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Need help diagnosing

  • Thread starter Thread starter amontyg
  • Start date Start date
A

amontyg

Guest
My 82 GS550L has something wrong with it's front end. I have no experience at all with front suspension so I need some help identifying exactly what is wrong with my bike.

Basically the front end is just not solid. It's kind of hard to explain, but it seems to me that one side of the fork is more solid than the other, which causes the front end to wobble a little when it hits a bump in the road.

How do I start diagnosing what is wrong with them?
 
Pull them off and open them up. You're probably due for an oil change in the forks anyway. Check steering head bearings too. Basscliff has a link to manuals on his site for most bikes. Make sure the air pressure is equalized on both sides of the the forks.
 
Take them apart, clean them, new seals if required, new oil, make sure the springs are good, or put in new ones. Get cartridge emulators of you want it really nice. It's all in Cliff's site.
 
Don't ride it.

This is common if a fork seal had been leaking and very dangerous to ride with.

change the seals and the fluid, basically overhaul the forks.
 
How big of a project is it to tear them apart? Is it the kind of thing that can be done in one afternoon?
 
A few hours, if you have done them before.
Longer if not, but it's fairly simple.
 
Hi,

There are a couple of front fork tutorials on my website. Have a look and see what you think.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
 
Where is the best place to buy fork seals? Are they all Basically built the same?
 
Buy OEM fork seals, but beforehand look at the whole parts fiche at a site like Partshark. You'll probably want to get more parts while you have the whole fork set disassembled. Not to overwhelm you, but you'll find lots of o-rings and stuff where you'll kick yourself if you don't replace them while it's apart.

With the help of BikeCliff's site I did this last April, including Progressive fork springs, and it cost about $135 to make the forks better than new. If you leave out the new fork springs, it's about $60. Also, instead of getting those little OEM Philips drain screws at the bottom of the fork, go to a good hardware store and get metric stainless hex drain screws. BUT, order the plastic OEM washers that go behind those screws.

amontyg said:
Where is the best place to buy fork seals? Are they all Basically built the same?
Click to expand...
 
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I'm looking at the guides for going through the shocks on BassCliffs website, but I am noticing that my front shocks are not air compressed. Are there any drastic differences in how these will come apart and go back together?
 
amontyg said:
I'm looking at the guides for going through the shocks on BassCliffs website, but I am noticing that my front shocks are not air compressed. Are there any drastic differences in how these will come apart and go back together?
Click to expand...

No none at all; The biggest problem will be removing the hex screw at the bottom of the fork. Either use a impact wrench or use an improvised tool. There are plenty of examples been posted here before
 
Hi,

The only difference is that you don't have the option of pumping excess air into the forks to pop the seals out. You will have to dig/cut them out or disassemble the entire fork. But it's not hard, as long as the damper rod bolt isn't stuck like it was on mine.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
 
Thanks everyone for your help, I have another issue.
I want to replace all rubber parts in my forks while I have them apart but I have found three different drawings of my front forks so far. The manual for my bike actually has two different drawings for the forks, although I think I have narrowed down which one I actually have. The biggest problem is that the drawing on bike bandit's site and alpha sports are both different from any drawing in my manual.
I don't have my own garage to tinker with things, so I really need to make sure that I have the parts I need before I get into things and I don't want to waste a bunch of money buying seals that are not in my forks. How can I identify which drawing is right, and why are the online drawings different?
 
amontyg said:
Thanks everyone for your help, I have another issue.
I want to replace all rubber parts in my forks while I have them apart but I have found three different drawings of my front forks so far. The manual for my bike actually has two different drawings for the forks, although I think I have narrowed down which one I actually have. The biggest problem is that the drawing on bike bandit's site and alpha sports are both different from any drawing in my manual.
I don't have my own garage to tinker with things, so I really need to make sure that I have the parts I need before I get into things and I don't want to waste a bunch of money buying seals that are not in my forks. How can I identify which drawing is right, and why are the online drawings different?
Click to expand...

This is a real quandary, it's happened to me before when some fiches present two part #'s for the same thing because it changed in the middle of the model year. Try looking at the actual part #'s between those fiches, they may be the same even though the graphic looks different. For the part #'s that are different, most of the O-rings and things like that are pretty cheap, so buy them both if you have to. Fork seals are the most critical and most expensive. My bet is that a lot of them are the same, it's amazing how many common parts there are with GS Suzuki's - some 450's have the same part #'s as 850's.
 
So I was just inspecting my shocks a little more in detail than I have previously, and discovered that my shocks are pneumatic after all. The valves on the top of the shock were covered with a black caps, and for some reason it had never occurred to me to try and remove them.
Anyway, I checked the pressure in each shock and they were completely deflated. I pumped them up to the recommended 36 PSI and they did seem MUCH better. I even let them sit overnight and they were still inflated the next morning. Does this likely mean that the seals are fine?
 
First you were talking about forks, now you are talking about shocks.
well1.gif

Don't change topic mid-thread, at least not until the first one is resolved.
please1.gif




If you are talking about REAR suspension, you will have to sit on the bike to see how much the suspension compresses to see if that much air is proper.

If you are still talking about FRONT suspension, I think 36 psi it a bit too much. Actually, ... putting 36 psi in the forks is WAY too much. Not enough to blow the seals out, but it is enough to force the lip of the seal into a tighter bond with the fork tube, giving the (temporary) illusion that the seals are fine.

Also, simply adding more spring, whether it's by adding a preload spacer to the mechanical spring or added air pressure, is not the answer to better suspension. You also need proper damping, which is where the oil comes in. If your oil level is low (or gone), the damping will be compromised and can vary greatly if the damping valve gets into the oil mid-stroke.

Overall, your best bet will be to take the forks apart, visually inspect all the wear points, replace the seals and put them back together with the proper amount of the proper viscosity oil.

.
 
Sorry about changing subjects, I was just so excited about the possibility of my forks being up to snuff that I didn't scrutinize my posts as closely as I usually do.:)
When you order seals and O-rings from a site like bike bandit or parts shark do they typically come in sets of two? In other words, if I put 1 in the quantity field, does that mean 1 set of 2 O-rings, or does it mean 1 O-ring?
 
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