Play in the front forks of my new 83 GS750E

[Whitehawk]

I just purchased the same bike (83' GS750E grey/blue I love it), the front end is very soft. I was worried until I felt the anti-dive working very well upon hard breaking. Still the front end looks like she bottoms (or nearly) often by looking at the dust rings.

I was going to try gear oil for a temp bandaid until I can convince my colleague (spring coiler) to run me a couple springs when he sets up my wire diameter (brag ). Anybody else do the gear oil?

[rustybronco]

I was going to try gear oil for a temp bandaid until I can convince my colleague (spring coiler) to run me a couple springs when he sets up my wire diameter (brag ). Anybody else do the gear oil?

No... and I wouldn't use it!
most of the info I have found has said it is around a 10 to 15 weight base stock used to formulate it. but the big problem, as I see, is with the anti-foaming properties. I believe you will run into a problem with air bubbles in the fluid when using gear oil. not a good thing to have when trying to dampen fork travel.
it would be best to use a proper fork oil, or if you cannot obtain it a 50/50 blend of 20 wt motor oil with Dexron III atf will give you a 13-14 wt fork oil.

[Smokinapankake]

Thanks, I've got the forks apart right now, just waiting on new bushings and oil seals, should be about a week. Any suggestions for when I start putting them back together?

Roll the fork tubes on a flat surface to check for straightness.
Torque bolts properly.
While you're at it, you might as well replace any o rings you find in the anti dive.
Heck, might as well overhaul the antidives as well.....

[marz]

the clunk you are hearing is most probly the instument pannel. were the tach ect is..

it can be very disturbing.. until you get used to it..

[handkphil]

I didn't think they had anti-dive until 1983.

My '82 has anti-dive. And clunky forks. I think I'm going to block off my anti-dive by swapping the double banjo bolts on the calipers for the single banjo bolts on the anti-dive units, and removing the two short hoses. Then I'm going to have to attempt to bleed both calipers

[Nessism]

The front forks can be stiffened by removing some coils. Get rid of some of the soft progressive ones. You can cut more than shown, but I'm not positive at what point coil bind would be experienced - maybe if you cut more than 6". If you want to ditch the anti dive, you need to groove the block off plate or the forks will feel like the andi dive is on all the time.

[83GS750E]

New Forks

Well, new bushings and I've still got some lateral play in my front forks, so it looks like my tubes on each fork are worn. This isn't surprising as everything internally on the forks was pretty ugly (it doesn't look like the previous owner changed the oil in at least 10 years). Anyways, I might have a couple leads on GS750 forks, but it also looks like its possible to upgrade to the GSX setup with the 17" wheel. Anyone care to provide some details on that possibility? I've seen a couple posts about converting to the newer GSX USD forks, but nothing about what's involved in switching to the RSU '86-'89 GSX forks. I really appreciate any advice that can be dispensed.

[Nessism]

Did you replace the bushings inside the fork sliders as well as those on the fork tubes themselves? Sucks if the forks are worn out internally.

[83GS750E]

worn fork tubes

yup, replaced all bushings, still has play so I guess the tubes are worn out. Picked up another set of forks off a parts bike... exactly the same, worn tubes. Is this a common problem on these bikes? And if so, how would I go about getting "un-worn" fork tubes?