Fork rebuild advice

If you go around and pre-loosen most things and then just tighten them enough to stay in place before you jack the front up, you eliminate the wrestling that might create problems. Like everything that needs to be done.

You can loosen the upper or lower triple clamp bolts all the way and get the bars ready too. Makes a big difference. Then do the same thing in reverse. Get everything snugged to then torque when it is not precarious.

Then go over and slap your carport friend on the ass and say, "That's how they do it downtown, baby". The point is to get her in a good mood before I pick her up after you go to bed.

You're welcome.

 

lolz....

 

i always dred fighting the spring pressure while trying not to cross-thread the cap

 

I do something like that on my VFR1200 but place a block of wood on the jack that passes between the headers so that lifts on the sump, not the headers. I have used headers to lift bikes in the past without any (known) issues but would feel better about keeping pressure off the headers/exhaust studs/gaskets.

I agree with the Captain that loosening bits prior to jacking up avoids sudden or excessive forces that might be a bit much on a marginally stable arrangement. I make a practice of doing the brake callipers, axle bolt, axle clamps while the bike is still on its wheels and you can add upper triple clamps to that as well. It is often a lot easier to access the lower triple clamp bolts once the wheel and fender are removed however. Aside from the axle, there's no really high torque involved.

 

Thanks for all the responses and advice. This community has been so helpful to me in getting my 86 " back to new" form.

Baz, it looks like the scissor jack gets the job done but I'm still going to order the Woodcraft Triple Tree stand. I like that fact that it's overbuilt and the bike is extremely sturdy once both wheels are lifted. I realize the Woodcraft stuff is pricey, but you get what you pay for. If it keeps the bike stable and prevents an accidental tip over, it's well worth it. And having 2 VFR's, I'm sure I'll get some use out of it.

With my new home, I don't have a workstation with the means to install the emulators. So, for now, I'm just replacing the springs and seals. I'll eventually add the emulators; I just don't have the means to get them properly installed at this time. Eventually I will, so I don't mind going back into the forks later to do the upgrade.

I'll post photos on the fork rebuild once I start on them. Thanks to all again.

 

If you need spring I have Race tech .95 brand new in the box and Progressive spring used for about a year.

 

Any updates on the fork project?

 

Hey Bazz, no fork updates to report. Unfortunately, I had a family member that suffered a medical emergency in July. That has put me waaaay back for working on any projects. It's been a slow recovery progress, and thankfully recovery is going smoothly. Last week I was finally able to get to another project (snowmobile pre-season maintenance) that I need to complete by the end of this month. I should be done with it by the end of next week (waiting on parts). After the work is complete, I'll be driving to Old Forge, NY with it and dropping it off for the upcoming season. After I return from NY, my focus is to complete the 86's fork rebuild.

I did look closer at the 86's front suspension. It appears that only the left tube has a leak, and the leak is from the bottom of the tube in the area of TRAC. So it looks like the TRAC seals are bad and not the tube seals. The right tube holds 4 lbs of air. The left leaks all air in a few hours. I took the 86 for about 5-mile ride around the neighborhood yesterday just to run it for a bit. The suspension wasn't as soft as I would've suspected. No matter, I'll be addressing the whole component soon.

Here's my present project. Amongst other maintenance, a shock refresh by HyGear Suspension. I pulled all (4) out of the sled and shipped them out last week. I'm hoping to have them back by the end of this week.

 

OK thanks, Brian....looks like you have your hands full! Good luck and keep us posted!