GS550 fork rebuild

[Guest]

Wanting to rebuild my forks on my 81 550L. My forks don't have a nut on top to remove? Anybody have any experience with these. The only markings on them are a sticker that say Showa 4150. I'll post pics tomorrow. Thanks!

[Sci85]

Should be a nut there. Are yours the air forks? If so, the whole top assembly is the "nut". Or, maybe the PO did a fork swap. Without a pic it's gonna be tough to tell.

[shinzon1]

all it had was a rubber plug that capped it. i'm wondering if it has a snap ring that holds this plug/cap in.

[derwood]

yes, it is a round cross section snap ring that holds the cap against spring pressure from the fork spring.
dig it out with a pick and small screw driver while compressing the cap against the spring with your third hand, and holding the fork with your knees.

you might want to try loosening the damper rod bolt at the other end first, just because spring pressure may stop the rod from spinning.

[shinzon1]

Thanks for the help!

[Seaking]

watching this one, mine is set up just like that as well..

[shinzon1]

I'll post back as soon as I can get to it. Might be a week though.

[Seaking]

Discovered what's under the air system.. ?

Well this is interesting.. I have my fork tubes removed and discovered the mystery behind my GS650G and the OP's GS550's fork tubes that do not have a shrader valve at the top of the tube.. Mine has a shrader valve on the top left side of the left tube, with an inter-connecting line between both left and right tube.. Balanced air in the shocks..

Since there isn't a schrader valve to put a wrench onto to 'unscrew' a top cap, I beliebe this system requires you to push down rather manly like on the top of the fork cap (small round indent) down far enough to gain access to the lock ring that holds everything together.. Wondering how much of a dent this will put on the forehead should one lose grip on the end cap?!

Above, and squeezed tightly between the headlight mount and top triple tree is the air delivery system to feed balanced air to both forks. There is two o-rings which rest above and below the air hole on the upper part of the fork.

As you can see from the images below, there is a light machine oil like substance (fork oil?) in there. There was no air pressure when I check it, the forks compressed 'normally' as far as I could tell with this bike.. (no previous experience to know what actually is good for this bike)

My plan is to put in Progressive or other type of springs in the forks. Usually they are stiff enough not require air, so I'm not toooooo concern about the fork's air part.. or should I be?

Anyone have any experience with this type of system who can shed some light on the subject? Would love to hear from you.. I took several reference photos to show the position of the fork heights in the triple trees for re-installation later on.

Cheers

http://www.eastcoastphotos.com/gs650g/picture0120.jpg

http://www.eastcoastphotos.com/gs650g/picture0121.jpg

http://www.eastcoastphotos.com/gs650g/picture0122.jpg

http://www.eastcoastphotos.com/gs650g/picture0123.jpg

http://www.eastcoastphotos.com/gs650g/picture0124.jpg

[shinzon1]

mine doesn't have schraeder valves at all.