Good morning all!
Well, after much procrastination I declared a mental health day yesterday and went and bought the parts needed to fix the forks on my red 1976 XS650C - Lucille. She came to me with fairly badly pitted fork tubes and a bit of oil visible on them, so I knew that this was coming. Finally, the other day I was looking at her and noted a coating of dust all over the front end and when I wiped some off with my finger, it came off all black and gooey. She had puked out just about all of her fork oil and it was now coating the forks, the lowers and the headlight bucket - YUK!! Anyhow, I am now the proud owner of
I do have a question based on searching the forum and even going full-Google/YouTube in search of a good 34mm fork How-To video (there doesn't seem to be one for the 34mm dia. fork XS650 but I get the general idea from the many videos I did find):
Q - a key problem seems to be preventing the damper rod from turning during removal.
When one loosens the lower bolt that secures the damper rod, it seems that the darned thing often just tends to turn and turn and so a top-end holding tool is needed to stop the rotation.
There are several pictures of such tools in the forum (mostly made out of a socket with a slot cut across it) - but there are no dimensions that I can find and since I don't have an actual 34mm damper rod loose - yet - could someone please send along a sketch or photo of the tool with the required width of the slot that I need to cut?
Any other tips or suggestions would be most welcome!
Cheers,
Pete
Well, after much procrastination I declared a mental health day yesterday and went and bought the parts needed to fix the forks on my red 1976 XS650C - Lucille. She came to me with fairly badly pitted fork tubes and a bit of oil visible on them, so I knew that this was coming. Finally, the other day I was looking at her and noted a coating of dust all over the front end and when I wiped some off with my finger, it came off all black and gooey. She had puked out just about all of her fork oil and it was now coating the forks, the lowers and the headlight bucket - YUK!! Anyhow, I am now the proud owner of
- a new set of 34 mm fork tubes;
- TWO sets of new seals (2 sets just in case I "enjoy" the job so much that I want to do it twice);
- the requisite fork tools (thanks Coconut Pete!!! ) and,
- a new set of progressive wound springs.
I do have a question based on searching the forum and even going full-Google/YouTube in search of a good 34mm fork How-To video (there doesn't seem to be one for the 34mm dia. fork XS650 but I get the general idea from the many videos I did find):
Q - a key problem seems to be preventing the damper rod from turning during removal.
When one loosens the lower bolt that secures the damper rod, it seems that the darned thing often just tends to turn and turn and so a top-end holding tool is needed to stop the rotation.
There are several pictures of such tools in the forum (mostly made out of a socket with a slot cut across it) - but there are no dimensions that I can find and since I don't have an actual 34mm damper rod loose - yet - could someone please send along a sketch or photo of the tool with the required width of the slot that I need to cut?
Any other tips or suggestions would be most welcome!
Cheers,
Pete
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