1981 GS750E Fork Spring Installation

[MilesDad]

I am in the middle of reassembling my bike after a thorough refurbishing.
I put the forks back together, added new fork oil, and installed the springs. Many moons have passed since I took them apart, and I cannot recall the details.
Is it normal to have to compress the springs a bit (1" or so) when threading the fork caps on?
In other words, If I remove the caps, the springs would stick up from the fork tubes a bit.

With the engine out, and the bike on the centerstand and front wheel, I cannot really get the forks to compress using my 165 lbs.

Did I fork up my forks? Or, is this normal.

[hikermikem]

You need to jack up the front enough to get the front wheel off the ground, thus extending the forks as far as they will go. The springs will still need to be compressed when installing the the caps, but less effort will be required when the forks are extended fully.

Take care not to start those caps cross-threaded, the thread is very fine & it's easy to do... I use light grease on my threads to keep them from binding.

[MilesDad]

Thank you.
Yep, I had the forks extended completely when I put the caps on.
It sounds like everything is ok.
I did not cross thread the caps - I appreciate that tip, though.

Ride safely.