Fork disassembly help

[XSive_speed]

Hi guys

I'm trying to replace the seals on my front fork. The ones on the bike leaked when I bought it, and I thought it would make a nice winter project.

I have the forks off now, but I can't get the bottom bolt to thread out. It turns, so I assume the internal parts are slipping and preventing the bolt from threading out. Any suggestions on how I can get that bolt out?

Thanks

[natemoen]

The internal shaft has a hex slot in it that needs to ne held on place. Don't remember the size though.

[crazy steve]

If you don't want to fabricate a 'tool', temporarily reinstall the fork spring and cap, crank the preload up (if you don't have air-assisted forks), remove the bolt, theh finish disassembly. The tension from the spring will usually prevent the damper from rotating.

If I'm tearing a set of forks down, that's the first bolt I take out....

[natemoen]

I did try that on mine Steve but it didn't work. Not saying it doesn't work for you or others, just saying it doesn't work for me and might not for him. I think I used a 3/4 inch nut jammed on to a piece of threaded rod by 2 smaller nuts on either side. Could even probably jam a wooded broom handle down there and hold it enough.

[81xsproject]

It's been a while but IIRC an impact gun will get it right out without needing to go in with a tool from the top.

[fredintoon]

It's been a while but IIRC an impact gun will get it right out without needing to go in with a tool from the top.

Hi proj.,
yeah, the air impact gun works for me too.
It whizzes the bolt so fast that the fork tube's own inertia stops it from turning.

[crazy steve]

I did try that on mine Steve but it didn't work...

No, it doesn't always work (but it hasn't failed for me yet). Some newer forks don't have any sort of 'hex' or anything to prevent damper rotation, so it's this trick or an impact wrench...

[XSive_speed]

May be time for the big guns ...

I tried putting the spring and cap back in place, then turning the screw. Unfortunately no improvements. The screw still turns allong with the internals.

I'll have to try the impact wrench tomorrow, but this may require bringing the compressor inside for a couple hours warm up tomorrow. My pathetic little asian made compressor is so stiff it is popping the overload breaker before it can get up to speed due to the cold weather. Oh well, live and learn.

I'll let you know how this works.

[petejw]

i think the size of the bolt to use is 3/4inch/ 19mm from memory
ive also heard of others jamming a broom handle
down the guts of it to jam it.

before disassembling, i normally give that bolt
a cpl of whacks with a hammer, helps break the seal,
also you'll probably find the bolt has been locktited,
loosen the bolt
prior to removing the spring.

theres been a cpl of write ups before
maybe try a search and see what u come up with.

[Pat Kelly]

I used a wooden broom handle to hold the inner pieces while I loosened the allen bolt. Has worked on several forks.

[bikerphil]

If you have Standard model forks, just make a tool like below with metric nuts and bolt, and get out your long socket extensions. The head of the bolt is 19MM...



Special forks don't require the tool.

[Eveready1100]

there's a full write up about the tools here http://xs1100.com.au/forum/index.php?topic=456.0
but to cut a long story short,
11/16ths head for the Special's forks - should be the same for RH's. 17mm is too small.
3/4 head bolt for the standard forks
Trust me, you do need a tool for the Special forks

[XSive_speed]

Forks apart, but strange things happening...

If you have Standard model forks, just make a tool like below with metric nuts and bolt, and get out your long socket extensions. The head of the bolt is 19MM...

Thanks for the information. This tool is exactly what I needed. Now I have the forks apart.

Next problem - there is something funny going on inside my forks. When I took them apart, I noticed considerably fewer parts than the manual shows.



I seem to be missing either the cap bolt ring (5) or the cap bolt washer (6) (see above pic). Also missing are the cover upper guide (7), cover lower guide (8), and washer (9).

Now this gets a little stranger - As in the pic above, I have air caps on the forks, so I assumed they are air forks. Looking at the sliders, these look like non-air sliders from what I can see in the manual.

Left -


Right -


I also checked the spring length. Both springs measure out at about 20 3/8 in. This would be fine for non-air forks, but too short for air forks.

Does anybody have some ideas about what it is that I'm looking at here?

I'm taking a guess here, but I suspect that some PO decided they like the idea of air forks, so they just put the caps on the standard forks. In the process, they got rid of those inconvenient parts that didn't seem to work right with the air caps. At some later time, somebody decided to do the seals and they got rid of the upper and lower guides. They weren't really doing anything anyway, right?

If anybody has a better interpretation, I would be happy to listen. As is, I think I'm looking at trying to find the missing parts on line.

[bikerphil]

Which parts are you missing off of this diagram? The air and non-air forks use pretty much the same internals.

[XSive_speed]

Looks like the only parts I am missing from this diagram are 11, 18, 19 and 20.

BTW: That is a much better diagram than what is in the manual.