Need help diagnosing

[amontyg]

My 82 GS550L has something wrong with it's front end. I have no experience at all with front suspension so I need some help identifying exactly what is wrong with my bike.

Basically the front end is just not solid. It's kind of hard to explain, but it seems to me that one side of the fork is more solid than the other, which causes the front end to wobble a little when it hits a bump in the road.

How do I start diagnosing what is wrong with them?

[Billy Ricks]

Pull them off and open them up. You're probably due for an oil change in the forks anyway. Check steering head bearings too. Basscliff has a link to manuals on his site for most bikes. Make sure the air pressure is equalized on both sides of the the forks.

[tkent02]

Take them apart, clean them, new seals if required, new oil, make sure the springs are good, or put in new ones. Get cartridge emulators of you want it really nice. It's all in Cliff's site.

[Ranger]

Don't ride it.

This is common if a fork seal had been leaking and very dangerous to ride with.

change the seals and the fluid, basically overhaul the forks.

[amontyg]

How big of a project is it to tear them apart? Is it the kind of thing that can be done in one afternoon?

[tkent02]

A few hours, if you have done them before.
Longer if not, but it's fairly simple.

[BassCliff]

Hi,

There are a couple of front fork tutorials on my website. Have a look and see what you think.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[amontyg]

Where is the best place to buy fork seals? Are they all Basically built the same?

[DPage]

Buy OEM fork seals, but beforehand look at the whole parts fiche at a site like Partshark. You'll probably want to get more parts while you have the whole fork set disassembled. Not to overwhelm you, but you'll find lots of o-rings and stuff where you'll kick yourself if you don't replace them while it's apart.

With the help of BikeCliff's site I did this last April, including Progressive fork springs, and it cost about $135 to make the forks better than new. If you leave out the new fork springs, it's about $60. Also, instead of getting those little OEM Philips drain screws at the bottom of the fork, go to a good hardware store and get metric stainless hex drain screws. BUT, order the plastic OEM washers that go behind those screws.

Where is the best place to buy fork seals? Are they all Basically built the same?

[amontyg]

I'm looking at the guides for going through the shocks on BassCliffs website, but I am noticing that my front shocks are not air compressed. Are there any drastic differences in how these will come apart and go back together?

[posplayr]

I'm looking at the guides for going through the shocks on BassCliffs website, but I am noticing that my front shocks are not air compressed. Are there any drastic differences in how these will come apart and go back together?

No none at all; The biggest problem will be removing the hex screw at the bottom of the fork. Either use a impact wrench or use an improvised tool. There are plenty of examples been posted here before

[BassCliff]

Hi,

The only difference is that you don't have the option of pumping excess air into the forks to pop the seals out. You will have to dig/cut them out or disassemble the entire fork. But it's not hard, as long as the damper rod bolt isn't stuck like it was on mine.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[amontyg]

Thanks everyone for your help, I have another issue.
I want to replace all rubber parts in my forks while I have them apart but I have found three different drawings of my front forks so far. The manual for my bike actually has two different drawings for the forks, although I think I have narrowed down which one I actually have. The biggest problem is that the drawing on bike bandit's site and alpha sports are both different from any drawing in my manual.
I don't have my own garage to tinker with things, so I really need to make sure that I have the parts I need before I get into things and I don't want to waste a bunch of money buying seals that are not in my forks. How can I identify which drawing is right, and why are the online drawings different?

[DPage]

Thanks everyone for your help, I have another issue.
I want to replace all rubber parts in my forks while I have them apart but I have found three different drawings of my front forks so far. The manual for my bike actually has two different drawings for the forks, although I think I have narrowed down which one I actually have. The biggest problem is that the drawing on bike bandit's site and alpha sports are both different from any drawing in my manual.
I don't have my own garage to tinker with things, so I really need to make sure that I have the parts I need before I get into things and I don't want to waste a bunch of money buying seals that are not in my forks. How can I identify which drawing is right, and why are the online drawings different?

This is a real quandary, it's happened to me before when some fiches present two part #'s for the same thing because it changed in the middle of the model year. Try looking at the actual part #'s between those fiches, they may be the same even though the graphic looks different. For the part #'s that are different, most of the O-rings and things like that are pretty cheap, so buy them both if you have to. Fork seals are the most critical and most expensive. My bet is that a lot of them are the same, it's amazing how many common parts there are with GS Suzuki's - some 450's have the same part #'s as 850's.

[amontyg]

So I was just inspecting my shocks a little more in detail than I have previously, and discovered that my shocks are pneumatic after all. The valves on the top of the shock were covered with a black caps, and for some reason it had never occurred to me to try and remove them.
Anyway, I checked the pressure in each shock and they were completely deflated. I pumped them up to the recommended 36 PSI and they did seem MUCH better. I even let them sit overnight and they were still inflated the next morning. Does this likely mean that the seals are fine?