Fork disassembly

Well, got my triples all cleaned and painted...need to get my all balls installed, isn't there a PVC pipe size (or fitting therefore)that would work as a driver? Would like to get my forks rebuilt (Racetech gold emulators-progressive springs) over the weekend...I am absolutely sure there is a thread on this, and I do have hard copies of a couple cool "do it yourself" tools (thanks Ed!) and my FSM (Thanks again, Ed!) but do I absolutely NEED the so-called "special tools" (piston ring guide, #57001-161...or oil seal driver #57001-141)? Is there anything else I will need aside from basic tools? It's snowing yet AGAIN! and once I get in my igloo, I would rather have everything I need..Thanx, all!

I am thinking it was 1 1/4" PVC, but might have been 1 1/2" PVC. Also had to bevel the edge as it was just a tad too big so I beveled it on my bench grinder.

I will check when I get home this evening.

Didn't need any piston ring guide. Could have used my seal puller, but it was at my shop so I used a screwdriver to get the seals out.

I believe I found a piece of PVC pipe that was about the right size when I did mine. Take the bearing race with you to Home Depot or Lowe's and you can probably find something. Also, it doesn't hurt to put a thin film of oil in the steering neck to help the races slide in. One other suggestion, that I didn't hear of until after I did mine so I don't know how much it helps, is to chill down the race in the freezer before installing. This makes it contract a little and should make it easier to slip into the steering neck. Ed

I used 1 1/2" and had to bevel the end back a little as it is a tight fit going into the housing. The more bevel you put on it the better. I wiped down my tubes and put a little oil and slid the seals up on the tubes from the bottom end and then slid them up high. Then of course dropped plunger assembly into tubes and tubes back into the lower legs, then slid seals down and drive them home.

Thanx guys! Not as productive a weekend as I had hoped....The good news, Everything that needed driven for the roller bearings is in! When I'm ready, just grease em, slide it all together, and bolt it up! Did some rooting through my plumbing bin and came up with a 1 1/4" PVC coupler...As SBC mentioned, a little beveling is required on one end. tapered end will reach up into frame tube to drive slightly recessed lower race, and the the original end is perfect for the upper. got everything started square with that "tool" and switched to a piece of slightly harder plastic dowel of about 1" diameter I had laying about. (It started life as the handle for a heat press machine for "iron-ons" ) Just tippy tapped my way around and sunk the puppies! Still waging war with the forks though. Nothing available locally, so gonna have to order an appropriately sized phillips impact bit...I made a tapered dowel, but will not hold when turning lower bolt with regular allen wrench...Golly, a simple 1/2" square hole (like in the top caps) sure would have been nice!

Got hooked up with a matco guy...25 bucks later I had an 8mm allen impact socket...took longer to hook up the gun than it did to spin the bolts out...the old sharpened broom handle thing actually works quite well when you throw the imact gun into the mix! So, now I am trying to find a machine shop locally to do some drilling on the cylinder per racetech's emulator directions, watching header and frame paint dry, and trying to get my head around fork reassembly. Everything kind of fell out in big oily mess...(hoo boy, does old fork oil STINK?) Anyway, despite 2 different illustrations in my FSM, I was wondering if there was some sort of coloring book, fuzzy bunny, first timer fork fixer tutorial out there that might "click" better for me...I am definitely learning as I go, but first times can be scary...thanx for any assistance!

Google "damper rod fork" for pics. The short springs are the top out springs, they go on the damper rod before you assemble it. The parts diagrams pretty much sum it up.

A trick I use for installing fork seals is to use a clean old seal to tap in the new seal.

What did RT say about machining? Usually they just want you to enlarge the damper rod holes so more fluid affects the emulator.

Also, instead of using a broom handle to remove the bottom bolt, just compress the fork a little (push it against the back wall of your work bench) and hit it with the impact. The spring pressure holds the damper rod from turning. This is how I do inverted forks under my bench:

i114.photobucket.com/albums/n248/Jeekinz...0Bike/Fork-Bench.jpg

Thanx kid, cool tricks !..Re: RT...perhaps "machining" is a bit grandiose...actually it is driling...the two existing compression holes in the cylinder need to be enlarged to 6mm...and an additional through hole needs to be placed above the other two...same longitudinal spacing as between the first two...drilled at 90 degrees to the first two...I had to call despite an enclosed diagram...scary shit, messin with the front end, especially! Hate to alter original parts, but feedback was overwhelmingly positive, so....bought em! Pretty hard metal, and I don't think my little benchtop drill press (and shitty bits!) were up to it...so, wait for the pro...Thanx again, man! I be googlin!

I've been messing with the suspension on my old 125. The original tubes were too small for emulators, I had a bunch of convo with RT about some internal mods. I even looked into installing MTB cartriges into the KX tubes. lol Would be sweet setup though, one side comp and the other rebound with external adjustments. I was able to swap out the forks with a slightly larger set so I should be good as far as fitting emulators now. These damper rod forks are super easy to work on/mod. I'm hoping to install the emulators in my Z1 in the spring.

Should consider giving the lowers some polishing before reassembling. Wet sand up in varying grits. Then hit them with a buffing wheel and some soft metal compound, followed by mothers aluminum polish. They'll end looking like chrome. Just make sure you block the opening with rags if you do. Much easier doing it now when they are apart. Especially if had an inclining to do so in the future.

KZJOE900 wrote: Should consider giving the lowers some polishing before reassembling. Wet sand up in varying grits. Then hit them with a buffing wheel and some soft metal compound, followed by mothers aluminum polish. They'll end looking like chrome. Just make sure you block the opening with rags if you do. Much easier doing it now when they are apart. Especially if had an inclining to do so in the future.

I did this to mine also.

Finally reached machinist, & Just dropped off internal fork parts for drilling...yup, planning on bringing the bling! We'll see how shiny I can get em...new to polishing, but I have read the threads! (And seen pix of 650 Ed's bike! LOL!) It's good to have goals in life! Wish me luck!