Forks Fluid Replacment

[HaulinAshe]

Jeff, how should the 'action' feel when upstroking the dampner rod? Smooth, no pulsations whatsoever or a bit herky-jerky? Hard to definein words. Silky smooth or some 'hesitation' along the stroke?
Regarding GenII bushings - Dave at GP Suspension mentioned that they were designed to keep the inner and outer tubes better aligned, but they don't work as well as the Gen1 single bushing, and they wear quickly. Mine were completely gone, and I mean all the way, after less than 25k. YMMV of course, based upon the type of riding you do (or don't do)!

Don,

Action should be very smooth and linear. No jerky, no hesitation "spots" except at the very extremes of travel.

And you're right about the Gen-II bushings. IMO, I think they wear much faster than Gen-I.

Only need about $10 worth of special rebuild tools to take a look. I purchased a $7, 2" o.d. tailpipe with .050 thickness walls, 18" long, from Advanced Auto for installing the new bushings. I took a calipier along to measure the wall thickness and they had one pipe that was too thick. Also need a 2" dia. pvc pipe, about 18" long, for installing the seal and a 2" pvc coupler for dust boot install.
The rest of the disassembly is easy. Remove the dust boot, remove the snap ring, put fork in a vice and slide hammer the bushings and seal out all at once with the fork tube.

90% of the time the process you describe works. Personally, my bike has one lower fork casting/tube that is tight as hell on the middle bushing. It simply will not disassemble without popping the oil seal first and applying appreciable heat to the casting. The other side works just as you described.

 

[dcarver]

Thanks for the reply Jeff. Looks like I'll be disassembling soon.

 

[Bustanut joker]

********,

I want too honestly be concerned with your problem, however.. If your ***** *** was up here where the snow and cold limits your riding to nine months a year...

This wouldn't be a big deal would it?

Gosh I love that autographed sign you klowns sent me right now.. :lol: :lol: :lol:

:****:

:jester:

 

[RadioHowie]

********,

Around here, that's entirely too non-specific. When you typed that, about a dozen heads popped up and said "What?"

Gosh I love that autographed sign you klowns sent me right now.. :lol: :lol: :lol:
:****:

:jester:

And where do you "love" that "sign" the most? In the bathroom? Or the stable?

:wub: :finger:

 

[SkooterG]

Finally got my forks squared away and found out what the problem was with the notchy travel on the one.

The rest of the story: I had some Traxxion Dynamics AK-20 fork cartridges around since buying them from a forum member not too long ago. While I wasn't going to install them quite yet, since I had to have a shop deal with my forks after the dampening cartridge problem, I figured I might as well have him install the AK-20s.

So out came the GP Suspension valving, and here is what the fork guy found. Below is one of the GP rebound valves. He said he'd never seen this happen before. A first for him.

He said for the above to have happened, there must have been a lot of pressure build-up, or in other words, that the rebound valve wasn't working properly. So using the rebound rod, he tested and said that there was something wrong with the needle inside the valve. It was stuck, as there was no 'springyness' like on the other rebound valve. So I guess I'll send it in to GP for repair.

I'm just glad to have good functioning forks again. BTW, he said my bushings were shot and replaced them. They didn't look all that bad to me, but then what the hell do I know.

 

[HaulinAshe]

Yep, never seen a seal do that before. Seen them blow completely off and go swishing around to be hammered into pieces. But NEVER seen one hang around in the slot for abuse.

Leave it to ScooterG!

 

[johnny80s]

but then what the hell do I know.

How to *** **** a sheep while riding a motorcycle.

 

[doctorJ]

That is weird. Let us know what you think of the AK 20s too. And let us know what GP says about that cartridge later on. I wonder if they have seen that happen before too.

I'm not really unhappy with my 08 FJR in its stock form right now, but since I'm not too far from Jeff (haulinAshe) if I do decide to do something with the front and/or rear, I'll see if I can pick his brain or add to his pocketbook for some help with that.

doctorj

 

[NSrider]

Thanks for the info. I guess, since I have not been happy with mine since the upgrade and the fact that they do not stroke very smoothly, it's time to pull the forks and take them to the suspension shop. Also curious what GP has to say about this as well.