Front fork rebuild's...

[Tiger]

 :) Well with a wee bit of time on my hands (& seal's),  ::) I decided to empty, strip down, fully wash out and rebuild/refill another set of front fork's, actually a spare set ::) That is six set's this year alone. I can just about do them in my sleep ;D ;D :D :D :D :D :D :D... ;)

                      8).......TIGER....... 8)

[Night Vision]

I just did mine for the project bike not too long ago... since I painted the top of the sanctions black, and didn't want to scrape the paint off, I had to do them differently....

I had to slide just the tubes from the top down into the lower triple... and then put them back together while they were "on".

after doing two others the "usual" way, I always thought that that this would be easier....

NOT!..... especially when you find a seal clip left in one of the plastic parts bags   >:( 

[Tiger]

...especially when you find a seal clip left in one of the plastic parts bags   >:( 

:o Now there is an oooooooooop's :o ;D :D :D :D :D :D :D... ;)

[YellowJacket!]

I have done two sets.
I set up a cardboard work area and laid all the parts down in the order I took them off.  I cleaned each part and put it back on its respective oil stain on the cardboard and then reassembled them.
One thing I learned along the way that made things much easier was to use a Black and Decker Workmate workbench to hold the lowers in place while I was taking out the retaining bolt.  I secured my lower in the groove between the two tops of the bench and protected it with a towel and it held like a champ.  Much better than trying to have someone hold it for me or use a vise.

David

[Lucky]

:) Well with a wee bit of time on my hands (& seal's),  ::) I decided to empty, strip down, fully wash out and rebuild/refill another set of front fork's, actually a spare set ::) That is six set's this year alone. I can just about do them in my sleep ;D ;D :D :D :D :D :D :D... ;)

                      8).......TIGER....... 8)

how much for 'em?

(kidding)

[couchflyer]

Tiger, I'm going to do mine this winter.  Any thing I need to watch out for? 
Thanks

[Night Vision]

be careful buying fork seals on eBay. some say they fit xz's but are too thick. I got some that were like 11mm when you need 8.

We got my brother's forks some Chicago Rawhide seals..... and they have failed. May have been a bad batch or too many Pennsylvania roads  :o

I like the OEM seals. They are available through the dealer and a short wait, they're about $22 for the pair  :( .... but I think some OEM parts are worth the extra $....

[YellowJacket!]

Tiger, I'm going to do mine this winter.  Any thing I need to watch out for? 
Thanks

Leftover parts....  ;D

From my experience, there were two or three difficult parts about doing the forks.  First was the retaining clip for the oil seals.  Mine were very corroded and needed to be gingerly removed so I wouldn't break them. Second was removing the oil seals.  You have to pry them out which made me feel a bit uneasy because they did not come out as easily as I expected.  And last, removing the inner retaining bolt that holds th fork tube to the lowers.  You'll need a long breaker bar and at least an 18" extension to reach way down inside.  I posted my full experience with pictures back in the tech section a few months ago.  I'll try to find the link and post/revive it.

David

[Tiger]

Tiger, I'm going to do mine this winter.  Any thing I need to watch out for? 
Thanks

:) Not really...fairly straight forward process...:). Once you remove the front wheel, fender, brake caliper, etc, you can drop the fork tube's out of the tripple tree's... 8)

:)...Put a jack/block of wood, etc, under the front of the engine, before you start... ::)

:)...You need a "special tool" to enable you to remove the upper fork tube's from the lower's...$1,000,000 + your first born, arm 'n leg and a first round pick at next year's draft, available, on back order ::) from your local, happy, Yamaha dealer's :o ;D :D :D :D :D :D...OR a 19mm (3/4") Hex Head Bolt with two Hex nut's nipped together as lock nut's will work... ;)

:)...Before you loosen the fork tube's from the tripple tree's, remove the rubber cover's from the top of the fork tube's and loosen the allen drive cap's a we bit... ;)

:)...There can be a bit of crap that settles in the lower tube's. When you have everything stripped down, make sure all the part's are completely "washed" with a solvent/degreaser, etc, (and dried), before you rebuild... ;)

:)...I run a wee bit of clean fork oil around the fork seal's, (with my finger's), just before I install them... ;)

I hope this help's... 8)

                   8).......TIGER....... 8)

[Brian Moffet]

And here's a photo of what you get when you get them apart....



I agree with everything Tiger said, when putting it back together use fork oil to "prepare" the seals for fitting back in. When pressing in the seals, I think I used a spark plug socket which fit perfectly.

Brian

(Of course someone will say something like "Go ahead, show off your unobtanium 83 forks now...")

[YellowJacket!]

Heres a long post with lots and lots of good pics including one of the "special" tool.

http://ridersofvision.net/forum/zindex.php?topic=7075.0

David

[Rick G]

m y first set of vision forks were  really stuck , the  19 mm caused the  double nuts on the 19mm bolt to slip , so I welded them to the bolt , bolt snapped off. So up the th auto parts store  just in case they have a set of allens that have a large enough one to remove the pesky thing , no such luck. BUT they did have a volkswagen bug, drain plug wrench , which in english is a 19mm allen, cost 5.95.   maybe a little more now , that was 1999.

[couchflyer]

Looks like fun!?!  Has anyone used white PCV tub as a fork spring spacer?  I need a stiffer spring.  DaveTN thanks for the link.

[kwells]

I believe Lucky has used that..I'm sure there are others

[YellowJacket!]

I'm going to add one to mine.  The metal spacers for the 83 front are about 1/2 inch longer than the 82's but its still a bit too soft for me.

David

[Night Vision]

Dave, the 82 uppers take the 83 air caps ok?

[Rick G]

One of the visions I scrapped was a endurance racer, It had 83 sliders and 82 legs. I assumed it had progressive springs , by the way it rode, but when I did they seals 2 years later I discovered it had 3/4 inch pvc spacers 4 inches long . I removed then and went back to the stock ones and installed the air valves I made up  . I use 10- lbs of air , that way It resists nose dive on stopping but rides better on those  expansion joints,  in  concrete roads.  your milage may vary.

[YellowJacket!]

Dave, the 82 uppers take the 83 air caps ok?

They fit perfectly.

David

[Tiger]

Dave, the 82 uppers take the 83 air caps ok?

8) Yep, that is the set-up I run with on "The Mistress"...Stock spacer's & 10lb's of air, like Rick G, handle's way better this way... 8)

             8).......TIGER....... 8)

[YellowJacket!]

I need to up the ante a bit as I'm running at about 7lbs and am getting some diving. (maybe because I have to get more used to my new dual caliper setup)  Nonetheless, I will try going up to 10lbs and see what happens.

My setup has the 82 sliders and 83 legs.

David