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Fork springs and seals. How difficult is it?
- l0g1c
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- Hanging on for dear life.
I have the manual and have wrenched on cars most of my life, so I thought it would be no problem, but the two people I've asked so far have told me to have the shop do it, citing how important it is to be done properly and the possibility of screwing up my forks.
Is it really that big of a deal? I've done the research here and it seems like the two biggest hangups are stubborn seals and not having the "special tool" to unscrew the inside bits.
I really don't have the money to splash around, so I was hoping I could gain a little more insight before making my decision.
'81 KZ750 LTD
'72 CB350K
Omaha, NE
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- sramsey216
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Sorry, I know that isn't much help other than advising having a bike shop do it.
1980 KZ1000 LTD
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- Saki Jockey
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Rob A.
550 A4
GTA,
Ontario, Canada
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- JMKZHI
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- JMKZHI
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- l0g1c
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Much obliged, guys.
'81 KZ750 LTD
'72 CB350K
Omaha, NE
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- kneedragger80
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The manual should have an exploded view of the forks which is very valuable.
A couple quick suggestions from my (limited) experience:
1) Don't fret over any special tool to hold and remove the inner cylinder. I got lucky and the first scrap of wood I grabbed worked nicely. Use a long enough piece that you can insert one end into the fork and have enough length left to clamp/screw the other end to your work table.
2) Removing the seals. I tried making a "seal remover" out of nuts/bolts/washers. Don't waste your time on that or a seal puller. My seals were really shot and rusted. I ended up tapping the face of the seal with a punch to loosen it and then levered the seal out with a wrench. Took me 45 min for the first, about 30 sec for the second.
3) Setting the fork oil level. I needed 232 mL oil in each tube or almost exactly 1/2 of the amount in the bottle. The forks were still off the bike so I laid them against the wall approximating the same angle that they'd be on the bike. I ended up using a busted carbon arrow shaft I had close by. The vanes on the shaft kept it centered and I had the levels exact after 10 min.
Hope this helps
80 KZ750E
84 GPZ1100
NY US
. . . I used to do a little but a little wouldn t do it so a little got more and more . . .
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- kneedragger80
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80 KZ750E
84 GPZ1100
NY US
. . . I used to do a little but a little wouldn t do it so a little got more and more . . .
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- PLUMMEN
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Still recovering,some days are better than others.
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- KraZ440
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82 KZ440 LTD
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- JMKZHI
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- KraZ440
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The 81 750-4 caps thread into the upper tubes (no circlip there).
10W fork oil is too light - IMO - Anyone need a quart of 10W? :pinch:
If my caps were threaded onto the upper tubes, I would have been able to complete my fork project in one afternoon (lucky bunch of ... ). Anyway, since the rest of the parts look close enough to what I have on my bike, I would agree with the original poster that his task is doable.
Good luck with it.
82 KZ440 LTD
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