DIY Dampener Holder for Fork Seal Changes KZ750H

Hi everyone.

My name is Andrew, and I recently bought an '82 KZ750H LTD. I previously had a Yamaha XS400, which I sold for almost double what I bought this bike for since I had it running very well. This bike is in nice shape cosmetically, but wasn't running and needs a few other things. I got the bike running with a carb clean, oil change, and new petcock diaphragm. The next thing that needed attention was the forks, as they were very sponge-like. When I got them apart the right fork actually did not have any oil in it. I had several hang-ups, one being a stripped allen cylinder bolt (which I had to drill the head off of and then search all over the internet for a replacement). The other tricky thing was holding the dampener still. I tried to find a piece of square tubing like others have found - couldn't find the right size. I tried nuts on a steel rod - but I can't weld and even with 4 nuts they moved when I twisted the bolt. So, I stood in the aisle at Home Depot until I found some inspiration and made my own tool. I have never seen this idea posted before, so I wanted to share it. All of these parts are easily available at most stores, they require zero skills to use, and it was less than $10 to buy them
. I bought:

1. A long piece of 1/2" square steel tubing
2. A 3/4" coupling nut
3. A 3/4" socket with a 1/2" drive

I used the steel tubing to drive the socket (like a long extension of a socket) and put the coupling nut in the socket and the dampener - bingo, came apart easily. Here are some pictures to show you:








Also, I have included a pic of the bike. I ran it around the neighborhood a few times with the awful forks and am excited about the power upgrade from my 400. I look forward to riding it soon!

Welcome aboard! You're lucky that your forks aren't like mine with just round holes in the fork cylinders. That calls for a different home-made tool.

FYI - those fork cylinder bolts and the copper gaskets are still available from Kawasaki, so any dealer can order them. If you have problems trying to find a part in the future give a shout on this site and we can try to help find it. Ed

Nice. I like the square tubing idea. Here's my solution.... very similar.