S&W Front Air Shocks

I have an S&W gauge and caps on my front shocks. I have never dealt with these before and I want to rip it out. I can't find a manual or any information online (since S&W is also a gun manufacturer that is what I get info on). Has anyone installed/removed these from their bike? If so, can I just pull them off and replace the cap or do I have to completely redo my forks?

Here is what it looks like now:



At one point I found an article about the company who bought S&W but I didn't save it and now its gone to the way of the dodo.

Also does anyone have any lead on a set of fork caps?

...first why take em off...if it is the gauge look that bugs you you can just remove that part and i believe run just the air caps as single units....7-11 psi...so to be acurate turn the comprssors primary down to ten when running air...

or yes ,you caan remove em and put kz650 caps back on...there is no gear under the cap and its threads /o-rings......support the bike so that the front end is of the ground/unsprung...and also wedge it so it wont flop around ...cause you will need a bit of leverage sometimes to get them loose......

anyways they are not so bad with the gauge and tie in lines removed.....i have em and

with the following they can help

good fork oil

right amount

good progressive spring set

3/4 inch pieces of tubing(p.v.c) pressed under caps on top of springs for preload

and the 7-15 p.s.i in each leg...the same or as close as i can get....

someone here will trade you some fork caps for that kit i bet.....

good luck...easy fix

Thanks for that info. I think I just found some caps, now I am looking for the progressive spring kits - I can find the springs, but not the PVC stuff.

I want to swap them out because they are not holding pressure and there is some seepage around the cable at the top of the fork that worries me a bit.

You can see the fluid leaking up and around the hose here:

the 3/4 inch spacer you make yourself ,and you may not even need it...i am a big fat guy so when i hit the brakes hard to set up for a corner i dont like the bike to dive ,then be trying to raise up again when i gas out....so the forks being stiff for me allows the front to stay planted and weighted into turns when the brakes are released.....

too much stiffness and you can get hop on choppy freeways or weird front end behavior.....

a right diameter piece (not too tight,not too loose in the fork tube)of thick wall plastic pipe ( hence p.v.c) from any hardware store or garden shed, cut at 3/4" long and placed on top of a right diameter fender washer on top of the open forks springs top ... then the fork cap is pressed onto the assembly and carefully started threading ,then threaded on...gives the springs a nice preload.... a well set up pre load can be check by sitting on the bike at a standstill and grabbing the front brake..fornt wheel locked...then.....with your shoulders and upper body compress the front end and quickly let go and sit up...the front should return to normal with out any bounce up and down again..one push down...quickly resets itslef with no bobbing and that is a good starting point....a lot of people run a heavier fork oil than the manual calls for too...i have not needed to with the progressive springs and homemade spacers

those S&W fork caps when you have em off may have tiny o-rings in a few differnt places,that you can replace to refurb the kit...any hard ware store will have a drawer with /plumbing/gas line o-rings of all sizes for cheap....take the fittings with you and the guy at the store can line em up.... peace...

S+W probably stands for Stewart Warner. Roy