78 kz1000 A2 fork rebuild

I’m putting my forks back together after replacing the fork seals and have a question, torque specs for the allen bolt of the damper piston is 14.5-19.0 ft-lbs according to my factory manual.

I can’t for the life of me get the damper piston to stop spinning to torque it to spec, does anyone have some advice or tips they can give me? The top of the piston only has a hole, not a top nut.

I’ve installed the spring and top cap hoping there was enough tension as well as jammed the tapered end of a socket extension into the hole of the piston but it wouldn’t stop it from spinning enough to hit the proper torque, any help would be appreciated.

Here’s what the piston looks like.

That looks like the fork cylinder on my 1977 KZ650-C1. Here's what I did so I could remove it and then torque it properly when putting it back together...........

Thanks 650ed, I used a bit of hillbilly engineering and got things torqued properly. A broomstick and a ratchet strap worked well, on to the brake calipers I go!

Cheers

In the future this is the tool you need. Pretty easy to find.

www.partzilla.com/product/kawasaki/57001-1011

Here's another option "DAMPING ROD HOLDING TOOL" . Ed

www.racetech.com/page/id/70

Put the fork completely together, compress it, then tighten the damper bolt. If you have a 3/8" impact you can just bump it tight with that.

I have an old octagon pry bar that is tapered on one end I had dug up in Aspen Colorado that had been buried about 40- 50 years. I cleaned it up and the rust pits are a perfect grip for rebuilding forks.