It's been keeping you awake nights....

[canyncarvr]

Wondering, 'WHAT is the condition of my fork sliders (bushings)? Should I replace them next fork service? ...or not?'

You can put this under the heading of 'Completely Anecdotal Info' (and therefore, yes...of little use).

I don't keep excellent records as some do of bike hours. I know it's four years old, and it's been ridden a whole lot, about ten Dunlops worth, a couple of top-ends. How's that?

I figured the sliders had to be pretty much worn out. No particular slop in the forks, but with a fork oil change scheduled for this past weekend it seemed a good time to replace the seals and the sliders.

I found the sliders to be pretty much perfect in appearance. There was NO instance of the teflon coating being worn thru, scraped or otherwise boogered. It is a rather thick coating as opposed to what looks like a flashed plating I've seen on Honda sliders.

Unfortunately, they get pretty much beat to death in the disassembly process. Don't take your forks apart just to inspect them! You will probably need to put new ones back in.

There. Don't you feel better, now? ;)

 

[JasonWho]

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[canyncarvr]

No, they aren't. I've had a set sitting around for awhile waiting for someone (?) to get enough umption to get the job done. Seems the set was around $40-50?

Then there are oil/dust seals....and a $45 MotionPro seal driver. Make your own out of some PVC pipe conglomeration if you wish, but the real deal driver makes the installation a snap.

Well, a 'smack' maybe?

I never did find a 'kit' (seals and sliders) for the kdx.

You can clean your forks quite a bit better/easier when they're apart. That's a good thing.

 

[JasonWho]

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[canyncarvr]

OK...so rockymountain has 'em for $57. I'm sure the price has just gone up since I bought mine....I could not have mistakenly remembered.


Right?

I'll loan you mine. With shipping both ways, a $45..no a $57 deposit..... ;) But mine is a 43mm.

There is no replacement for having the correct tool. I got a 'real' carb gauge (no mercury to mess with) set to sync my honda carbs awhile back. Yeah..I'll use it maybe once a year or so..still the $120-something it cost has been worth it. The job was a snap and the improvement in the bike with such minute changes was WELL worth it.

 

[JasonWho]

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[gwhII]

CC:

Yep, you're definitely right about the teflon coating not making it through the disassembly process. I has the same thing happen when I did mine. That's what I get for being curious as to what's inside... :-)

Jason, you can make most of the smaller tools for the forks. I ended up buying the seal driver, fork oil level, and the Kawi steering stem nut spanner. The rest I made. If I had to do it again, I'd just get a giant syringe from the feed store (or auto parts store for rear ends) and a length of small OD metal tubing and make the oil level.

If I'm thinking of the right tool, the piston rod puller is just a piece of tubing with the right ID and thread. If your piston rod is 10mm x 1.0 thread, Snap-On has the right tap or drop me an email--I think I have some tubing left over. I cut up a wood plane blade because it had the right size channel for the fork spring holder - $2 for the blade, a hacksaw blade, and a couple minutes on a grinder.

Best,
Greg

 

[JasonWho]

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[gwhII]

I bought RT oil level and seal driver. Both are nice tools but if I were trying to save money, I'd buy the driver and make the level. The RT oil level seems to be more substantial than the MP tool but I don't know if it's $20-worth more substantial.

I'm like you--I like to have the right tools. I only make tools when I know I can make a good facsimile for cheaper. The spring holder is a "C" shaped tool to keep the fork spring away from the cap. CC has his copyrighted drawing in one of the posts. :-) Being the cheapskate I am, I decided that I could make one of those--the same went with the rod holder.

Best,
Greg

 

[JasonWho]

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