Hawkrider

Ride57,

I looked at your profile and didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Try logging out and logging back in. Lemme know if you still have problems.

ride57

Well, done with this project. Took some pics (hopefully I'll get them all in order)

First, make sure all parts are on hand

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Put bike on stands, remove front wheel, fairing, front fender, brake hoses/reflecter,


Remove forks (I did 1 at a time)


Cap off, dump fluid, remove bottom 6mm hex bolt (impact wrench REALLY helps here) remove cartidge



Put hex bolt back in end of cartidge and give a few wack to slightly move valve inward



Right where the screwdriver tip is where the C clip is on the inside. Be careful ,they can go as far as 10 feet. (dont ask how I know this)



After valves are out, take rebound and carefully file peen off of end of threads. Mine were peened enough that about 3 threads down were belled out enough that I ultimatly ended up running a die on it.





After taking valve apart (I placed shims in order) read the directions on what shims your particular valving needs. This is from the code on the instructions from Racetech. Download the valve information, it will tell you what shims, what order, what size hole to drill and torque specs. I placed all the new shims in order, then stacked them on the shaft for the rebound valve, and on the hex bolt for the compression valve. A caliper is handy to have to measure the new shims to make sure you have the correct ones. The rebound valve instructions have the valving chart printed on the instructions. You need to download (or call Racetech) the valving instructions for the compression valve.



1 is done here. and the other





Now reverse the process when putting the cartridge back together.

Put the fork tube with new (or cleaned) bushings and new seal into lower leg. seat the bushing, seal. You can use a seal installer or I took the old seal, cut away the inside and slipped that over the tube and seated it with a plastic hammer. the pic below is the modified seal and the thing next to it is a bent coathanger that is 155mm long that I used to measure the fork oil.(the height of my fork oil)



Use corner of plastic bag to put over end of tube to slide seal/dust cover over so as not to tear them.



Once tubes are together, bolt in cartidge and torque. Fill with oil and measure.



Now its spring time, follow the directions and measure the set length, figure out haw long the spacer needs to be and cut. Be sure to take all the spacers into account when figuring out the spacer /preload length.

Drop springs in and spacer / washers. since I didnt have a spring compressor, I used a small screwdriver on the nut that holds the adjuster to damping rod. ! hand for the screwdiver, 1 hand to hold the fork tube, and your third hand to put the special washer back on



Now, to compress the spring ~and~ screw the cap on at the same time, I used a board as a lever. First I put a socket on the cap, put the board end under a conveniantly sized shelf, leaned on the other end and somehow managed to get a grip on the oil soaked fork tube and cap and got them screwed together.



Put back on bike and voila!

And since Im putting on the CCT's rihjt after tis, I left the bike on the stands.

superbling

Nice write up but you're supposed to do this kind of stuff during the winter!

ride57

I just got the bike a month ago, didnt want to wait for winter!

Hawkrider

There's a VERY important step that you need to add, and that is to bleed the cartridge before you measure the air gap. This is done by moving the cartridge up and down through its stroke until you feel equal resistance through the entire stroke. That cartridge needs to be filled with oil otherwise you may not ever get fully effective damping nor will you have the correct air gap.

Also, I recommend liberal use of brake cleaner prior to final assembly. Hospital-like cleanliness is of utmost importance when doing fork work. Something as simple as a hair caught in the shim stack will affect damping performance.

ride57

I should have added that I may have not written a step or 2. And to follow written directions in manual and from the company whos product you are installing.

Anyway, today I am starting the CCT's, so expext more pics

ride57

well, I messed up the rebound adjustment on the left fork. I have 2 turns on the right fork and 1 turn on the left.

I think I need to move the adjustment portion (the part that screws into the cap) out (lenghten a bit).

Any suggestions?

I am gonna call Race Tech monday and ask what adjustments I need to make.

Hawkrider

This can actually be done with the forks on the bike. It's preferred that you take them off so I'll give you the procedure using that method:

Loosen and remove the fork cap. Do not remove the fork cap as you have in the pics above. Remove the fork cap with the preload adjuster installed. Now loosen the 14mm locknut while holding the 14mm preload adjuster. Loosen the fork cap assembly several turns, but don't remove it. Set the rebound damping adjuster so the dot on the screw is aligned to the arrow on the sticker. Now slowly thread the fork cap assembly back down until the rebound needle just seats into the valve. You'll feel this as increased resistance. Carefully tighten the locknut without moving the fork cap. Reinstall fork cap. Repeat on the other side.

ride57

I took it off and turned the inner adjuster out a couple turns, now I have 2 turns adjustment same as the side that I didnt take that adjuster off.

Sablotny

Pics! I need the pics that are missing. Since mushy forks seem to be an achilles heel for the S'Hawk, this should be a sticky or something