USD Fork Stiction Issue
 

Bought a set of '02 GSXR750 forks off ebay after I found out the TLS forks won't work with 954 triples (there's not enough material to machine the lower to accept the 55mm lower section on the TLS fork...). One of the forks is fine, the other one is sticking pretty bad. Any of you suspension gurus know what might be causing it? The thing seems to check out straight (at least as much so as the other one), and I'm kinda leery to crack the thing open if it could be something major and as such I should go back after some $$$ from the seller (or a full refund plus return shipping).

This whole deer incident is starting to really piss me off. I've been stuck off the bike for over a month now, and riding the wife's V-star just isn't cutting it. We sold the baby Duc and the F4i racebike, but even those weren't a replacement for the big twin. Fucking stupid forest rat.

I got a set of VTR forks with .85 Racetechs and Gold Valves set to full race. I bought them from a member here as a back up plan when my deer was an Isuzu Trooper in 2007. LMK

real simple point but just make sure when comparing one to the other that you have preload and damping adjustment set same for each fork. when they are adjusted 'hard' can feel very stiff/notchy by just trying to compress it. Some riders will set different fork fluid/levels right/left to further adjust damping, so depends on where the came from. If they look straight you can use one of those laser levels people use to hang pictures straight - let it shoot a straight laser line and check the forks against it to see that both tubes are parallel. After that, I think the next step is opening them up, and check the fluid first. hard to imagine if they are straight else would be going on.

I was wondering when we'd hear more from you. Was great chatting when you picked up the triple from me.

Do you have the TLS triple? You could try grinding the top bearing to fit that triple instead like supermatt is doing here: https://www.superhawkforum.com/forum...ad.php?t=19420

Yeah, I got home with all the parts and looked at the 954 lower and started cursing. The lower opening is less than 1/2 millimeter from the threads on the pinch bolts, meaning if I milled for the extra 1mm circumference of the TL forks I'd run into the threads. The kicker is that I also bought new tapered bearings from allballs for the 954 triple. I did find out with the GSXR forks that the lowers are a smidge thicker than the TL, which pulls the axle 'catch sleeve' outboard, so I'm going to have to shim the axle on the left to get it centered. And instead of using the TL brakes, I'll end up using the 954 complete setup, which will also need shims to move the calipers inboard about 2mm or so. All the shimming and tweaking I was prepared for... the buggered fork? Not so much.

More to follow...

Nuhawk,

Thanks for the offer, but I'm gonna have to be pretty desperate to go back to stock at this point (I have Racetech .85's in the stock forks now). Having ridden the F4i at the track, I could actually tell a big difference in the stability of that front end. I think I have passed the point of no return.

Well worst case if you need to ride and can't wait on your build progress, you can borrow my old forks. I do plan to sell them eventually to recover the costs on my swap, but I am not in a hurry to do that. (unfortunately they have OEM bearings in them, I only put the all ballz on my 954 setup)

You can try moving the adjusters (compression rebound preload etc) through their complete adjustment, then putting them back to stock. (I don't know what stock is on a 02 GSXR though) This is just in case there is a small goober of material in one of the valves causing the issue rather than a bent fork.. it might get it out of there.

Hope you can find a buyer for your TL parts. I was able to sell my mess of unneeded parts for what I paid for them on Craigslist.

Problem solved. 'New' (read: another) right fork came in just before the weekend. I've been under the weather, but after a visit to the doc for some antibiotics (nasal infections are a bitch!), I'm feeling much better. New thread with a question as to caliper bolt spacing has the current status...