can I clean forks without taking them completelly apart?

[Jenya]

Hello,

I am in the process of replacing stock springs with a set of Progressives. Not a lazy way. I took the leg of a fork off the bike and dumped the oil. It was gross. Black/gray and stinky, like as if it was burnt. I left the leg to sit upside down to allow for oil to drip out, but I am sure there is plenty of bad oil residue everywhere inside.

I was wondering if there is a way to rinse forks without having to remove the tube from the slider? Maybe pour kerosine inside, swoosh it around a bit, plunge the tube few times and then drain it out?

I gathered from reading archives that dissambling forks completelly can be somewhat a pain due to Allen bolt removal. Therefore, if possible, I'd rather cut a corner here and avoid going all the way.

Jenya

[hmmmnz]

yeah you could do it like that. but if your replacing the spring you may as well do the seals, they will be next to go any way so you may as well kill to birds with one stone
good luck

[scratch]

You would be better off just using some new fork oil to "rinse" out the old.

If your seals aren't leaking, there's no reason to replace them; they'll last as long as they're going to last.

[Egaeus]

It's not a pain as long as you have an impact wrench and a longish 8mm impact allen socket. 

[Jenya]

Indeed, it wasn't that bad.
Since I already had an electrical impact wrench, I sawed off the end of a long 8mm allen wrench, inserted it into a 3/8" socket and gave it few impact rattles. Took probably 5-7 seconds of rattling and it came loose! Then I just inserted the spring inside the tube to hold the dampener rode in place and removed the bolt.

As I expected, there was lots of old icky oil everywhere inside, so it was worth of going an extra length and do it right. Tomorrow I will finish this leg, do the same with another and take bike for a spin on my new springs! The difference in look between stock and progressives is astounding.

http://culbertfamily.com/jenya/gs500/springs1.jpg

Jenya

[Jenya]

I ended up making a tool that was described here for locking dumpening rod. Once I have had the tool, it was a breeze to both remove and tighten the Allen bolt.
I am so glad I took everything apart. Old oil was just awful. I cleaned everything thouroughly down to bare metal and refilled with fresh w15 oil.

Just came back from a test ride. Unbelivalbe! What a sweet ride! All the woobling went away completelly. The bike keeps straight line, carving turns is soooo much faster and feels solid, potholes and bumps don't bottom out the forks! Night and day. Can't wait to go for a longer ride tomorrow.

Jenya