Z550 Fork bush

I have a 1980 Z550 A1 which I restored a couple of years ago but I'm not happy with the forks. There's way too much stiction in these so I have them apart again.
Looking at the manual, there's no lower bush shown on the fork tube but mine has one there. I can't be sure it's original so should it have a lower fork bush? There is a cutout for a bush but the manual only starts referring to lower bushes in the 1981-on models.
Many thanks

Maybe someone swapped the forks, or maybe the bush was not documented. Either way, it is not a separate part.

Are you testing for stiction with the fork off the bike? You need to isolate one fork to see if it is an internal problem. Most stiction is an external assembly problem, usually from not using alignment tricks during assembly.

Or maybe bent fork tubes. ???



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Thanks but the fork tubes were ground and re-chromed so are perfect.

Question is really about the factory workshop manual exploded diagram/text and the presence or absence of a bottom bush from the factory. Did any of these come without a bottom fork bush?

I've seen many 550 forks and they all had the same lower bush. But the earliest 550's were slightly different so maybe I just never came across one. Normally, the aluminum fork legs are worn such that the area of the lower bush tends to be very loose from wear, so if you assemble the fork, and the lower area seems excessively tight, then maybe there is a part mismatch (ie bush that should not be there).

Have you done a part number comparison? That should show if early and late tubes and sliders are not compatible.

The base manual is actually on the 1979 kz500, so if that shows a bush, then its probably safe to assume all 550's had the bush.