Newbie dropping fork.

[Anonymous]

All meal time jokes aside.

You may have seen my Fairing post on General Discussion.

I am planning to remove the fairing. The bike has no headlight, I have seen other bikes where the original headlight was just covered up by the fairing but mine has been removed, or was never installed.

The guy I bought the lights from is a GS enthusiast too and he told me that I could "drop" the forks and slip the headlight into place. The headlight has sleeves that slip over the fork and rest between the brackets.

I'm not worried about the brakes, speedometer or other stuff, I think I can handle that stuff.

When I drop the fork how to I make sure it is reinstalled properly.
I thought I would just loosen the bolts holding it, raise the bike so gravity can do some of the work, put in the light and then lower the bike back onto the fork.

How do I make sure that the fork is not twisted when I put it back?

Am I grossly underestimating the complexity of this job? 8O

[kz]

Hi ccammers,

What bike do you have and what model do you want to transferee it to?

[Anonymous]

Sorry, I should mention I have an 1982 gs850L.
I thought the issues would be the same for any bike.

The fairing is a Full vetter, I also have the trunk and saddle bags.
I'm gonna ride for a while, sans fairing, and if I hate it I will be putting it back on.
I have not decided if I will sell the bags and trunk but if I do I'll post here before I put them on Ebay

[Billy Ricks]

At least pull the front wheel off so you don't have the weight of it trying to bend the tubes when you pull the top clamp off. You'll have to remove the top steering stem nut and loosen the pinch bolts on the top clamp to pull it off. There is a steering stem nut below the top clamp that will keep the fork attached to the frame. It would be better if you went ahead and loosened the pinch bolts on the bottom clamp and dropped the tubes out. That way you can clean the steering stem bearings and regrease them and check the tightness of the steering stem nut, the one under the top clamp. The proper procedure for that is to tighten that steering stem nut to about 30 ft. lbs., then turn the triple calmp all the way from left to right and back the other way 5 or 6 times to seat the bearings, then back off the nut 1/4 to 1/2 turn. Then reassemble the whole thing. Leave all the pinch bolts slightly loose. Reinstall the wheel, then starting from the axle and working you way up tighten the pinch bolts up. You may also have air fittings to deal with depending on the model bike you have. While the tubes are off it would also be a good time to change the fork oil. That may be the most overlooked maintenance item on most bikes.

[Don Lobacz]

You just want to drop the forks so you can put the 'ears' back on, right? Put the bike on the centerstand, attach a jack solidly to the front of the motor/exhaust (there will be jostling of the bike involved, and if the jack comes loose there could be big trouble), pump the jack to almost unload the front tire, remove the front calipers, remove the front wheel, and loosen the pinch bolts that hold the forks. Twisting the fork tubes should allow the forks and fender to come down as one assembly. Leave them hanging in the lower triple clamp (if they try to slide out, tighten the pinch bolts slightly) and set the 'ears' in place. Raise the forks the same way: twisting the tubes and lifting. Be careful here not to pick up the whole bike off the jack (raising the jack so the rear wheel comes down to the floor is one way to eliminate this). Bring the fork tube on each side up so that the top of it is level with the top of the triple clamp (the fork top cap should be fully visible). Tighten your pinch bolts and reverse the disassembly procedure. Your forks should still be fairly well aligned if the forks slid up into the top triple holders easily.

[gtsg01]

Way Too Hard!!!

You guys are making this more difficult than it needs to be. The only thing that needs to be removed is the upper clamp.
Step by Step;
1. Place a jackunder the engine. Do Not Raise The Front Wheel. You only need to support the weight of the bike.
2. Remove the bolt that is threaded into the top of the steering shaft. Don't worry, nothing will happen. The bolt for all intents and purposes is there to plug the hole where the choke cable was routed on the earlier models. The spanner nut under the top clamp is actually holding the lower tree in place.
3. Loosen the three pinch bolts on the upper triple clamp and lift it off of the steering stem and tubes. Do not loosen the lower clamp pinch bolts.
4. Slip the light mounting ears on and reinstall the upper clamp.
5. Tighten everything up. No alignment is necessary, since the lower clamps were not affected.
6. Remove jack and connect wiring.
7. Go riding!!

[Anonymous]

gtsg01 wrote:

You guys are making this more difficult than it needs to be. The only thing that needs to be removed is the upper clamp.

I was told by the guy who sold me the lights not to remove the upper clamp because it would involve removing the instrument cluster, handle bars, etc... and this would be more complicated.

Thank you all for your replies.

First snow fell this morning so now I can start my projects, it was cold yesterday, but I was glad to ride.

[Billy Ricks]

You guys are making this more difficult than it needs to be. The only thing that needs to be removed is the upper clamp.

I gave a description of how to remove the upper clamp. The reason the wheel should be removed is because the weight of it could twist something with only the lower clamp supporting the weight of the fork and wheel. And as long as he is going to the trouble of removing the top clamp it would be a good idea to check the steering head bearings and change the fork oil. Many bikes have never had the fork oil replaced. You would be very surprised how nasty that oil gets in just a couple of years.