| Author | Message | ||
     99savage |
Noticed a leak in front fork No big deal - take it in & have a dealer work on it while I get to the 47,00 projects that have stacked up while I was out riding. - Right? - That's a good idea, right? Called a former Buell dealer in upstate NY for a cost estimate & a schedule. No fool folks I have had more productive talks with my bowling ball. Told him I wanted all the resilient & wear items replaced while they have the forks apart. - He says "why?" Asked how long they would have it in, he says "depends how long it takes to get the parts." - Say I want all the resilient & wear parts replaced, don't think anything else is wrong, why don't they order in advance and I will pay in advance. - Dead silence. Asked him if he thinks it is a good idea to go to 07 springs. - He says, "we will do anything you want to." - 75 bucks an hour & he can't suggest jack. What parts should be replaced in a front fork rebuild? - Your opinion; are the 07 springs worth it? Looks like Little Mother's projects will be waning on one more. | ||
| Tootal |
How many miles on the bike? | ||
| 99savage |
Tootal How many miles on the bike? 20,00 kind'a hard traveled miles. No complaint about the bike, something like this due to happen. - Just expected more from the "experts". | ||
| Tootal |
Understood, just getting an idea if you really needed to change the bushings. I have 30,000 on mine and just rebuilt the forks but the bushings looked good so at 20,000 I wouldn't mess with them yet, unless they looked bad of course. Change the seals and fluid and add some fork socks to help keep your seals from leaking again! | ||
| Hughlysses |
+1 on the bushings being OK. Just rebuilt mine at ~37,000 miles and they looked like new. | ||
| 99savage |
Thanks, did not think of adding fork socks - Are they HD or after market? Looking @ exploded diagram in manual See; 4. Fork cap O-ring 7. Inner slider piston O-Ring 13. Sealing washer 24. Oil Seal 25. Oil seal stopper ring 25. Dust seal Which of the above should be replaced in a normal fork rebuild? | ||
| Union_man |
Have you tried 35mm film trick yet? I have had it work...and not work. I just did my fork seals and bushings myself for the first time this year. It was not terribly hard to do. Worth it because I saved a Hundred Fifty! I changed the bushings while everything was apart. They are cheap! They looked fine but I felt better doing both seals and bushings. (Message edited by union_man on September 27, 2012) | ||
| Itoandre |
IMHO this parts is essential to rebuild the forks: Slide Bushing (2) Guide Bushing (2) Oil Seal (2) Dust Seal (2) O-ring Set (2) | ||
| Johnshore |
I like the 07 springs on my 06. Really cuts down on the dive. I think my seals suffered an early demise because of a panic stop and my first way high stoppy. I also had to replace the license plate light. It broke when the back end dropped hard. The price for the springs was right also. | ||
| Billy_bee |
What should be replaced? Everything. Seals, o-rings, bushings. For example, in one disassembly step, you use the lower tube like a slide hammer to get the seal out. The seal is pretty soft and the bushing pretty stout, but I would hate to damage the bushing during that process. And the bushings are wear items. They slide up and down inside the upper tube all day long. I think they are coated parts, so my guess (and this is just a guess) is that the coating wears. YMMV, Bill (Message edited by billy bee on September 28, 2012) | ||
| Ratbuell |
If you have it apart anyway...put in the 07 springs (don't forget to use the 07 fluid level!). I never had an issue with my 06 springs...until I installed the 07s and realized what I'd been missing.  | ||
| Reepicheep |
FWIW I've done plenty of stoppies on my 07 Uly (emergency stopping practice, actual emergency stopping, and a nice rolling stoppie into the side of a Corolla) and the fork seals are fine. So that highway stop may have aggravated an existing problem, but it probably didn't cause it. Cool to know the 06 and 07 springs were different, I wondered about that. I rode an 06 when they came out (was riding a 9sx then and wanted to try it and get the sling bag) and wasn't that fond of the front end springing. Then I bought an 07 uly and liked it, and couldn't figure out what I didn't like on the test ride. Knowing they changed it explains that.... | ||
| Luftkoph |
07 were progressively wound | ||
| Arcticktm |
I would not bother with expense of replacing anything besides springs, seals, oil and (for good measure) dust covers. Unless you see signs of bushing failure in the oil or something, of course. sounds like a bigger chance they would screw something up. I'd suggest trying another shop. Anyone who has dealt with Showa forks, which is most any suspension place. I switched to '07 springs on my '06 and it was a good improvement (with '07 oil levels as mentioned before). Did it myself, though. Had an oil seal leak this spring, though, and didn't want to mess with getting/making a seal driver. took it to local BMW/Husqvarna shop for the work and parts. They did the work in 1 day, but I did have to take it back when they didn't get the rebound adjuster seated properly, so I had almost no adjustment. I had them do both seals at same time. I took forks off bike to save money, of course. Just some thoughts. I really wouldn't waste time and money on the bushings and such unless you have good reason to suspect them being bad. | ||
| Hughlysses |
When I rebuilt my forks, I ordered replacement bushings in case I needed them. IIRC- the book says as long as the teflon coating's not worn through, they're fine. Mine looked new, so I put my new bushings in the spare parts bin for future use. They're not very expensive (~$5 each?) so it's not a bad idea to have them on hand in case you need them, but there's no point in replacing them if they're not worn. | ||
| 99savage |
Thanks for all the input Spoke to Schaeffer's HD in Orwigsburg PA today - What a different experience compared dealing with Performance HD in Syracuse, NY. Told me every part they were going to replace - Gave me the adder for 07 shocks without interrupting his conversation. - Save me assurance that baring surprises they could get it done in a day. Now the decision is do it at home or take a nice ride thru the coal country. - both take about the same time away from the projects I really should be doing Thanks again - and thanks Seven @ Schaeffer's | ||
| Steveford |
Seven is still there? Schaeffer's is a good place to take it to. | ||
| Tootal |
http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/2/9/201/22172 /ITEM/Moose-Racing-Fork-Skins.aspx?SiteID=SLI|Fork%20Protection&WT.MC_ID=10010 I put these on. Bought from a local dealer. I bought the long ones and cut them in half. Now I have a spare set. Once the weight is on the fork and it collapses a little the skins cover all the exposed lower tube so grit just can't get to even the dust cover. | ||
| Jk651 |
As a former motorcycle mechanic who just did his forks (you can find my video on here, I just posted it yesterday) I would say it's unlikely you need bushings. They are basically the same kind of bushing that is used on the crankshaft and connecting rods of car engines (about the same size too). An engine puts a lot more wear and pressure on the crank and rod bearings than your forks do, and they can last 300,000 plus miles. That being said, they are pretty cheap. It's your call. I wanted to do the '07 springs but I'm working on a tight budget since we just had our first child (he's 3 weeks old now). All I did was the seals and the oil. It's likely that's all you will need. They are the 2 highest wearing components in the fork. Good luck! | ||
| 99savage |
OK really dumb question(s): 1. Are the 07 forks available from anybody outside of a HD dealer?? 2. Checking @ American Sportbike(http://www.americansportbike.com/shoponline/index. php?app=ccp0&ns=catshow&ref=XB12Xframe&count=30&of fset=0 )find the following items - all affordable: - 9208 - Fork Slide Bushing, 43mm Showa Fork, XB and M2, Pair - 9207 - 05-09 Fork Guide Bushing, 43mm Showa Inverted fork, Pair - 9202 - 05-10 Fork Dust Seal, 43mm slider, Showa Inverted fork, Pair - 9210 - 05-07 Fork O-Ring Kit, 43mm Showa Inverted Fork, Aside from the Springs, socks & oil should I be getting anything else? 3. Smarter to get the oil from local HD dealer of from Americansprotbike?? |
