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Tourer
Posts: 432
Gettysburg, 2008 Tour Premium | I am thinking of doing the first fork oil change. Any tips on loosening the cap bolt. I am hoping to be able to do this without removing the handlebars. Not alot of room for movement.
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Visionary
Posts: 8144
New Bohemia, VA | you have to remove the forks, and I found a good grip on the tube and snap wrist on the wrench will loosen it. Read the book carefully on this one, carefully. It's easy but takes precision on putting in the oil, purging and removing the excess. Also, though the book don't call for it, some of the techs will recommend a cleansing agent to remove residue, rinse and then fill, I'm sure some will chime in. Read the book, I can't stress that enough. |
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Visionary
Posts: 1436
| A couple pieces of advice. First off don't forget to loosen he upper pinch bolts before trying to unscrew the fork cap. Second be sure to pull the bolt that holds the cartridge in place before removing the fork completely (before loosening the lower pinch bolts), you'll need an oil pan under the fork when you pull these bolts. If you don't know where they are, they are under the axle so obviously it needs pulled. Now if you have a real good vise setup at home with rubber clamps, you can pull the forks first and do all the other stuff from the vise. |
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Visionary
Posts: 8144
New Bohemia, VA | if you remove the cartridge the book recommends replacing the seal. so far I've not pulled my cartridge and no problems to date. I'm 8,000 over the recommended 15,000 mile change and it seems to be holding up good, though I'll be changing the fluid soon. |
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Tourer
Posts: 432
Gettysburg, 2008 Tour Premium | The manual indicates loosening the fork caps before removing them. I will try loosening the upper pinch bolts first but it looks like the caps are above the triple clamps. Bought some S wrenches but cannot get enough grunt to turn. Maybe some PB Blast will help. Maybe a real stubby 19 mm will fit better. |
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Visionary
Posts: 8144
New Bohemia, VA | ok, but in the scheme off things you'd do better off pulling, then popping... your game though. |
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Iron Butt
Posts: 763
Anderson, IN (48mi NE of downtown Indianapolis) |
I loosened the fork caps without removing the handlebars. I used a 19mm swivel box end ratchet wrench. I loosened the top triple clamp bolts first. The fork cap loosened with little effort. I only popped it loose at this point. I also popped loose the cartridge screw on the bottom.
I then pulled the forks out of the triple clamps. Loosening the caps and bolts before removing the forks makes it so a vice is not needed. Even though I have a vice, I don't like clamping on forks. They can be squeezed out-of-round easily.
When reinstalling the caps, only tighten as tight as you can get them by holding the tube by hand on the work bench. The triple clamp will hold the cap on. The oring will seal so it doesn't need torqued down. This will greatly ease removal the next time.
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Tourer
Posts: 432
Gettysburg, 2008 Tour Premium | Thank you all for your help. |
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fork cap nut
