XJ1100J Fork trouble, advice needed

[DGXSER]

They all try our patience in one way or another. the inner should pull out, and then you can use a vice grip or the like to turn the remaining bolt out of the hole.

Not sure what grade that bolt is. I would recommend going to a local smaller hardware store and not Home Depot or Lowes for a replacement. The stuff those big chains sell is made of some really crap pot metal.

[Smash]

Thanks, reminds me to breathe and not torch the thing. That was a bolt straight from Yamaha! Gonna look around for another set of forks. Not sure these are work messing with! If others think otherwise, please say so!

[DGXSER]

Well, see what the price is, but just think of this, any set that is "reasonably" priced...ie..cheap, probably will need new fork seals.

Yep, stop, take a breath or five, drink an adult beverage or two. Then sit and think for a bit. If you still have one fork together, you can disassemble it, and look REALLY carefully at every detail of how it comes apart including angles and direction parts are facing. Pictures are great, worth a thousands words they say.

[crazy steve]

If the threads are bad in the fork damper, there is enough 'meat' to allow tapping to a 5/16-24 size for a fix if you don't want to track down a replacement. I don't think you can go oversize in a metric, as the socket head then gets too big and won't fit into the countersink; the US capscrews use slightly smaller heads. You'll also need to find a 5/16 copper/aluminum sealing washer; try a hydraulics place or industrial supply.

As was mentioned, do look at the sealing surface in that hole; if it's boogered up, you might try JB welding an extra washer in there....

[Smash]

Thanks guys. No decisions (besides which beverage) shall be made tonight. Everything was good and clean when installed for sure, learned that the hard way on my '88 concours.

Only one set of forks on ebay. Any more XJ1100J forks that come my way needing seals will be sent to a shop!! I don't get paid enough for that grief! Lol.

[DGXSER]

Bad thing about he shop is they probably won't know any more than you do about how to do it right, but then, at least if they dork it up it is on their bill!

[Smash]

Exactly. It'd be hard to find a shop that will touch it though, most shops around here won't work on anything older than 15yrs.