WFO

Member
Dec 27, 1999
84
0
When I first bought this bike, I flushed out the old fork oil and put in new; I did not disassemble anything. A couple of rides later, BOTH forks suddenly start leaking. Now that I've got'em apart, I notice that the teflon coating on the bushings is shredded at one end on both the inside and outside bushings. Not the normal wear I've seen on other bikes. 95% of the teflon is intact and actually looks quite good. But the remaing 5% is shredded and flaking off....but only on the one edge. The debris is floating in the oil.
I'm not seeing any scarring on anything else. What causes this?
 

marcusgunby

LIFETIME SPONSOR
Jan 9, 2000
6,450
2
I usually loosen the fork(at the axle pich bolts)on the opposite side to the brake-do this with the bike on the stand-then spread the axle clamp with a flat blade screwdriver-ensure the fork leg will move freely on the axle by pulling it outwards-it should spring back with no resistance.
Next drop the bike off the stand and compress the forks a few times with your body weight.Whilst the bike is still off the stand tighten up the pinch bolts-the fork will be aligned as the forks are a few inches compressed and so are parallel.When the fork is fully extended the play in the bushes and the laws of leverage allow it to be forced to be out of line.
 

KiwiBird

LIFETIME SPONSOR
Jan 30, 2000
2,386
0
WFO - the KYBs have very thin bushings and can be easily damaged resulting in the "wear" when you slide hammer them apart. You probably have about 2-3mm where the one bushing went inside the other - yes?

I usually heat the bushing/seal area with a heat gun or lots of boiling water and then they come apart much easier.
 

marcusgunby

LIFETIME SPONSOR
Jan 9, 2000
6,450
2
Kiwi bird has it right-dont listen to me.I relaise now the teflon is worn off top of one bush and bottom of the opposing bush-i was thinking it was worn right across the bushes.
 

Skid Jackson

Member
Nov 1, 2000
191
0
I have an 01 drz e. I had factory connection redo the forks for me. the bike had probably 600 to 800 miles on it. One of the bushings was falling apart just like you describe. Seemed a little premature to me!! Guess they caught it before things started leaking. Now i'm wondering whats going to happen to the other one!!
 
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