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FJ11 front suspension

Started by homerfj1100, January 02, 2014, 06:57:40 AM

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homerfj1100

I have replaced the seal on the left fork. All done by the book. Fork back in place. Now I tried to adjust the preload and the damping. Pressed in the damper screw and tried to turn ( as the book says) nothing moves. Now the pressed in damper screw won´t spring up again. It´s stuck down. No amount of fiddling seems to work. What could the problem be? Thanks. Tony ( 85 FJ1100)
Homerfj1100

FJmonkey

Sounds like something went amiss during reassembly. The D shape rod maybe misaligned. If that part binds in the damper unit it could cause the symptom you describe. Unscrew the cap and make sure the D-rod slides in easy. Or upgrade to the RPM valves and toss most of the D-rod out.
The glass is not half full, it was engineered with a 2X safety factor.

'86 Ambulance - Bent frame, cracked case, due for an overhaul
'89 Stormy Blue - Suits my Dark Side

racerrad8

As already mentioned, the "D" shape adjuster rod is not in the center adjusting hole and is stuck in one of the outside oil holes.



Randy - RPM
Randy - RPM

homerfj1100

Quote from: racerrad8 on January 02, 2014, 11:00:03 AM
As already mentioned, the "D" shape adjuster rod is not in the center adjusting hole and is stuck in one of the outside oil holes.



Randy - RPM

I just replied to this. Ta very much anyway. Best wishes. Tony.
Homerfj1100

Alf

Tony

Like I said you when you started with your fork nightmare: plan a weekend on Tenerife and we do in my home


andyb

And that is the best ever picture of that that you will ever see.  Kickass, Randy!

I've only ever seen it through a haze of oil at the bottom of a fork tube whilst swearing at it because i ran out of hands between the fork tube, cap, and flashlight. 

Not bitter.  Honest.  But it does take some swearing to get it right.

homerfj1100

Quote from: Alf on January 02, 2014, 02:09:14 PM
Tony

Like I said you when you started with your fork nightmare: plan a weekend on Tenerife and we do in my home


You know Alf, you´re right, it was and , maybe, still is a nightmare as the left and right ´settings´ are now different. My probem is, I don´t seek help until things get beyond my control. I shall look at the calendar ( my wife is in the UK at the moment and may be there for a few weeks more) and hopefully Fred Olsen and a cheap hotel will help. Thank you.
Homerfj1100

homerfj1100

Quote from: andyb on January 02, 2014, 02:12:30 PM
And that is the best ever picture of that that you will ever see.  Kickass, Randy!

I've only ever seen it through a haze of oil at the bottom of a fork tube whilst swearing at it because i ran out of hands between the fork tube, cap, and flashlight. 

Not bitter.  Honest.  But it does take some swearing to get it right.

Quote from: andyb on January 02, 2014, 02:12:30 PM
And that is the best ever picture of that that you will ever see.  Kickass, Randy!

I've only ever seen it through a haze of oil at the bottom of a fork tube whilst swearing at it because i ran out of hands between the fork tube, cap, and flashlight. 
Not bitter.  Honest.  But it does take some swearing to get it right.

Yep, not bitter, just frustrated. Randy´s pic is the best and reminds me of the radiation warning signs we had in school, for the small amounts of fissionable material we had. Ho ho. Why is it that the site ´´over the pond´´ is more responsive?
Homerfj1100

soundmindryan

Quote from: racerrad8 on January 02, 2014, 11:00:03 AM
As already mentioned, the "D" shape adjuster rod is not in the center adjusting hole and is stuck in one of the outside oil holes.
Randy - RPM

+1  Happened to me, too. Randy is correct. (Hello!)  Easy to do.

Ryan
Ryan McCollum
Tulsa, OK
'89 FJ1200 White & Silver
'90 Yamaha Venture Royale

"I visited a scientist who had a helmet with magnetic fields controlled by computer sequences that could profoundly affect your mood and your perceptions."
-Douglas Trumbull

racerrad8

Quote from: homerfj1100 on January 02, 2014, 02:48:55 PM
...still is a nightmare as the left and right ´settings´ are now different.

That is because at some point the fork(s) have been apart and not re-assembled properly.

If the index groove is not held on the index screw then the damper rod is now where ever it wants to be in a 360* radius and you have no way of knowing what adjustment position the damper rod is set to.

99% percent of the forks I build here are just that way, not indexed properly. That's right, 99%, I have only disassembled one set of forks that were both properly indexed. The reason they were properly indexed was because they had never been disassembled from the date it left the factory.

It is time to pull them all the way down and start fresh...

Randy - RPM

PS, if you zoom in on the picture, you can see the far edge of the groove has a depression where it was tightened down on the index screw.
Randy - RPM

TexasDave

Randy did the fork mod on my bike a month ago and yes the previous owner did not have the forks indexed right. But I'm not quite indexed right either. :sarcastic:
A pistol is like a parachute, if you need one and don't have one you will never need one again.

aviationfred

There have been a few references about members taking their FJ's to their local service department for a broad range of service. With the age of our bikes, a lot of the service techs have problems assembling things back correctly.

I have ran across this myself with getting a head rebuilt. I tried to have the head rebuilt locally. After 3 months, I got fed up with the delay and shipped the head to Randy. With shipping time, the turn around was less than 30 days from Kansas to California and back.

On my 2nd FJ, the forks had the RPM fork valves installed when I purchased the bike. The forks did not function properly. With the lesson learned from the head. I sent the forks to Randy for repair and a complete rebuild.

Now I have one FJ with a fresh head that runs great and another FJ with properly functioning forks.

If you don't have the technical expertise or the time to perform a major repair/rebuild of an item. I highly recommend having Randy at RPM do the work. You will NOT be disappointed.

Fred
I'm not the fastest FJ rider, I am 'half-fast', the fastest slow guy....

Current
2008 VFR800 RC46 Vtec
1996 VFR750 RC36/2
1990 FJ1300 (1297cc) Casper
1990 VFR750 RC36/1 Minnie
1989 FJ1200 Lazarus, the Streetfighter Project
1985 VF500F RC31 Interceptor

Pat Conlon

Truer words have never been spoken, thanks Fred!  :good2:
1) Free Owners Manual download: https://tinyurl.com/fmsz7hk9
2) Don't store your FJ with E10 fuel https://tinyurl.com/3cjrfct5
3) Replace your old stock rubber brake lines.
4) Important items for the '84-87 FJ's:
Safety wire: https://tinyurl.com/99zp8ufh
Fuel line: https://tinyurl.com/bdff9bf3

movenon

Life isn't about having the best, but about making the best of what you have...

1990 FJ 1200

racerrad8

Quote from: aviationfred on January 02, 2014, 05:08:40 PM
I have ran across this myself with getting a head rebuilt. I tried to have the head rebuilt locally. After 3 months, I got fed up with the delay and shipped the head to Randy. With shipping time, the turn around was less than 30 days from Kansas to California and back.

Don't forget, I had a knee ACL revision surgery in that time frame as well... :hi:

Randy - RPM
Randy - RPM