top nut on fork's

[steppin stone]

Hello, Here I go again with another silly question. would any body happen to know what size socket I need to take the front fork cap's off. I want to change the front fork fluid and need to remove cap's so I can add the fluid. Don't want to buy a bunch of socket's that I don't need I have plenty just not the size I need..

[WingAdmin]

Hello, Here I go again with another silly question. would any body happen to know what size socket I need to take the front fork cap's off. I want to change the front fork fluid and need to remove cap's so I can add the fluid. Don't want to buy a bunch of socket's that I don't need I have plenty just not the size I need..

Keep in mind that there is a powerful spring in there (strong enough to hold the bike up). If you just unscrew that nut, once you get to the last couple of threads (and they are very fine, delicate threads) the spring will eject that cap off of there like a projectile, tearing out the threads in the process.



Honda makes a tool that can help with this:



It lets you gently remove the cap while applying pressure to prevent it from happening:



Their tool is somewhat expensive, so some people make their own: How to make your own fork cap spring removal tool

[Malm]

I recently did mine...
It is HELL getting the nut back on.
I used an extension and had my son pushing with both hands on the extension, and me pushing down with all my weight, and we are both big strong fellas, and we just barley made it...
This is not an easy thing to do... cross threading was not an issue for me, it seemed to line up fine, it is pushing against the spring... damn.
I almost gave up... Good luck, everything I read made it sound easy, it is not easy.

[grand rouge]

Fork Cap...… 24 MM wrench / socket.

Juuuust in case it matters..... My neighbor....well a few doors away..... weighs about 130 ...geared up. She does all maintenance on her GL 1200..... Good looking gal too.


Little trick she used re getting fork cap started….. Front wheel not on ground, incidentally. Socket and extension and ratchet to loosen cap.....and with say.....3 or so threads remaining (Has had apart before...noted thread count)....puts her weight...such as it is..... over the fork and wrench set up...keeps socket turning C Clockwise...... Yes, cap pops up.....more a surprise the first time..... Anyway...she removed the spring then started the fork cap back into the fork tube.....Noting where the threads 'mesh' with the fork leg......marks the cap with an appropriate permanent marker.....has a reference point now. Both springs out, caps marked, oil drained....forks collapsed / extended a few times, flushing with mineral spirits then fork oil.......then fill to about 7 inches of top with springs out, forks collapsed. Start cap....pushing with all her weight...3 turns or so.... Start to finish...an hour...…


Last year I replaced the factory springs in my LTD first with Progressive Brand units.....lots of preload and a bit of a challenge ...though knowing when threads are about to 'mesh' really helped. Anyway...I was looking for better ride quality and 'feel.' I recently installed a set of Sonic straight rate springs.....for my purposes, I set pre load at 3/4 inch...spring is shorter than stock by about 8 inches...…..a foot or so of Schedule 80 PVC comes with the springs. I cut to proper length. I was able to start the fork cap with bare hands...…. My all up riding weight......240. 15 wt Maxima Fork oil...rides like a magic carpet....smooooooth….and controlled.

[steppin stone]

Well I took it for my 1 st ride today the maiden voyage only made it 5 miles down the road and lost clutch. I went to put in the clutch and found it wasn't working ( stuck in gear) so I shut it down and coasted of the side of the road. So I sat there for a little while trying to figure out what was wrong and had a few smokes. A friend of mine was driving by that wants to go cruising pulled over to give a hand . I was lucking I was on the crest of a little hill so he gave me a push I popped it in gear and limped home as he followed me. When I got home I found the clutch reservoir dry so I added some fluid pumped the clutch and wham I had a clutch. After about a half hour I found it was leaking at the clutch slave. Well that ended my day for cruising so I grabbed a beer sat on my a.. and got on the computer and ordered the part's they say it should be in by friday. I also ordered new front fork seal's so I guess I'm not going to touch those top nut's after all. I have seen a lot of people replacing the seal's without taking the whole fork's off . So I am just going to change the fluid that way and I will know that the seal's are all new and one more thing I won't have to worry about. Well I think I'm going to sing off and go jump in the pool and maybe have a few more deserved beer's. Thank's for the help guy's I'll post back the result's.

[steppin stone]

Well hello guy's, The new part's arrived on thursday for the clutch slave. So as soon as I got home I replaced the clutch slave gasket's all in all it took about an hour and a half to do the job all is good.. I got up early yesterday and started tearing front forks apart to replace seals. I left the fork's on did one side at a time just in case I screwed up on reassembly. Well all went well till I had to put in snap ring in (couldn't get it to catch) so after about an hour or so I removed the fork one at a time. All the video's and peoples comments say removal of the forks are a pain. I found it not that difficult fairly easy. I was glad I had to take them out I was able to clean and polish all the aluminum look's great. Now I have to order the gear for speedo drive the ear's snapped off ( plastic brittle) anyone know of an easy way to get the sensor screw out it wont budge and I don't want to put heat on it . I could drill it I suppose and what's left grab with vise grips and buy new screw.