Post by Dandy Dan on Jun 13, 2005 17:13:13 GMT -5
Here's how to take apart your stock fork so you can adjust the 'weight' of the oil (heavier = stiffer fork) or adjust the preload to get the fork working like you want it.
1) Support front end of the scooter by jacking it up or by setting something under the floorboard to lift the front wheel off the ground
2) Remove front wheel. The axle is basically a long bolt with a lock nut on the end. You need a 15mm socket/wrench for the head of the bolt and 17mm for the nut (if I remember right). The wheel will fall off when you wiggle this axle out. Put the axle somewhere safe along with the spacer (you'll see the spacer, it's simple).
3) Remove fork legs. They are clamped into the crown of the fork via two bolts each (Either 8 or 10mm). Remove these bolts and wiggle the legs out of the bottom of the crown. The fender will come off at this time.
4) Remove fork leg top caps. They should just pop out. You may be able to get away without removing them. (I'm not 100% as they popped off my fork).
5) Remove seals. The seals are probably the toughest part of the operation. They are just pushed down into a lip in the fork leg. Someone may have some good suggestions but basically you want to carefully pry/lift one edge out and then work around the circle to get the whole thing loose. Be careful not to damage them. The dealer tore one of mine when he removed it. (Disclaimer: I didn't actually take my fork apart. I had it at the dealers for some warrentee work (basically the cap came off the top and water got in a rusted things) and I only ended up putting the fork back together myself so I've only done the reassembly. For this reason I can't tell you the correct oil height or weight). I haven't finished the reassembly yet.
6) Remove 'C' clamp. You'll need a special kind of pliers to do this. These pliers have two little nipples that stick into tiny holes and pull the holes together. Some models are reversable so they can spread or squeeze clamps.
7) Remove stanchion tubes from fork legs. These are the shiny metal tubes. Lift them out along with all the pieces on them. You'll notice a white plastic piece with vertical grooves in it. Make sure this is clean. It will just slide up off the top (there is a stopper preventing stuff from sliding off the bottom of the fork). Then lift the short spring off. Lastly, take a look at the plastic cap at the bottom of the tube. Make sure it's clean, not clogged and not cracked or anything. It should spin smoothly.
8) Empty fork leg. This is the part that the stanchion tube was just slid out of. There should be a long spring in there and a bullet shaped piece of rubber at the bottom which makes bottoming the fork out less harsh. There should also be oil in there which you'll need to dispose of properly.
9) Clean everything.
10) Put the rubber bullet and long spring back in the fork leg.
10b) (Optional). To make your fork a bit stiffer you can add some 'preload' to the spring which is basically compressing the spring a bit so it starts off under load and thus is more stiff. The best way is likely a washer that has the same outer diameter as the fork legs inner diameter. Ensure this doesn't block the holes in the white plastic cap on the bottom of the stanction tube. (This might not even be possible as the washer may interfere with the oil flow). I haven't tried it but the problem with this maybe that it'll be hard to reinstall the 'C' clamp if you add a lot of preload. You'd need some way to hold the spring compressed while you put the 'C' clamp back in. You may just be able to push down the fork tubes.
11)Slide short spring and white plastic piece with ridges onto fork stanction tube. Insert fork tube into fork leg.
12) This is the point I think you'll want to add the oil. I'm not sure how much or what weight the stock oil is but to stiffen things up you can add slightly more oil or increase the oil weight a bit. Fork oil should be available for about 6$liter (liter = 1/4 gallon) and comes in weights of 5weight, 7.5wt, 10wt etc. The stock oil is likely one of those three weights (likely lower wt like 5wt). Hopefully someone with the service manual can post the amount and weight of the stock oil. Always use new oil when you fill a fork. Ideally the oil should be changed every year or so.
13) Reinstall the 'C' clamps. You may need to push down on the fork tube while you do this. Make sure everything is sitting all the way down or you'll have a hard time. They are pretty stiff 'C' clamps so make sure your pliers are sturdy.
14) Reinstall the seals. This isn't too hard. Just slide them on the fork tubes and push them down into the ridges in the legs. You will have to push kinda hard to get them to sit right. Just focus on one spot and get it in and then work your way around the leg.
15) Put leg back in crown and reinstall front wheel.
I hope this was helpful. For a very helpful exploded view of the fork see this link:
i6.photobucket.com/albums/y210/dandurston/fork.bmp
If someone could please post the stock oil levels and weight that would be very helpful. I will edit my post at such a time. This may be a good thread to have as a sticky. I'll try and get that pic posted in thread once I can figure out how to reduce the size and chop off the unneccesary right half.
1) Support front end of the scooter by jacking it up or by setting something under the floorboard to lift the front wheel off the ground
2) Remove front wheel. The axle is basically a long bolt with a lock nut on the end. You need a 15mm socket/wrench for the head of the bolt and 17mm for the nut (if I remember right). The wheel will fall off when you wiggle this axle out. Put the axle somewhere safe along with the spacer (you'll see the spacer, it's simple).
3) Remove fork legs. They are clamped into the crown of the fork via two bolts each (Either 8 or 10mm). Remove these bolts and wiggle the legs out of the bottom of the crown. The fender will come off at this time.
4) Remove fork leg top caps. They should just pop out. You may be able to get away without removing them. (I'm not 100% as they popped off my fork).
5) Remove seals. The seals are probably the toughest part of the operation. They are just pushed down into a lip in the fork leg. Someone may have some good suggestions but basically you want to carefully pry/lift one edge out and then work around the circle to get the whole thing loose. Be careful not to damage them. The dealer tore one of mine when he removed it. (Disclaimer: I didn't actually take my fork apart. I had it at the dealers for some warrentee work (basically the cap came off the top and water got in a rusted things) and I only ended up putting the fork back together myself so I've only done the reassembly. For this reason I can't tell you the correct oil height or weight). I haven't finished the reassembly yet.
6) Remove 'C' clamp. You'll need a special kind of pliers to do this. These pliers have two little nipples that stick into tiny holes and pull the holes together. Some models are reversable so they can spread or squeeze clamps.
7) Remove stanchion tubes from fork legs. These are the shiny metal tubes. Lift them out along with all the pieces on them. You'll notice a white plastic piece with vertical grooves in it. Make sure this is clean. It will just slide up off the top (there is a stopper preventing stuff from sliding off the bottom of the fork). Then lift the short spring off. Lastly, take a look at the plastic cap at the bottom of the tube. Make sure it's clean, not clogged and not cracked or anything. It should spin smoothly.
8) Empty fork leg. This is the part that the stanchion tube was just slid out of. There should be a long spring in there and a bullet shaped piece of rubber at the bottom which makes bottoming the fork out less harsh. There should also be oil in there which you'll need to dispose of properly.
9) Clean everything.
10) Put the rubber bullet and long spring back in the fork leg.
10b) (Optional). To make your fork a bit stiffer you can add some 'preload' to the spring which is basically compressing the spring a bit so it starts off under load and thus is more stiff. The best way is likely a washer that has the same outer diameter as the fork legs inner diameter. Ensure this doesn't block the holes in the white plastic cap on the bottom of the stanction tube. (This might not even be possible as the washer may interfere with the oil flow). I haven't tried it but the problem with this maybe that it'll be hard to reinstall the 'C' clamp if you add a lot of preload. You'd need some way to hold the spring compressed while you put the 'C' clamp back in. You may just be able to push down the fork tubes.
11)Slide short spring and white plastic piece with ridges onto fork stanction tube. Insert fork tube into fork leg.
12) This is the point I think you'll want to add the oil. I'm not sure how much or what weight the stock oil is but to stiffen things up you can add slightly more oil or increase the oil weight a bit. Fork oil should be available for about 6$liter (liter = 1/4 gallon) and comes in weights of 5weight, 7.5wt, 10wt etc. The stock oil is likely one of those three weights (likely lower wt like 5wt). Hopefully someone with the service manual can post the amount and weight of the stock oil. Always use new oil when you fill a fork. Ideally the oil should be changed every year or so.
13) Reinstall the 'C' clamps. You may need to push down on the fork tube while you do this. Make sure everything is sitting all the way down or you'll have a hard time. They are pretty stiff 'C' clamps so make sure your pliers are sturdy.
14) Reinstall the seals. This isn't too hard. Just slide them on the fork tubes and push them down into the ridges in the legs. You will have to push kinda hard to get them to sit right. Just focus on one spot and get it in and then work your way around the leg.
15) Put leg back in crown and reinstall front wheel.
I hope this was helpful. For a very helpful exploded view of the fork see this link:
i6.photobucket.com/albums/y210/dandurston/fork.bmp
If someone could please post the stock oil levels and weight that would be very helpful. I will edit my post at such a time. This may be a good thread to have as a sticky. I'll try and get that pic posted in thread once I can figure out how to reduce the size and chop off the unneccesary right half.
