New fork springs (Installation)

Howdee Chaps,

Just invested in some progressive fork springs and some preload caps. I will be doin this this afternoon, so a prompt reply would help a lot.

When i received the kit i got the spring, preload cap, spacer and metal plate about 4mm thick which the preload pushes on. When i remove my old spring will i just have to remove the cap and spring, then slot the new spring down so it sits on the spring seat or will i have to hook the spring seat out. Also when you fill them back up how much oil do you put in. The box which i got the spring in said 100mm from the top of the fork tube. Is this measurement when it is compressed or extended.

Any other info would very much help

Cheers

Hooligan (Yeehaa)

You just need to hook the spring out.

How many miles has your SV done? If it's done a few then you might want to think about removing the fork legs so you can drain all the oil/sludge out of them.

What year SV? http://www.sv650.org/sv_manuals.htm These manuals will give you the figures for required airgaps.

My SV is 2002, and has done 8000miles. I am going to take all the forks off and change the oil also. Just curious on what to do.

Cheers for the manuals and prompt reply.

The thread on the caps is quite delicate so be a bit careful - it's all to easy to strip it. Other than that it's fairly straightforward.

Ian (Dr Squid) and Mark (Rictus) are guru's on this sort of thing

[timwilky]

I had my suspension sorted by Elmurfud at the weekend and watched with interest, Ohlin springs/ suzuki adjusters.

Put an alignment mark on bottom yoke/fork tube with marker pen, so that when you refit it is in the same position in the yokes.

Forks off and drained. after 9000 miles the oil/crude in there had to go,

Cut off 13mm from the original space tubes to make up for the adjuster caps and new plate

With forks fully compressed, fill with oil upto 104mm from the top of the tubes.

Refit and torque up everything.


Dead easy, not rocket science. The interesting thing was the setup of the suspension afterwards.

Hope I am not giving away any of Elmers secrets.

Before fitting front wheel, he measured the distance between the yoke and the top of the fork lowers, The Elmur rule for normal road riding on the SV is that you want about 32mm of compression when sat on the bike in the riding position. He did a quick adjust of the preload to give about that. He then bounced the suspension down and allow to settle and measured compression, bounced it up and again measured and then sets preload to average 32mm for the 3 values.

Remember that you are now measuring the distance from the top of the fork lowers upto the bottom yoke so you are aiming to have a measurement of the original dimension less 32mm.

Then he did the read end, (Still stock shock) I lift the bike off the deck so no load on rear and he measures distance from end of swinging arm to a fixed point on sub frame. I then get back on and assume the riding position. Again he works with static position, bounce up/settle, bounce down and settle, and again sets the preload to give the same 32mm of compression.

It was like a totally different bike afterwards. Having seen him do it, I would have no worries about doing my own in future

did you get spacers as well as fork spring lengths differ and you may coil bind the new springs if using the old spacer length

not sure of the actual size or length of it for a new set of springs someone should turn up and say somthing

at the worst drop the spring in and then the spacer and cut so it would be bang on level with the top of your fork leg

then you need nice quality pressure to put your top caps back on

but wait and see whats posted first like i say im not 100% sure on length

Hi,

I just got mine a few weeks ago so I am still braking it in. (dropped it already by the way with barely 200 miles on it )
I will look into that as well when I rack up more miles.
Check the following web site it should help:

http://www.kuhnco.com/sv650/SV/ModificationsWhole.htm

Take Care

I was going to do mine this weekend but alcohol intervened.

Well i did my forks yesterday, it must have took about 2 hours and it was done. That included the forks being removed, oil changed and new springs.

I was really suprised in how easy this is.
First put your bike on a rear paddock stand, then loosen all the bolts on the front wheel, caliper bolts and the preload caps. Jack the front of the bike up using a car jack mounting it on the engine block at the bottom. Lift it so its about 5cm from the floor. Remove callipers, mud guard, then the wheel. Becarful not to snap the lug on the speedo mount.
Once all the above is removed, undo the yoke bolts on the bottom clamp and top clamp. SLide the forks out one at a time and work on them.
Firts remove the fork then unscrew the preload cap, There is a slight bit of presure from the spring so be careful. Compress the fork leg, then remove the spacer, spring washer then the spring.(A metal coat hanger is ideal). Once everything is removed you can drain the old oil out. Compress and uncompress a few times to get all oil out. Leave upside down for about 5minutes. Once drained, top up with new fork oil. Leave 100mm from the top of the fork when fully compressed. If it is above it will not move freely, it is better to leave at 100mm or below. E.G 110mm.
Compress and uncompress to make sure there is no air in. Once there is no air bubbles coming up when you compress it, you can install the new spring. Install the spring the, most copressed end first. Then the sping washer, the spacer sits on top, then a metal plate then the preload cap. If it is a normal cap with no adjustment it goes straight onto the spacer rather than the metal plate. Once all components are in situ, u can add the cap. Be VERY carful not to cross thread it, as the threads are very fine. (If you have adjustable preload caps it will be easier to screw the preload right out before trying to put the cap on) When this is complete fit the fork back on the bike and remove the other one and repeat the same procedure.
Once both forks are done, put them back on and tighted all the bolts to specification in hayes manual.

All thsi was done in about 2hours start to finish, and the results are great.

Good effort Hooligan and good write up to.