Front Fork Cap----cant fill forks

[Poot]

Hi all,

I've taken the air-bleeder valves off of my front forks, and drained the oil out, and am wondering how I am supposed to take the "fork cap" off?

The clymers manual does not go into any detail, and im sorta stuck. I've tried using a wrench , after loosening the triple-t thing clamp that goes around the cap. its still in too tight, and its really hard to remove, because the forks move every time i put enough force into it.


any ideas?


poot

[snark]

A suggestion I found in one of my manuals says to loosen the caps while the fork legs are clamped in the triple tree. The front end assembly will hold it steady so you can loosen them.

[Poot]

I've already got the tire off . I'm not planning to remove the forks, i just need the cap off to get the spring out, and flush out the forks.

i'm gonna see if getting someone to hold the assembly while i try and wrench it loose.

[Poot]

NOW IVE DONE IT!!!
:x

i broke both air-bleeder valves.......... I got the left cover off, but the right one is on reallllllllly tight, so I need to make sure I have the appropriate size.

the oil that came out was blaaaaaaack.

I had a non-metric wrench that was slightly off-fit, and I managed to hack it up a little...

im sure those bleeder valves will be reasonably priced at my local dealership............(can you sense the sarcasm?)


poot

[first timer]

you need to slow down and take it easy

just use the triple tree as a clamp so the inner fork tube does not rotate, then find a sock/wrench maybe a well made brand name adjustable monkey wrench could work and use that to remove the upper caps so you can remove your springs. it is a lot easyier to hold on to the bike then trying to keep the fork from turning.

-ryan

[Don Lobacz]

You need to have the top triple clamp loose or it binds the cap - the lower triple clamp will keep the fork from rotating. There is an SAE socket that fits quite well (can't remember which one) if you have a nice set of larger 1/2" drive SAE sockets.

[SqDancerLynn1]

On my 850 the air valve doesn't allow you to use a socket. I use the good old adjustable wrench .

[saaz]

Depending on the bike, the fork cap may or may not be clamped by the top triple clamp. On my GS1000 I can undo the caps with the triple clamps done up as they are a smaller diameter than the fork tube. I need to use an adjustable wrench because of its shape. make sure to keep a little pressure on it near the end of undoing it as it may spring up!

[Poot]

finally got the cap off. I had to use a sandpaper shim and an adjustable wrench to get it off....yeah!


now ive got plently of ATF sitting in there before i give the final flush through.

and its only 20 bucks for each air valve on the fork caps...... :roll: