I am making new fork spacers for my forks. I just want to confirm before I do it that fork oil will not destroy pvc pipe in time. Instead of cutting a little peice to put above the stock spacer I am going to replace the entire stock spacer with a little longer bit of pipe to compress the spring preloading it a bit, lessening travel a little and hardening the suspention.
it shouldn't my sonic springs came with Grey pvc pipe to use for spacers.
Good question. I'll be putting new sonic springs in sometime this week, whenever they get delivered.
Nate, are you doing this the "lazy way"?
Cheers,
J
PVC will be fine in oil, I promise. :thumb:
Nate, I'm sure you have enough money for new springs. Just do it! You'll thank yourself.
-Turd.
Buy new springs, and just to let you know indysuperbikes.com has racetechs for $79.99
My progressive springs came with pvc spacers too, so I'd assume it's ok :)
yeah I am going to get new springs. I just want to see what the spacers do first. Then i will go with racetechs or progressives. I can't make my mind up on which one to go with so i am going with a 3 dollar peice of pvc to clean up my newly found clearance issues with my clipons :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
ps, yeah I am going to be doing this the lazy way, and even though the stock springs are "soft" getting the cap back on can be a pain in the .... well ... fingers :laugh: :laugh:
Quote from: natedawg120 on May 08, 2007, 01:07:40 PM
ps, yeah I am going to be doing this the lazy way, and even though the stock springs are "soft" getting the cap back on can be a pain in the .... well ... fingers :laugh: :laugh:
Those threads are
very fine. Its easy to cross thread them while pushing down against the spring. Be careful!
-Turd.
Sonic springs, all the way.
(http://www.gstwins.com/photogallery/albums/userpics/15178/normal_Spring_Contest.JPG)
Do it!
EDIT: There.
A breaker bar works great for this. What I did was immobilize the joint from moving by taping 2 wrenches to the side. All you have to do is press down and twist. Takes about 15 minutes each side including oil/spring swap. Hope this helps O0
Yes, pvc will hold up in oil, make sure to get all of the plastic bits from cutting it off the edges (don't want that stuff in your fork oil) and be very sure to make them the same size.
I will say though that after installing my racetech springs, I will never go back to stock, not even stock with spacers. Also be sure to go with a "weight appropriate" fork oil, I used 7 wieght.
Jeff
all done. After searching for the right material i couldn't find anything that would fit suitably into the fork tube, the pvc was either a little fat or way to narrow. So i measured up a couple 7/8 inch sockets that were in an old tool set and they were perfect fit for the tube. The right fork hated me, alot. It shot off one filleting my knuckle, little pain never killed anyone right. Then it went on but didn't feel right so I backed off and out they came again. I was right is started to cross thread a little. I took the spacer out, cleand threads with file and threaded it in. It threaded alright. So a little more careful this time got it in threaded it down yay snug. other side. easier, to blood or eye loss.
Next thing I am going to do is upgrade my forks though. I want something that is a little more adjustable without having to take the caps off. It not hard to do but the force of the spring shoots the cap off like a champ with the preload in there, esp if you aren't ready for it.
Cool. I'll be doing my springs this w/e. Hmm... Is it neccessary to change the fork seals when doing this type of upgrade? My bike only has about 7000M on it and they don't leak...
JG
just being curious, the caps are aluminum and the fork tubes are steal? So if one cross threads it, it should only mess up the threads on the cap, or am I mistaken. I am procrastinating doing actual work here at work and I want to upgrade the forks but the springs will do the trick to. Hell if I could find caps with preload adjustment that would thread in that would rock too, cause thats all I really want. anyone seen anything like that around :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
^ sameless bump for question I hope I know the anser too.
Quote from: groff22 on May 09, 2007, 06:59:27 AM
Cool. I'll be doing my springs this w/e. Hmm... Is it neccessary to change the fork seals when doing this type of upgrade? My bike only has about 7000M on it and they don't leak...
JG
No need to fix what ain't broke.
Quote from: natedawg120 on May 09, 2007, 07:19:37 AM
just being curious, the caps are aluminum and the fork tubes are steal? So if one cross threads it, it should only mess up the threads on the cap, or am I mistaken. I am procrastinating doing actual work here at work and I want to upgrade the forks but the springs will do the trick to.
Makes sense. I have not cross threaded any yet so I cannot confirm.
Quote from: natedawg120 on May 09, 2007, 07:19:37 AM
Hell if I could find caps with preload adjustment that would thread in that would rock too, cause thats all I really want. anyone seen anything like that around :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
Most (if not all) non-US bikes have external preload caps....but they use clip-on type bars for the clearance required for the extra height.
WooHOO! Just got my SonicSprings from the post office! :) Expect a few questions this weekend :)
Dosn't the GS have those in other countries, if so I'd bet they would fit but I'm no expert.
I also think they could be made, but it would take some percision to match them up.
Find the same thread steel cap drilled, weld on a nut
Use a bolt couple inches long
Use a washer the same diamiter as a spacer would be and a nut to lock it in place.
use a third nut at the top of the cap to lock proper adjustment
That should work, what do you guys think?
You wouldn't need to weld on a nut if the cap was thick enough... Just tap it to the bolt size you want...
I think it would be pretty hard to pull it off with "backyard" parts...... But, if you had access to a machine shop... :thumb:
[f
[d
Quote from: Wrecent_Wryder on May 09, 2007, 03:39:38 PM
Sorry, I'm missing something... how does the breaker bar help? For torque, sure, but how does it help compress the spring and/or prevent cross-threading? And, assuming you're going to take the caps off and put them back on with the tubes in the triples (wherever they may be in between), what's that about taping wrenches?
Cross-threading is my main concern with this. Actually, when I was working on (springer) air/pellet guns, I almost built a spring compressor. The problem is almost identical, and many of those cannot be done at all without some sort of mechanism.
Spring compressor would be really hard since the springs are internal. I wouldn't think it would be worth the effort to try and build something. I'm not sure about the breaker bar either, but I did mine last week and found it much easier to get them on using a socket wrench instead of by hand. I couldn't do it by hand but with a socket on it, pushing down evenly on top of the wrench, it was pretty easy to get it on. The first time I struggled with it and it took me maybe 5 minutes. Then when I did the second one I thought I put the same volume of oil in, but got a 1/2" difference in height, so I had to uncap the first and start over. Getting the caps on went quick after that.
Which reminds me, don't cap one until you've done them both and measured the oil height :)
When I did mine, I turned it backwards until I felt/heard the thread drop down... Then I tightened it.
I do things that way all the time to keep from cross-threading......... You can actually feel it drop a little when the two threads drop passed each other.
Quote from: RVertigo on May 09, 2007, 05:11:43 PM
When I did mine, I turned it backwards until I felt/heard the thread drop down... Then I tightened it.
I do things that way all the time to keep from cross-threading......... You can actually feel it drop a little when the two threads drop passed each other.
I do the same. Works great with screws in plastic as well. :thumb:
i tried to do that but the spring must have fought me just enough to chicken it sideways a little, i felt it and backed of. then the cap shot of like a bullet. The result was that i lost a bit of the bottom thread. Now the other side went on like a dream :laugh: :laugh:
Crazy... I had no such problems........ Maybe my spacer was just that much smaller. :dunno_white: I didn't even have to press very hard to get it back on..... ???
RV could that be because the progressive springs are longer than constant rate so need less of a spacer? :dunno_white:
Mine was fairly hard to put on. Got a sore hand from it.
I too used a socket wrench, turned it back a little till the thread dropped then tightened.
I used 10 weight oil.
[f3
I had a bruise on my hand from putting both on. I used racetechs with 5w oil. Also, I didn't measure my oil height, I measured oil volume with a measuring cup.
well A couple days after my first battle with my forks I am left please with the spacers. But I was left wanting it a little firmer, so I ordered the racetechs :laugh:. I also got two more fork caps to replace the one that I meat fisted and another one just in case I meat fist another, it really is easy to do. Also fork oil, went up to 15w cause I have about an inch and a half less travel to work with than usual because of my clipons.
Another thing is that if all goes well I am going to have an extra fork cap should anyone ever need one, This is unless I messed both up and the other side didn't go one as easy as I though. I just got two cause i don't want to have to wait a week and leave my fork wide open should the worse happen....
Quote from: NiceGuysFinishLast on May 09, 2007, 11:06:36 PM
I had a bruise on my hand from putting both on. I used racetechs with 5w oil. Also, I didn't measure my oil height, I measured oil volume with a measuring cup.
QuoteMine was fairly hard to put on. Got a sore hand from it.
How much preload are you guys using? The instructions with my sonic springs suggested 3/4" more or less. I put the caps back on with no problems. Just extend the slider, hold the tube in your left hand and cram the cap on with your right hand. Turn it till the threads click then snug it down.
You're not trying to put the caps on with the fork slider compressed are you? :dunno_white:
I was kinda wondering about that...... I put mine on the centerstand and put weight on the back...
Quote from: GeeP on May 10, 2007, 03:38:29 PM
Quote from: NiceGuysFinishLast on May 09, 2007, 11:06:36 PM
I had a bruise on my hand from putting both on. I used racetechs with 5w oil. Also, I didn't measure my oil height, I measured oil volume with a measuring cup.
QuoteMine was fairly hard to put on. Got a sore hand from it.
How much preload are you guys using? The instructions with my sonic springs suggested 3/4" more or less. I put the caps back on with no problems. Just extend the slider, hold the tube in your left hand and cram the cap on with your right hand. Turn it till the threads click then snug it down.
You're not trying to put the caps on with the fork slider compressed are you? :dunno_white:
I did the forks without putting em back in the clamps, might have made it easier. I used whatever Brian's measurements were.. don't remember.
nah it wasn't compressed, had the wife sitting on the back so the front was up in the air. It wasn't that hard to push the caps down it was just trying to hold them there while i got the threads started, that killed my hand. My forarm cramps bad when using hand tools for a prolonged period, that made things hard.....
so how long a spacer did you end up using??????
Well with the stock springs around 30mm. With the Racetechs that are now in i recon about 22mm preload. It sags about 20mm and feels great. Braking also feels a HELL of a lot better without all the dive. I used 15w oil as well. Now all i need to do is get my hands on a katana rear shock and i'll be set :laugh: :laugh:
Also i think they may have updated the stock springs a bit, they are no where near as short as the ones I have seen come out of the E's. The racetechs were about an 1-1.5 inches taller than stock.
[5
Yeah I didn't bottom out unless I was being heavy on the front brake of hit an incline change like _/ or a big bump, like the one entering my gravel parking lot :laugh:.