The Fork Tool - How to make? Or a substitute?

[Byard]

Hi all,

Could someone instruct how to make one for seperating the forks?

Thanks

[craigs449]

You mean from upper to lower fork legs?  Just get the dust wipers out of the lower tube, then pull them apart........several times.  Unless these are that much different from USD MX forks......takes a little effort, but they come right apart.  That reminds me, I gotta pull them off the GS and do the fork seals/dust wipers.......gotta get a set of sonic springs too.....

[Byard]

I pulled and pulled and pulled but I haven't undone the bolt at the very bottom of the fork legs which i think needs to be undone first. There is a tool you can make for it but I don't understand how to do it

[adidasguy]

The tool is different whether 1989-2000 forks or 2001+ FORKS (or was it 2004 they changed?)

[sledge]

I pulled and pulled and pulled but I haven't undone the bolt at the very bottom of the fork legs which i think needs to be undone first. There is a tool you can make for it but I don't understand how to do it

Want my advice??....You dont seem very confident, give it to someone who knows what they are doing 

[jp]

Buy 2 5/8"x 10" bolts plus a coupler from the hardware store, Home Despot, or Lowes. I put epoxy on the threads before I assembled mine so it stays together permanently. While you're there, buy a 2' section of 1 1/2" PVC pipe to use as a seal driver. You can store the fork tool inside the pipe and keep everything together.



The socket in front is one I made for another bike. I took a 19 mm socket and epoxied a bolt with a nut screwed on part way. Worked well with a couple of extensions on the ratchet. wasn't the right size for the GS500 though.

[sledge]

What if its late E or an F with the Paioli forks ??

Like I said earlier give it someone who knows what he is doing, this has got disaster written all over it

[BaltimoreGS]

Did you remove the snap ring on top of the fork seal?

-Jessie

[bill14224]

I agree with Sledge.  I've done plain shocks like these and it's fairly hard.  Last time I had my 1994 shocks done I took the shocks in.  It cost $120 and my mechanic told me it took him two hours to do it and he's done it hundreds of times.  It's a pain in the arse so if you can get it done right for the price I paid it isn't worth it to do it yourself, especially if you're a newbie.  Best of luck with it.

[adidasguy]

We've done older shocks in the bike cave. A shock can be done in a half hour at most. Part is having the right tool. Another part is having a used lower triple you can clamp in a vice and use it to hold the fork tube. That makes it go real easy. Then have a clean 19" paint roller to press the new seal in. (It is EXACTLY the right diameter and long enough to tap on the end.) Having a strong magnet on the end of a bolt helps pull things out. Long hooked pick also works.
We made the Beer Garage tool for the older forks. I bought the new tool for the newer forks.

[Erika]

I followed this guy's advice and it helped. I also had a friend there to help with a second pair of hands. It took me longer than a half hour on the first one, but once I knew how to do it, the 2nd one went much faster.

http://beergarage.com/GSForkSeals.aspx

I have a '94 E... just make sure you have the right tool made for your year.

[Byard]

Buy 2 5/8"x 10" bolts plus a coupler from the hardware store, Home Despot, or Lowes. I put epoxy on the threads before I assembled mine so it stays together permanently. While you're there, buy a 2' section of 1 1/2" PVC pipe to use as a seal driver. You can store the fork tool inside the pipe and keep everything together.



The socket in front is one I made for another bike. I took a 19 mm socket and epoxied a bolt with a nut screwed on part way. Worked well with a couple of extensions on the ratchet. wasn't the right size for the GS500 though.

Thanks for the advice but i've replaced the turbo on my BMW 330d alone, so im sure I can manage this. I just didn't understand how most people explained it as we name stuff slightly differently in the UK compare to the US

[Byard]

Did you remove the snap ring on top of the fork seal?

-Jessie

Yeah I removed that. The bike is a 1997.

Thanks

[average]

I did mine with minimal issues... it's not that hard guys....

[craigs449]

I have looked at the diagram for the internals of these forks and have a question......Why do you need to take out the damper rod just to pull the fork tubes apart?  I have done two sets of seals/wipers on USD MX forks and I did not have to pull the damper out. Is it necessary on these forks?....And if so, why?.....Does the damper rod somehow hold the upper (skinny) fork tube to the bottom fork tube?  In theory, they should pull apart with a couple of hard tugs after taking the top cap, dust wiper and snap ring off.....Right?

[average]

This isn't an MX platform. We didn't design it but it is waht it is...   Stick the tool into the fork with a 6(?)mm allen wrench at the bottom of the tube and turn away...

[adidasguy]

You rip out the tube to knock the seals out. The only way to do that is to take them apart. Then you yank on teh tube until it comes out with the seal.
If you could carefully rip out the seals, you wouldn't have to take things apart. That might be more work than removing the bolt. Going YANK YANK YANK POP and out comes the seal.

[Byard]

You rip out the tube to knock the seals out. The only way to do that is to take them apart. Then you yank on teh tube until it comes out with the seal.
If you could carefully rip out the seals, you wouldn't have to take things apart. That might be more work than removing the bolt. Going YANK YANK YANK POP and out comes the seal.

Can you yank it without removing the allen bolt with the special tool? I imagine not but thought id ask as iv'e not got round to doing it yet

[Paulcet]

NO

[craigs449]

You rip out the tube to knock the seals out. The only way to do that is to take them apart. Then you yank on teh tube until it comes out with the seal.
If you could carefully rip out the seals, you wouldn't have to take things apart. That might be more work than removing the bolt. Going YANK YANK YANK POP and out comes the seal.

Exactly.......so if I was replacing the seals anyway (mine are OEM and crap after 11 years) why would I need to take the damper rod out with the allen socket and special tool?  I know this is not an MX platform, but dampered forks are somewhat the same whether they are traditional or USD.

My question is........Can you take the fork tubes apart (separate the upper from lower tubes) without taking the damper assembly out of the lower tube?  If not can someone explain why.........Call me hardheaded, but I don't see why the damper assembly has to be removed when it only attaches to the bottom tube as far as I can tell.

-Not trying to be an ass (difficult, yes )......just looking for clarification.