Author Topic: fork legs locked down (Read 3132 times)

FreediverGa · « **on:** April 02, 2006, 11:40:59 AM »

I just started my spring swap out.

I pushed the upper slider down and measured out the correct oil level now the damn top tube won't slide back out it just locked down and won't pull back out on both fork legs at all.

Any ideas what I did wrong? They moved butter smooth so it's not corrosion or anything.

tacoman · « **Reply #1 on:** April 04, 2006, 01:30:41 PM »

I saw your post yesterday and hoped someone would have responded as I have no idea. Try calling or emailing Race Tech, one of their techs may know.

jfudo · « **Reply #2 on:** April 05, 2006, 12:54:08 PM »

This is a tricky one. My first attempt would be to loosen up the triple trees and fork brace. Maybe the forks aren't sitting straight in them. When I bought my bike, I though the forks were bent, but it turns out they were twisted a little between the 3 connections making them look that way.

Past that, I would think you need to take your forks apart. Never attempted that myself.

tacoman · « **Reply #3 on:** April 05, 2006, 01:42:19 PM »

By the way, are your forks still on the bike or are they off? If they are on the bike, remove the fender brace and loosen all the clamps. You may have some serious binding. If they're off, cartridge forks are a little tricky. Run them by a local dealer to see what they say.

FreediverGa · « **Reply #4 on:** April 05, 2006, 10:48:56 PM »

yeah I have them pulled off the bike and it ended up being something stupidly simple. The Mech just had to pop the bottom slider two times with rubber mallet to get the dampning-sp. plugger to come unstuck from the upper sliders. It got stuck in the smaller tapered section the upper fork leg. I was trying to pump out as much of the old oil out of the fork over the drain pan alittle two hard I guess! Then Mech took my 20 bucks for his 5 minutes of his time to fix it.

I have 01 B6 so the guts of my forks are pretty simple.

The Mech did think it was strange that instructions with my progressive springs said to stick with the stock oil weight of 10 instead going to 15 since it was stiffer spring it might have some harsh rebound

tacoman · « **Reply #5 on:** April 06, 2006, 01:42:54 PM »

How much do you weigh? I put 15wt in mine because I'm over 200lbs. and I put a B12 rear shock in mine. Its on the stiff side. If you're under 190lbs and not a real agressive rider, I would probably stay with the 10 wt. I would stick with 10wt if you still have the stock rear shock as the stocker is soft, you don't want an unbalanced bike.

FreediverGa · « **Reply #6 on:** April 06, 2006, 10:32:04 PM »

I'm right at 190lbs. working my way back to 170lb. I'm not real aggressive like dragging my knee but I go to the edge of the my tires on regular bases. I still have the stock B6 shock because I can't find a b12 shock to replace it with. I already have the 10wt. oil so I'm going to use that and see if I can get the rear shock tuned to balance out with the front close as possible. If that doesn't work I'll track down a B-12 shock and see what I can do with that and 15wt. up front.

If the 10wt. oil is to thin what should I expect from the front during hard braking and going through the twisties.

Once I get the forks installed I was going to start with stock rear shock settings and then start making stiffer adjustments untill I get something I like. If I'm clicked up to 7 and it's still feeling like mush I'll have to break for a b12 shock for sure probly.

chupacabra · « **Reply #7 on:** April 07, 2006, 07:15:52 AM »

I just put a B12 shock on my B6 and I must say its a great upgrade for sure.