Fork noise and seal leak

Petez13 wrote: Hi thanks for all your replys ,

To the best of my knowledge the forks have been re assembled correctly but will make sure when I do the job again. I think the springs were slightly under length when I measured them.
I'm almost certain that the noise is not the head bearing which are new anyway.
I've bought as mentioned, new seals with a double sealing lip from All Balls
(strange name ) maybe I should have gone for the original ones but I've got these now.

Three questions,
does anyone bother adding air to the forks, I think it's very low pressure.

What weight oil is best, I've used 15w and the forks seemed to have a secondary bounce, bit like an old chevy.

And would anyone recommend progressive springs if so what make?

cheers Pete,

Pete:

Yes on the air pressure: I second what zozo states. heavier 15wt oil and about 10psi on the air pre-load. Do no exceed 36PSI on the front forks. Also using a wide scale low pressure gage is good. A normal tire pressure gage is not accurate enough to adjust the fork pressure at the lower scale. i.e. in the 10 to 20 PSI range.

The progressive springs are a good add on to this bike. Also a low cost approach to replacing the old spring rate.

Handy info on fork oil. I have a question though about getting the fork apart. I tried the process in the FAQ where you take a 7/8 in head bolt and make your own holder but can't get it to attach to the damper. I'm thinking I will have to get an easy out of about 1 in. diameter to hold the damper while loosening the bottom Allen bolt. Good idea?

HotRodSixxer wrote: Handy info on fork oil. I have a question though about getting the fork apart. I tried the process in the FAQ where you take a 7/8 in head bolt and make your own holder but can't get it to attach to the damper. I'm thinking I will have to get an easy out of about 1 in. diameter to hold the damper while loosening the bottom Allen bolt. Good idea?

Hello HRS:

For this fork design, many use an allen head male socket with an air impact and spin the dampener bolt out, without using any holder on the inside of the fork leg.

I use the square pyramid holder from Kawasaki to hold the dampener in place. I've had this tool for 30 years and it works quite well.

The air impact works both ways, just don't over-torque during installation. It will spin for a short time but friction eventually takes hold.

Regards.

Todd.

Thanks, Todd. I'll give it a try, Jake

100% what Todd said with the impact gun, try and do this with the fork still assembled as this holds the damper while you undo the bolt.


Ian

Thanks, Ian. I'm surely going to do that on fork no.2. I have the first one apart though so I'll try putting some pressure on the damper while using the impact.