Clarification on a Comment I Posted on RPM Fork Valves

[SlowOldGuy]

Just a clarification to a previous post I made regarding RPM fork valves. 

I installed the valves on my '85 FJ a few months ago and was initially struggling to get the anticipated performance out of them.  Randy was great, of course, working with me to get things straightened out.

My main complaint was what felt like a pogoing front end.  I changed from the 5wt fork oil to 10wt and the response seemed to be better.  The weather has been really cold here for the last few weeks, so I haven't been able to do any additional tuning.

Last Saturday, the weather finally broke so I took the '85 out to lunch.  The suspension was absolutely terrible, worse than I remember it being.  At a stop light I decided to check the sag so I pulled up on the rear end to gauge the sag.  The rear end didn't budge so I bounced down on the seat.  Again, NO movement at all from the rear end!  Evidently my high $$$ Penske had locked up solid for some unknown reason (probably mostly due to non use).
I limped home, pulled the shock off, and sure enough it was locked up solid.  I removed the spring and a few blows with a rubber hammer managed to free up the plunger.  I was not impressed. 

Sunday was another good day so I took the FJ on an extended ride.  Needless to say, the suspension action from both ends was much better.  I have no idea when the Penske froze up or whether it was a gradual thing or did it while sitting for the last few weeks.

I still have some more adjusting to do to the RPM valves (mostly to get back to Randy's recommended settings), but my statement that the RPM valves were not even close to the performance of my FZ1 suspension was not exactly accurate.  With a proper working rear shock, I feel the RPM valves are now far closer to the FZ1 cartridge performance than I previously experienced.

My apologies to Randy for casting doubt on his product.  For anyone considering the RPM valves, I would highly recommend them for a huge performance boost over the stock components. 

It's been a rough week for me mechanical-wise.  Headlight wiring problems yesterday and tonight on the way home from work, I lost the rear brake caliper off my FZ1, but that's another story...

DavidR.

[rktmanfj]

It's been a rough week for me mechanical-wise.  Headlight wiring problems yesterday and tonight on the way home from work, I lost the rear brake caliper off my FZ1, but that's another story...

DavidR.

You probably jacked up the headlight wiring last time you cleaned it.     

[Alf]

Last Saturday, the weather finally broke so I took the '85 out to lunch.  The suspension was absolutely terrible, worse than I remember it being.  At a stop light I decided to check the sag so I pulled up on the rear end to gauge the sag.  The rear end didn't budge so I bounced down on the seat.  Again, NO movement at all from the rear end!  Evidently my high $$$ Penske had locked up solid for some unknown reason (probably mostly due to non use).

DavidR.

In fact, when you have suspension problems it comes from the opposite way that you feel, i.e., bad front feelings come from bad rear settings

[Arnie]

SlowOldGuy said, "I lost the rear brake caliper off my FZ1, but that's another story..."


? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?  HOW did you do that?  C'mon, spill.  You've already leaked the topic.

Arnie

[movenon]

I hope you found the root of the problem. Do you think the Penske shock needs to rebuilt ? Must have been one hell of a chuck hole to jam a shock. You are just having to much fun in the sun...