Author Topic: Install progressive springs - easy job? (damper rod?)  (Read 4056 times)

Offline Squishy

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Install progressive springs - easy job? (damper rod?)
« on: March 27, 2014, 08:01:42 PM »
Hi,

From what I've read, it's very hard to remove the damper rod because it requires a special tool (or something home-made).
However I was just wondering.. you don't need to remove this to replace the spring, right?
I can just do it like the following video? :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj-cb12BCRw

Thanks

Offline greg737

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Re: Install progressive springs - easy job? (damper rod?)
« Reply #1 on: March 28, 2014, 03:04:37 AM »
If all you're doing is replacing the fork springs you don't need to remove the damper rods (the video you linked to covers it just fine).

If you feel that the low-friction inserts in your forks might need to be replaced then you would have to take out the damper rods to get at the bottom inserts.

The other thing that leads people to disassemble their forks all the way down to the damper rods is when they've decided to install Race Tech Gold Valve Cartridge Emulators.  This modification is a way to make your old-school damper rod forks perform like a modern, well-tuned cartridge fork.

When you add Cartridge Emulators to your forks you have to "de-valve" the damper rods.  This means drilling out the existing damper rod holes from 1/4 inch to 5/16 inch and then adding two more 5/16 inch holes, for a total of 6 holes.  This completely removes the damper rod's effects from the fork so the Cartridge Emulator can take over and act as the damping and rebound controller.

But if you've already installed progressive springs you wouldn't want to install the Cartridge Emulators, because it's an "either/or" situation.  Both of these modifications are attempts to deal with the inherent limitations of damper rod technology.  When you install the Cartridge Emulators you use straight rate springs, like all of the modern sport and super-sport bike do.

« Last Edit: March 28, 2014, 03:21:44 AM by greg737 »