[revinger]

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Went for a 200 mile ride on saturday. Temps was about 48 degrees. Half way into the ride I noticed green viscous liquid crawling up the front of my "tank". Pulled off thinking the worst that it was coolant and I was going to overheat 80 miles from home. Too slippery then I looked down the left fork was obviously leaking.

oh and the rest of the way home I got to contend with green oil droplets on my helmet visor. Just enough to be annoying, apparently the air flow is just right up the inside of the steering area to blow and atomize a little bit of the hanging oil and coat me, ugh.

Argh, I thought when I got thte 85 I was getting out of having to rebuild forks for a while

Order seals and progressive springs(figured I might as well do that too while i was in there) from denniskirk. Hopefully I'll be doing that this weekend. Would rather be doing something else not wrench related but oh well.

I am hoping that when I get them off I dont need new bushings, bike has 21,000 miles on it so holding my breath that they are okay and I dont get delayed another weekend getting it road worthy again.


Can the forks on the 85 limited be pulled without taking the fairing off? Looked at the manual, just wasnt 100% clear if it was doable or not.

bob

 

[Eamonn1200]

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At 21k the buhes should be okay, especially if the fork oil hadn't run dry. The forks come out easily with the fairing in place. The allen head bolts are hard to get started, I put a ring spanner (wrench) over the end of the allen key to use as a lever.

 

[mjpliv]

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I would suggest you loosen the tube caps before you remove the tubes. being clamped into the triple tree makes it a lot easier to do. And make sure you bleed off all the air.

 

[Dave Campbell]

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Absolutely remove the caps and springs before removing the tubes, the caps and springs are under great force. Keeping them in the triple tree holds the tubes still to remove the caps. Be very careful taking them apart, they are very complicated.

Also be prepared for the problem of getting the screws out of the bottom of the fork.:X

 

[Goldwinger1984]

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revinger, replacing fork seals is a verysimple task that anyone who is good with a wrench can do at home. It just takes patience, caution and a good manual.

Contact me at [email protected] if you need more info on doing this job.

Vic

 

[revinger]

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I've done seals and bushings before on a CM400, but things were a little easier to get at on it, no monster fairing. I dont want to have to take anymore plastic off than necessary. Got out of class early last night and got the wheel and got everything off down to the forks. At which point I decided it was time to stop for the night. Hoping to get one fork loose and be ready for when the parts come in the mail to make reasonably quick turnaround.

The only thing I am really worried about in the configed space up there is dealing with the tops where the air lines go in. Cant see real well in there so not sure what is actually holding them to the fork tubes. The manual says something about a set screw which I could not see or feel last night. I'll take it one step at a time. GOing to try to go back out to the shop tonight and see if I cant get one fork all the way off.

thanks
bob

 

[revinger]

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Update, Have one fork out of the frame. Man that oil is NASTY, no doubt it is the original 20 year old gunk.

Have a problem and need to know if anybody on here has done similar because I am pretty sure the local honda purveyor will probably not have the screws. The "set" screw that holds the air equalizing chamber/collar at the top of the fork(probably not the right name, but the book is out in the shop and it is 15deg F outside and 200 foot away. I aint going back out there tonight.

The set screw was seized in the countersunk area. I ended up having to drill the head off to get things off and yes I put the shock cap back on and I held a shop vac next to the drill to pull the chips as I drilled. It looks like I am probably going to have to do the same to the other side as well. I tried a hand impact driver and could not shake the screw loose without tearing up the head.

Anyway, in lieu of using a countersunk screw, it looks like there is enough clearance around everything that I could potentially use an appropriate lenght metric hex head bolt. Does anybody know of any reason this wouldnt work? The only thing i can think of is a remote possibility of chafing some cable that passes in that area but I dont remember anything actually running that close over the set screw and maybe a slight alignment variation caused by the bolt not centering up as precise but the only critical item on the air collar is the pressure lines and they should tolerate whatever slight difference.

Granted, I can probably go to the honda store and if they dont have the screws, could probably have them by the next weekend but my weekend time is getting less and less with my medic clinicals starting. I was really hoping to get it all back together this weekend.

Comments?

bob

 

[Dave Campbell]

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Try fitting one and see what happens, can always take it back out. Then if it works, you can be the "forks Guru!"

 

[JDC]

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revinger wrote:

Update, Have one fork out of the frame. Man that oil is NASTY, no doubt it is the original 20 year old gunk.

The set screw was seized in the countersunk area. I ended up having to drill the head off to get things off and yes I put the shock cap back on and I held a shop vac next to the drill to pull the chips as I drilled. It looks like I am probably going to have to do the same to the other side as well. I tried a hand impact driver and could not shake the screw loose without tearing up the head.

Anyway, in lieu of using a countersunk screw, it looks like there is enough clearance around everything that I could potentially use an appropriate length metric hex head bolt. Does anybody know of any reason this wouldn't work?
Comments?

bob

Bob, those are just metric type set screws so probably most local auto parts stores would have something similar.. Be sure to run a tap through the threads before installing a new bolt/screw so you don't end up with galled threads & a broken new bolt.. If you must use a standard hex headed bolt try to keep it as short as possible so nothing (like wires & cables) can catch on them.. You might even add a small rubber cap over the bolt heads to help remove the catch area from the head area.

On that black nasty fork oil: I change my fork oil pretty regularly (usually fall & mid summer) as I am an aggressive rider so work those front forks pretty hard & even with that short change interval that fork oil always looks pretty nasty.



JDC

 

[revinger]

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Update, Have it all back together though now that I have it done, now I find a piece of progressive instructions that I missed. I had my head stuck in the clymer manual and didnt see the little folded up sheet from progressive that says for the 1200's they recommend using 15w fork oil I had Synthetic ATF oil that probably isnt going to get used in the near future as both our cars are now manuals so used that. Guess I will see how it rides and do an oil change later if needed. I am wrenched out for the weekend.

Regarding the screw problem to the air collar at the top. I found that I could have actually accomplished the task without taking the screw and air collar off. I verified this by not removing/drilling out the other stubborn one on the right side. There was some "stiction" to overcome from the 2 orings in the collar but a light tap downward with a rubber mallet overcame the sticky and the tube slid out fine. I didn't need to do anything with the air collar that could not be accomplished with it attached to the tree anyway. wiped the o rings down in place and lightly lubed them before putting the fork back in and all went well.

Also noticed that progressive claims that the springs are intended to not need much of any air in the forks.

Hoping for semi-dry weather this week so I can ride it to work regularly and feel it out. Notice I didn't say warm, I just want dry. I'll expect warm after march 21'st

bob

 

[Goldwinger1984]

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You should be just fine with the ATF, unless you're carrying heavy loads on the bike.

Glad you got itall sorted out.

Vic

 

[philcsand]

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One hint, and one series of questions.

Hint:

USE BRAKE CLEANER ON YOUR DISKS AND SHOES!!!!! That oil is bound to have made it's way into your brakes.

Questions:

When I did the for oil seals on my KZ, the manual and everyone else told me that I needed to take the whole fork apart. I didn't want to so I just pulled the fork out of the tree, drained the oil, bled the air, pulled off the wiper sleeve, pulled a circlip on top of the seal, and used a seal puller to dig the old seal out of there. Then I just slid the new seal down the tube, and used some PVC pipe as a drift to re-seat the new seal. Didn't touch the bottom bolt. (I did end up having to unscrew the top cap to put new oil in, of course...)

Is there anything that any of you can see as being a bad idea about doing it this way as opposed to a total dissasembly?