Fork Rebuild Help

Hey everyone, I'm new to the community. There's a lot of great information on this site. The bike that my father-in-law is about to give me is a 1978 1000LTD. It's in pretty good shape. However, the front forks are leaking oil, so I'm sure they are in need of a rebuild.

I was wondering if anyone could tell me in detail how to go about rebuilding the forks.

Would a manual help in this case, if so, what is a good one?

Although I'm mechanically inclined, if I feel uncomfortable about rebuilding the forks does anyone know a good person to rebuild them? I'm in Greensboro, NC. I talked to a local Kawasaki dealer and they seem iffy about rebuild forks for a bike that old. I don't want to get reamed either. Hopefully I can get the bike soon and get some pictures up.

Thanks
Matt

Greeting Matt! Do a search on KZR for replacing fork seals and you'll find a mountain of information. Yes, the job will be easier with a manual...search eBay for the official Kawasaki shop manual for your bike (accept no substitutes ) They are reasonably priced, as are the fork seals. The bike you are looking for is a KZ1000-B2 aka 1978 LTD1000.

if you don't feel comfortable about doing the fork seals your self try to find a local motorcycle shop that is not a dealership look for an older established place that works on lot's of different types of bike they will be famialar with how to do your forks no problem. also they will charge around 2 hours labour in most cases which is reasonable which ipreferable to messing them or messing them up your self you will need some special drivers and lifts to do the job right so you maybe better off taking it to a pro. most dealerships don't like there guy's to work on anything older then about 3or4 years old.

Not much luck on a factory manual on ebay. Is a Clymer manual any good?

athlonwirez wrote:

Not much luck on a factory manual on ebay. Is a Clymer manual any good?

It'll do in a pinch, but I'd check on eBay daily and pick up a Kawasaki shop manual as soon as possible...the differences in coverage between Clymer/Haynes and Kawasaki is like night and day.

www.repairmanual.com carries the Kawasaki Motorcycle Service Manuals. It might cost a few $$ but has all the latest specs and colored wiring diagrams.

Clymer and Haynes are o.k. for some things but I like the Kawasaki manuals better.

go check out the free electronic manual thread that was put in today you will find one there.

Thanks for the input! I forgot to take my camera with me this weekend so I wasn't able to get pictures. We changed the oil this weekend, and I helped him replace a low profile tire on his 76 KZ900.

Where is this thread at? Thanks!

athlonwirez wrote:

Where is this thread at? Thanks!

kzrider.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&...ew&catid=2&id=284794