Front forks. HELP NEEDED!!!!!!!
 

Hi all,

I have a 1999 SV650s, In an atempt to sort out the front end, i decided to change the fork oil. I followed the haynes manual instructions to the letter, got the forks out of the bike, and drained the oil out of the top of the forks. There was so much thick black muck that came out, I decided to dismantle the forks completely....

Big mistake!!!!!!!!!!

The damper rod bolts at the bottom of the forks are just spinning round. I phone the local Suzuki dealer and he said i'm gonna have to take the forks in and pay :shock: to have the bolts retightened as a specialist tool is needed.

Has anyone else had this problem, and can it be sorted without taking the bike to the dealer?

Re: Front forks. HELP NEEDED!!!!!!!
 

:shock: D'Oh... #-o

I'm sure someone on here can help... Good luck ;)

Re: Front forks. HELP NEEDED!!!!!!!
 

There's no need for any special tools, but you have to remove the damper rod bolt before you remove the spring. The spring will hold the damper rod in position while you remove the bolt. Altso, completely reassemble the forks before you reinstall the bolt. You will have to remove the fork caps and springs again to refill the forks, but that will only take a few seconds.

Join the club. Not sure what I've done but was all going really well but when pumping to drain all the oil, my forks now seem to be stuck fully compressed, can anyone help with this...? Bit strange because nobody has mentioned any problems like this before.

Oh by the way look at http://www.svrider.com/tips/emulators.htm this article suggests a way to prevent the damper rod spinning....

Most likely the oil lock piece is stuck in the upper leg because you compressed the fork too much. If you can't free it up by yanking the upper and lower legs apart, you must disassemble the forks again and free the oil lock by hand. Don't compress the leg too much next time around...

I have heard of this happening before. brute force seems to be the solution

Just worked it out, after reading the haynes manual it mentioned holding it in a vice and giving it a good tug, I just wasn't applying enough pressure.
Cheers
Trevor

:shock: You didn't go to public school did you Trev :?:

:lol: :lol: :lol:

I got both of mine locked like that, just muscled them apart. Then I warned Jimmy not to do it when we were doing his and guess what? :)

If you're having damper rod issues, you can try and apply a little force with a broom handle.

when i did forks all college we used a long (about 1m) long allen key type thing (special tool) there should be a bolt that goes into the inside of the fork legs and that attaches to the bit at the bottom which is spinning you need to rig somethinf up to that size of bolt (a allen key taped to a metal pole)then you can hold it in place while you do it up from the bottom.

i have only ever done this on bandit 6 forks so it should be a similar design, pm me if you need any more help

i hope that is clear enough