Mixing different fork spring rates

[jruggery]

I have been working with a local suspension tuner in trying to get my '03 KX250 set up for the woods. After deciding that I would need to go to lighter fork springs for my weight, he put a lighter spring in only ONE leg.

So, I have a stock (.44) spring in one fork leg, and a softer (.40) spring in the other leg. My suspension guy states that this will give me an effective spring rate of .42.

I have heard of mixing fork oil viscosities for an average of the two (equal parts 10 weight and 5 weight yield 7.5 weight), but I never heard that it applies to spring rates. At this point, I'm half afraid to ride the thing for fear that I'll damage the fork internals.

Has anyone ever heard of mixing different rates? Any info would be appreciated!

 

[WhiPit]

Mixing spring rates

I'd ask him why he didn't just put .42's in, but what he did will not hurt anything - as long as the springs are the correct dimension (OD & Length).

:cool:

 

[jruggery]

He did it to save me a little $, since he had a .40 lying around, and I would have been out another $90 or $100 for .42's.

 

[SpDyKen]

I believe Marzocchi produced forks in the '80s with compression damping in one fork leg and rebound in the other and have heard of people using different rates to achieve an 'average' rate.

 

[ryanrambo24]

so i'm thinking of running a .38 and a .43 cause i have both sets in my garage , but the 38's are too soft and the 43's are to stiff would mixing them give me a 40.5 feel and then not hurt anything?

 

[marcusgunby]

it will work fine.