Fork Disassembly

I have a 81 kz650 and I'm trying to replace the fork seals. The problem I'm having is that the allen head bolt on the bottom of the forks is just spinning the insides. Any tips as to how to remove the stubborn bolt?

When I replaced the fork seals on my 1077 KZ650 I made a tool to hold things from spinning (See image below). Later, a company offered a tool that would do the same thing (see "DAMPING ROD HOLDING TOOL" at www.racetech.com/page/id/70 ). Before trying either tool you need to first determine if your bike's forks have smooth round holes or hex shaped holes. I know at least some of the later bikes had hex shaped holes and I don't think either tool I mentioned will work on those. Ed

I stuck a camera down the tube. it looks like a tool like that would do the trick, I don't immediately have the stuff for it, but I'm sure it would work. Thank you!

1981 KZ650-CSR forks.
The head of the inner cylinder looks just like a 12-pt 19mm socket. 19mm = 3/4" approx.
I used a LH threaded bolt w nuts & long ratchet extensions. Some guys weld a nut to the threaded end of a long bolt.

I've managed before by using a broom handle on the inside and an impact wrench on the nut. I've also manage just with an impact wrench and nothing else in the past.

I don't have an impact wrench. The first time doing the job, I used a hardwood rake handle carved into the shape of a cone. But the tool in the pic fits perfectly & makes disassembly easy.

Tiger2126: just an fyi. for the bottom allen bolt, you should use an 8mm brake caliper allen socket or hardened allen socket. A cheap allen wrench could twist & damage the bolt head.

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Tiger2126 wrote: I have a 81 kz650 and I'm trying to replace the fork seals. The problem I'm having is that the allen head bolt on the bottom of the forks is just spinning the insides. Any tips as to how to remove the stubborn bolt?

Hand-held impact tool or an electric / air impact gun:

Put the fork upside down on a piece of wood and apply some downward pressure

Use the hand-held or air / electric impact gun to remove the bottom bolt.

Just my $.02 I’ve had hit and miss success with that method. Sometimes I get lucky. But it’s not 100% effective for me. So I’ve purchased or made the correct tool to hold the damper rod.

The best results will be from using a really good impact gun.

I recently used this one to remove the pesky, threaded fork top caps from my '82 GPZ1100.

They literally came out in a couple of seconds. It has 1050 ft. lbs. of bolt breakaway torque.

It's heavy but incredibly powerful.

www.harborfreight.com/85-amp-corded-12-i...ct-wrench-64120.html

Most of the time I just loosen the allen screw while the fork is assembled with spring, then I pull the fork apart

This is what I came up with, bolt welded to some rebar with a rebar handle welded to it, it works pretty good, I just wrapped some tape around it so it wouldn't damage anything inside. I had tried all the non-special tool methods before making a post, but there's a good chance that the forks have never been apart before I got a hold of the bike. Thanks for all the help with this, this is a pretty cool community!

I just discovered a pretty good trick on my K750H and needed to share.

Take a 5/8" spark plug socket and remove the rubber guide from it. Put it on your driver backwards and use a bunch of extensions to get it down the tube.
Worked like a charm for me.