| Author | Message | ||
     Buellkowski |
I had the Showas on my '00 S3T serviced last year by the dealer. Their work revealed disintegrating teflon bushings and a moderately scored left tube, which I'm still running because it's not leaky. I removed & reinstalled the forks myself to save $$$ and time in the shop. Since I got them back, I've been frustrated by their sticky motion on the bike. They move smoothly when the wheel is off and I compress them manually one at a time, but with the wheel on and under the bike's weight, they don't glide smoothly at all, requiring a little extra shove to get them to compress/expand in two spots of their travel. I searched the Knowledge Vault and found a reference to binding forks that were improperly aligned, but even with the axle nut and all pinch nuts loose, the fork motion is still sticky. Do I still have bad bushings, or...? Prior to torquing the axle nut, how much of a gap is usually present between the inside fork surfaces and the wheel spacers? I was surprised to see a good 1/4 inch of space that needed to be taken up and I wonder how that would affect fork alignment. I'd appreciate any comments about similar experiences & resolutions as I take the forks off again tonight. | ||
| Naustin |
Nice bike. Free Bump... Good luck, I hope somebody has some good advice for you. I've never done anything with the forks myself, but it definalty sounds like an alignment issue... I think that gap is supposed to be there even after you tighten the nut...  | ||
| Buell_bert |
I rebuilt my 2000 M2 forks this last winter and 1/4 in. seems way to much. I had virtually none. Did you loose a spacer or are the tubes bent? If you loosen each tube separately and rotate them does the space increase and decrease? If you would not have (taken up that 1/4 in.) would the wheel have slid sideways that same amount? I guess the brake and rotor may not allow that much side play but I hope you understand what I mean. It sounds like they may be binding. I have a pair of fine looking tubes (Stock) taken off at 6,000 mi. if you find them bent. Also did you replace the bushings? Hope this helps. | ||
| Buellkowski |
The shop is telling me that I have bent dampers, possibly due to a mishandled installation by the previous shop tech. The tubes are fine (aside from the scoring) and I'm told a 1/4 inch gap upon installation isn't worrisome. I've never lifted my bike's front wheel, but the previous owner certainly gave it a hard-knock life. There's no telling what preliminary damage he may have done. Really looking forward to getting some good handling back, in 7 - 10 working days. | ||
| Blake |
Matt, Please post a photo of the space you are talking about. And post a photo of the other side of assembled wheel+axle too please. | ||
| Blake |
To clarify: The space shouldn't change at all or "need to be taken up" when torquing the axle nut. The (Message edited by blake on April 18, 2008) | ||
| Blake |
Furthermore: The service manual may depict the wrong spacer on the wrong side. It's possible that you may need to swap left and right side spacers. | ||
| Buellkowski |
Blake, I'll be happy to post pics when I get the fork legs back. The spacers are correctly placed; I took your advice from another post and bought new ones in case the old ones were squished. Thanks to everyone for their contributions thus far.  | ||
| Blake |
Including the inner spacer, the long one that goes inside the wheel hub? | ||
| Blake |
I just noticed that in my 5:18 pm post above, I should have said "The right side fork mounts to the axle in a floating scheme." The axle nut is on the left side fork and pulls everything tight to it, the right side floats laterally until the pinch bolts are tightened. Hope that didn't cause you confusion. | ||
| Bad_karma |
Matt Try raising the front off the ground then loosen the clamping bolts on the bottom of the fork to release the bite on the axle. Then re tighten IAW service manual. They may be binding due to improper installation. Joe |
