Doze]

I just rebuilt the forks on the 1150. I put in a set of Progressive Suspensions' springs and some Leak Proof (brand name) seals. the seals are unique in that they actually float on the fork tube, not a friction fit like the factory ones. Supposedly they are guaranteed for life, so we'll see, maybe I'll never have to buy seals again. Anyway what a difference. Virtually no dive when I get on the brakes hard, and I don't have to worry about grounding the exhaust collector in a fast right hander any more. The front now rides like a new bike. Now for the rear.
Doze.

 

[saaz]

Yes, I may have to take the plunge and get some new springs. All the ones I have are below spec and I need to rely too much on air in the forks....

 

[Anonymous]

I think that the bike I am buying is going to need those replaced also. How hard was it to change them out? I have a 1980 750L.

 

[daveo]

I have a good pair of Progressive springs for a 750, $35 and shipping

 

[Doze]

On mine changing the springs was as easy as pulling the old ones out and dropping the new ones in, along with a 2" spacer made from pvc pipe, to set the preload correctly. The seals were a little more involved but not bad.
Doze.

 

[Anonymous]

doze,

where'd you buy your seals and springs from?

van

 

[Doze]

Dennis Kirk, I can get the part #'s but I left the catalog at work ,so it'll have to be tomorrow.
Doze.

 

[Anonymous]

A cousin of mine suggested replaceing the top tube (inner) to illiminate the effect pitting and rust has on the seals. Has anyone done this? How much does it cost for two new tubes? How difficult an operation is replacing the tubes? Where can I buy them ( '82 750TZ)

Thanks,
ByteRisc

 

[Doze]

I replaced the fork tubes on the 750 I used to have witha set from Forking by Frank. Very good quality machine work and he'll even do custom lengths. 8) The stock size cost me $150 at the time, 2 years ago. I would definitely recommend these as an alternative replacement to stock.
Doze.

 

[Anonymous]

thanks Doze!

i'm definatly going to look into it.

Van

 

[SqDancerLynn1]

Byterise I have a deal if you need fork tubes. Tubes from a 82GS750 not sure what model, they are equiped with the antidive. The tubes are very clean. they are NOT from an L model so they should work $30 + shipping

 

[Anonymous]

My forks currently don't have antidive ('82 750 TZ).
I don't know a lot about forks, but I hear bad thinks about anti-dive, and don't know how to remove it if you sent them to me. Or even how to get it to work if I couldn't remove it.

Sounds like a great deal if anyone suggests a solution, I'll take you up on it.

Thanks!
Herrick

 

[mdole]

A cousin of mine suggested replaceing the top tube (inner) to illiminate the effect pitting and rust has on the seals. Has anyone done this? How much does it cost for two new tubes? How difficult an operation is replacing the tubes? Where can I buy them ( '82 750TZ)

Thanks,
ByteRisc

I've had good luck just polishing the forks with Emory cloth to smooth small chips and pits that cause the fork seals to leak.

I polish them with a side-to-side motion not up and down on the fork as that could make a score that could bypass the seal wipers and cause leakage.

This only works on surface pits and nicks.

Mike

 

[Anonymous]

Re: Fork rebuild, what a difference!

I just rebuilt the forks on the 1150.Anyway what a difference. Virtually no dive when I get on the brakes hard, and I don't have to worry about grounding the exhaust collector in a fast right hander any more. The front now rides like a new bike. Now for the rear.
Doze.

*** You could also use RaceTech emulators to get proper compression damping in your forks. I red great things about them on GSBikes Yahoo Group from a guy raceing his GS 1000 in New Zeeland.
I converted my front end to GSXR 1100 and have great results, but rows of small bumps are still a problem, so the next step is installing emulators this winter.

Adam M.