fork bushings dilemma

I got the new bushing from Race Tech. They fit pretty good. I made a nylon plug to push them in because I thought I was going to have to use my press, but i was able to push them in by hand. This made me a little wary because there is nothing holding in the bushing but friction and it went in pretty easy. I have a set of later model forks that have a spring clip to retain the bushing for this reason. I decided to use a spring loaded center punch to "stake" the lip around the top of the bushing to make it harder to back out. I feel better about this. I finished assembling them with new Race Tech springs and gold valve emulators.

It was actually a blessing in disguise that the shop sandblasted these because it forced me to replace my worn out bushings. the inner fork tube fits very tightly and there is far less slop than before.

Nice trail blazing DoctoRot! I bet you are going to love how those forks work when you get them on the road.

Thank you for sharing your experience and solution.

When I replaced my first set of fork seals on my KZ650 many years ago, I noticed that those bushings seemed to be non-serviceable, and that they did not appear in the parts catalog. I've always wondered what could be done if they were to wear out. Now I know.