Over inflated forks to 60 lbs

[Gabe]

Forks were over inflated to 60 lbs, now they bottom out at the any bump in the road, it makes a loud thud sound, stopped riding it until repaird, what dammage was done by over inflating forks, will new seals fix the problem, your help will be very much appreciated, thank you, Gabe, forgot to mention my bike is a 1984 Honda GL1200 Aspencade, my first post, sorry.

[twocams]

Sounds like there is little to no oil in the legs. But sure they will have to be rebuilt....if kits are still available. Kit for the part you need, to fix them. Seal kits are around.....

twocams

[Gabe]

The forks didn't start to bottom out untill after the forks were over inflated

When you say forks will need to be rebuilt, do you mean new seals ?

[twocams]

So what you are saying, that the forks wont hold air anymore? If they wont hold air then there has to be a reason. Seals would be my guess. You may want to replace your springs while your there. Think I paid $60-70 for mine. Do they bottom out going over ant hills or just bigass pot holes?

[Gabe]

Yes they bottom out on an ant hill, but forks hold pressure, I ordered a seal kit, I hope that does the trick, I'll consider springs.

[Gabe]

Thank you for your help, I appreciate any and all further thoughts concerning this issue, Gabe.

[twocams]

Did you ever find out if you had fork oil in each "leg". If they are holding air. Both. then sounds like the little orifices inside are plug or something. That let the oil in and out with in each leg to dampen. When you take them apart to rebuild make sure to clean any little orifice holes. Compressed air works good also.

twocams

[Gabe]

That sounds very reasonable, do you think that over inflation of forks may have plugged the orifices? I guess it was tme for changing the fluid and seals anyway. Thank you for steering me in the right direction, I'll sleep better tonight thanks to you, wings forever, Gabe, please keep the info comming, thanks again brothers.

[Gabe]

Don't know the situation regarding fork oil leval, thought I'd wait untill I receive the seal kit to tear it down, should be hear next thursday.

[Gabe]

What are all possible dammages that could accure if forks are over inflated?

[twocams]

Hum, I dont know.Of anyone that has put that much air in their forks. Let us know.

[Shadowjack]

I'm trying to understand where you are in this process. You inadvertently put 60 pounds of air in the forks, yes? I assume you let it all out again? If not they're going to be rigidly extended, with no travel at all. You're not using the term "bottoming out" to describe the sensation when you hit a little bump with all that air in there, right? Because that's not what's happening. They're topped out, with no movement.
You can run it with zero pressure and it will still work--it's only supposed to be 6 pounds max, anyway. There are no small passages to be blocked by too much air pressure; they're actually quite large, and nothing can move in there. Leaky slider seals need to be replaced because they're messy, but the fork should function normally with little to no pressure.
There are like 9 O-rings on one of those forks to hold the air in. Two around each leg where the equalizer collar is, one on each end of the equalizer tube, two on the fork caps, the fill connection, plus the compressor hoses. If your system won't hold pressure, you might need more than just fork seals.
If you really have a bottoming out situation, where the fork goes to full travel on the smallest bump, someone might have left the spring spacers out (and compensated by putting in too much air?) If that were the case, under no pressure, it would sag almost to the bottom. If it moves very easily on small bumps but doesn't quite hit, then you don't have near enough oil in them. Just to help you out, they each take 345 ccs, and if you measure when the spring is removed and the fork is collapsed, that level will be 9.5 inches below the top of the tube. Easy to check without draining and refilling.

[Gabe]

If I'm sitting on the bike at a dead stop, hold front brake, push foward, then pull back on handle bars, it makes a thud sound at the end of upward travel, is that bottom out or top out?

[Gabe]

I checked air pressure again today, forks do not maintain pressure.

[Shadowjack]

Upward travel is topping out. It depends on the bike, but the oil quantity and viscosity affects fork travel, and you may or may not feel or hear it when it's "normal". Usually it's a bit damped or muffled, if it happens. Or it's possible the thud is not from the forks hitting the end of travel, but somewhere else in the assembly, like loose head bearings.

[Gabe]

Guess what, my front shocks were over inflated, I'm back on the road, thank you God, eee-ha!!!!

[twocams]

What? HUH....Say it isn't so !


twocams