Fork air valve broken

[Guest]

Hey guys,
I found out yesterday that one of the air valves on the top of my forks is broken off inside the cap. I found the part number online to replace the thing. I just wanted to know if there was anything I need to account for when changing it. It looks like the needle is still intact, so I should be able to release the air before I tear into it.

Or, is there any sort of maintenance (or even upgrade?) that I can do without removing the tubes or disassembling things too far. My apartment manager frowns on anything that "looks" like a major repair on the property.

Thanks, all.

Chris

[Ghostgs1]

Chris, There wouldn't be anything except the valve and a gasket and the cap involved, though it sounds like some of those are already removed. Guess that makes the job a little quicker. Lol. Think you can remove the broken valve without taking the cap off, really should not be installed all that tightly. Good luck. Ray

[Gibbelstein]

Thanks Ray!

Yeah, luckily everything was still there. It seems like a PO had just added some goop that formed to the inside of the cap to keep it on because the valve was broken.

Here is the cap:


And the goop-ified valve body (that stuff is in the shape of the inside of the cap):

[Gibbelstein]

Complication.

OK, so I got the new valve in and managed to turn a 5min job into a 2+hr cluster-coitus. When I pulled the old valve, there was more goop inside, so I pulled the cap off the top of the fork because I wanted to make sure it didn't become dislodged and fall into the tube.

When I did get it off, it turns out that the PO had disabled them anyway, and the pressure wasn't gone because of the broken valve. Luckily, the PO did a good job sealing it and I probably should have stopped there.

Now to my question: I found this spacer in there and wanted to know if anyone can tell me whether this spacer means the air pressure assist will not do any good anyway? (For instance, if I were loaded up, etc.) Also, how constant are the spacer lengths? For example, f I measure them can I tell whether someone installed progressive springs, etc? Here is the spacer that lives in there now:

[Ghostgs1]

I'll bet you are guessing correctly about having aftermarket springs. How to identify them? I would imagine the original springs would look like even spacing for the entire length and the aftermarket springs would vary from one end to the other. Hopefully someone who has done this will chime in here. Ray

[sharpy]

Air forks suck, extra spacer good. Thats the basics lol. It u put them back in and theres about 25mm (1 inch) sag from fully extended to u sitting on it upright and someone holding the bike it be about right for everyday riding

[Bass Man]

Now to my question: I found this spacer in there and wanted to know if anyone can tell me whether this spacer means the air pressure assist will not do any good anyway? (For instance, if I were loaded up, etc.) Also, how constant are the spacer lengths? For example, f I measure them can I tell whether someone installed progressive springs, etc?

Gibblestein, I had my GS850G shocks apart recently, to clean out 30 years of bad fork oil, and there was a factory installed spacer, and factory installed progressive (lowercase 'p' intended) springs (closely spaced coils on one end, loose on the other end). The manual gives the acceptable spring length at 16.4" to 16.6", any less and they should be replaced (or break out the spring stretcher). They do not give a length on the spacer, but I've read in these forums where guys have replaced with PVC tube to tune in thier suspension.

Lots of opinion on the air forks, but interesting to note that virtually all aftermarket shocks for motorcycles and cars are 'gas charged'. In other words, 'compressed air'! I think it's pretty cool that Suzuki was ahead of thier time and offered riders a way to 'gas charge' the front forks, and tune the ride. Way to go Suzuki!

[sharpy]

Gibblestein, I had my GS850G shocks apart recently, to clean out 30 years of bad fork oil, and there was a factory installed spacer, and factory installed progressive (lowercase 'p' intended) springs (closely spaced coils on one end, loose on the other end). The manual gives the acceptable spring length at 16.4" to 16.6", any less and they should be replaced (or break out the spring stretcher). They do not give a length on the spacer, but I've read in these forums where guys have replaced with PVC tube to tune in thier suspension.

Lots of opinion on the air forks, but interesting to note that virtually all aftermarket shocks for motorcycles and cars are 'gas charged'. In other words, 'compressed air'! I think it's pretty cool that Suzuki was ahead of thier time and offered riders a way to 'gas charge' the front forks, and tune the ride. Way to go Suzuki!

Those gas charged fors are way way differnt to the postin and oil ones we use

[oldgrumpy]

OK, so I got the new valve in and managed to turn a 5min job into a 2+hr cluster-coitus. When I pulled the old valve, there was more goop inside, so I pulled the cap off the top of the fork because I wanted to make sure it didn't become dislodged and fall into the tube.

When I did get it off, it turns out that the PO had disabled them anyway, and the pressure wasn't gone because of the broken valve. Luckily, the PO did a good job sealing it and I probably should have stopped there.

Now to my question: I found this spacer in there and wanted to know if anyone can tell me whether this spacer means the air pressure assist will not do any good anyway? (For instance, if I were loaded up, etc.) Also, how constant are the spacer lengths? For example, f I measure them can I tell whether someone installed progressive springs, etc? Here is the spacer that lives in there now:

,,,,,,, hi on my 1980 gs1000e in australia,,,, i removed the air cap and put a small stainless steel plug in both i also purchased from a great gs resources member some brand new progreesive springs which make a huge difference ,,don,t waste your time with air ,, regards oldgrumpy

[ozman]

Gibblestein, I had my GS850G shocks apart recently, to clean out 30 years of bad fork oil, and there was a factory installed spacer, and factory installed progressive (lowercase 'p' intended) springs (closely spaced coils on one end, loose on the other end). The manual gives the acceptable spring length at 16.4" to 16.6", any less and they should be replaced (or break out the spring stretcher). They do not give a length on the spacer, but I've read in these forums where guys have replaced with PVC tube to tune in thier suspension.

Lots of opinion on the air forks, but interesting to note that virtually all aftermarket shocks for motorcycles and cars are 'gas charged'. In other words, 'compressed air'! I think it's pretty cool that Suzuki was ahead of thier time and offered riders a way to 'gas charge' the front forks, and tune the ride. Way to go Suzuki!

i think you will find the "gas charged" are nitrogen charged or similar not just compressed air

ozman

[Bass Man]

ozman, roger on the nitrogen. It's cleaner, drier, more consistent than air. The 1979 GS850GN Suzuki shop manual states "Only air or nitrogen should be used. Never use oxygen or any other gas." So a guy could find a shop with a nitrogen generator and fill the forks there. Or just use air, which is 78% nitrogen. For my riding, that's good enough...