Gen II fork spring replacement

[jerry1]

Looking at the Maintenance manuel it appears that the fork springs can be replaced without removing forks from triple clamps is this correct anyone ever do it? Fork oil was recently changed.

Jerry

 

[bluesdog]

The springs are not attached. The lower part of the spring rests on a flange which forms part of the cartridge assembly. I rebuilt mine a year ago using the AK-20 kit from Traxxion.

The spring is under some preload, so the top cap must be removed carefully, so as to not stress the final few threads when unscrewing it.

The damper rod assembly must be detached from the fork cap, using an appropriate wrench, (iirc it's a 14mm). Be careful once you release the rod from the cap to prevent it from sinking down into the fork tube! It's a bit tricky to hold onto the thing while you remove the spring, and you may want to have a small plastic spring clamp at the ready to hold the rod. Don't worry if it slips away from you -- it won't go too far! I forced the end of a short length of plastic tube over the end of the rod so I could retrieve it. During reassembly do not over tighten the jam nut on the damper rod. Lee at Traxxion offers this tip regarding the damper rod:

"..the OEM fork caps on the FJR1300 are designed so the cartridge rod bottoms out inside the fork cap. Then the jam nut is tightened. DO NOT use a torque wrench to tighten that jam nut. You will destroy the cartridge rod since the jam nut is steel and the cartridge rods are 6061 aluminum. Snug the jam nut but do not wail on it with much force. I cannot stress this enough."

Of course, there should be no weight at all on the forks -- block under the engine, strap bike to some hold downs or use some other method of securing it so there's no danger of it falling.

Remove springs slowly, allowing oil to drain off into the fork.

Take your time, and good luck

hth