I bought a 2000 GS500E recently the front handle bars shake and wobble just a little bit when I ride at a certain speed. We noticed the front fork seals are pretty much cracked and gone. Someone suggested from my work to rebuild the forks because of the age of the bike I have been trying to get info on rebuilding the front forks and have not been successful in my research. If anyone can give me some links or info on doing this task it would be much appreciated or if you have another idea as to the possible culpret of the handlebar issues I would appreciate that as well.

Get yourself a maintenance manual (Haynes or Clymer are good) if you intend to do such stuff on your own (it's a pretty involved process). As for the reason for the wobble: Have the front wheel balanced or balance it yourself. Should take care of most of the problem.

However, Suzuki spec. allows for 2 mm runout of the rim. If you have a rim with this much runout, a certain degree of wobble at resonance RPM is to be expected.

OK
Been there done that, so here is the info.
1) Determine if it's the fork OIL seal or just cracket DUST seals.
How: Well the seals that are showing with the bike untoched are the dust seals (the OIL seals are deeper in the fork). They crack from exposure to the sun and other wear and tear. If you remove these (lift and slide them up the tube) you would expose the oil seals , but there is no need to do this.
here: # 5 is OIL seal and # 7 is the dust seal


(Sorry about the size, but I can't seem to change it.)

2) Determine if you need new OIL seals.
How: Look for oil runoff trails down your fors tubes. These would be dark and slimey. The best way to find out is to clean the bottom (Larger diamiter) part of the fork realy well. Then in a day or two of riding if you see some thing oily on the bottom part of the fork you  need new OIL seals.

3) Ordering parts.
How: Bike Bandit has both the OIL seals and the Dust seals, so that's one option.
a) Oil seals (a pair)
b) Dust seals (a pair)
Note: even if only one of them is leaking you should change both.
More Parts: This would be a good time to make some improvements.
a) Progressive springs
b) gator protector for the forks
c) 15 wt oil in the forks
Note: you may already have progressive springs in your bike, so if you are unsure, just ask me how you could find out...

4) Instalation:
Can I do it miself? Sure you can. This is an easy way to get to know the front end of you bike.
What do I need:
1) A worm place to work, it's getting cold out (it's December), so find a nice place to work in. This little project will take you a couple of hours.
2) A brick and a 2x2x4 piece of 2x4 wood.
Why: you need these to hold the front end up while you work.
How:
a) put the bike up on the CENTER stand
b) Lift up the front end so that the rear wheel touches the ground
c) put the brick (verticaly) under the crank case (right under the oil drain bolt... if that helps)
d) Without letting the bike rock back forward insert the 2x4x4 so that it is 2 inches in HIGHT (this is the soft non damaging part of the makeshift jack).

3) A METRIC socket set and a rench (with a 1/2 inch adaptor)
4) A set of METRIC allen keys
5) a thin piece of plastic, or tubing, or something else you could wedge between your brake calipers while you are working on the bike.
6) a piece of PVC pipe ( I can't recal the diamiter right now, but maybe some one here can, it's been descused, so we could do a search)
Check this thread out:
http://gstwins.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10036&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=fork+oil+seals&start=0

7) Luck. Now skill and experience might do the same thing here, but nothing beats luck.
why: The major broblem that peole sometimes have with this project is the loosening of the dreaded Bolt at the bottom of the fork. This topic is greatly descussed in other threads.
Note: Luck can be substituted by a make shift tool.

Cheers
-Denis S.

Instalation summery
1) loosen the nut at the bottom of the fork,
2) remove the front fender,
3) remove the front wheel,
4) Hang the brake caliper by a rope and put a piece of garden hose between the pads (don't aplly the front brake No no ),
5) lossen the top and bottom fork clamps and slide the forks out (one at a time),
6) since you already lossened the bottom bolt, the rest should be easy...open the top of the fork CARFULY with a rench (the inside spring is loaded and will become a projectile) take out all the insiode parts
7) remove the bottom bolt compleatly and take out the rest of the inside stuff.
8 ) pull forks apart and remove the old fork seals and dust seals.
9) when putting on new ones be carefull not to damage them. Take a plastic bag and cut out a piece of it to use between the new fork seals and the fork tube as you are sliding them down the tubes. once you are near where you want them, remove the plastic bag inserts
10) reasemble in opposite order with a use of a PVC pipe as the fork seal setter.

Notes: Look up older posts (GSTwin gods helped me out with this one before) And drop in progresive springs alogn with 15wt fork oil instead of the 10wt. Put a little bit of oil between the dust seals and the fork seals to prevent future cracking.

check out
http://www.gstwins.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9559&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=

O.K., now that we have answered the fork seal question, what about the wobble?

Check your tire pressures, make sure your forks are aligned, tire/wheel balanced. And fix your seals. After you fix the seals, again, align the forks.

The wobble could be from loose steering stem bearings, less likely loose wheel bearing. Put the bike on the center stand, prop something under the engine so the front wheel is off the ground, then see if there's any play in the forks as you push and pull the wheel frontwards/backwards. Also try to move the wheel from side to side. Any looseness is bad and must be corrected. See the manual for stem bearing adjustment.

really really dumb question
that i hope i'm the only one asking

but what's a PVC pipe
or what does PVC stand for?

cheers,
joel

I believe PVC stands for something like Poly Vinyl Chloride - the material that PVC pipes are made out of.  

If you followed the link in dsmirnov83's first post you will have seen this picture:


Notice the labeling on the pipe.  (And ignore the metal thing inside - it's a  separate tool that's mentioned elsewhere.)

It's the white plastic pipe used for outdoor plumbing.

And it usually comes in 8-foot lengths, and in Schedule 40 and Schedule 80 thicknesses, and in several diameters....  

thanks everyone for the help

now
i gotta run to cycle world and order part 11-1128 from Progressive Suspension
and buy some 15wt oil, is it?

how much is that oil and how much of it oil do i apply to each spring?

cheers,
joel

The botle of oil will run you under $20 (I think I got mine from the dealer for $12. Now The point is not to lube the spings, but to fill the fork tubes with the oil to a certain distance from the top of the tube. You will no doubt see exactly what I mean when you start to take the forks apart.
Cheers
-DS

scratch mentioned it.. but you never said if they were ok. Check those tire pressures for the wobble. With the weather getting colder, the "COLD" pressure is likely to have dropped a bit.

Just don't want you doing a bunch of work when all you needed was a little air!  

trey

Quote from: KerryI believe PVC stands for something like Poly Vinyl Chloride - the material that PVC pipes are made out of.  

Yep, AKA Vinyl, AKA plastic.

Thank you

I will check this all out on Saturday hopefully will be able to correct the wobble and work on the forks all this information in very imformative.

Thanks again