83 GS1100E fork spring stuck

[Guest]

Removed the left cap bolt and it was pretty nasty rusty looking. The free piston and O ring that rides on top of the spring is seized in place. Even took the fork off the bike turned it upside down and compressed the spring till it bottomed out and no luck.
Any ideas out there how to get that piece out? I'm trying a bit of PB Blaster overnight then I'm guessing heat it up.
The other fork spring came out no problems so I'm confident I didn't miss a step in the service manual to release that spring.

[GRAND ROUGE]

Remember there is a lot of potential energy in that stuck spring affair. Don't be looking into that fork tube;-)

If you have ratchet style straps for example, compress the fork even just a few inches, making sure that the open end is not pointing at anything or anyone that you care about, (Perhaps replace the end cap loosely) use a rubber mallet or similar tool to strike the fork leg so that a resonance is set up in the spring......should release. The PB Blaster is a good aid here too.

[wilbucd]

Yeah I keep waiting for it to jump out like a jack in the box. I'll try the rubber mallet this evening. Hopefully 24 hours soaking in pb blaster will do the trick.
Next question is what parts do you normally replace to do a full rebuild on the forks? All rubber seals of course. Would like to get the parts ordered right away. Waiting on parts is always the most frustrating part.

[78550GS]

Yeah I keep waiting for it to jump out like a jack in the box. I'll try the rubber mallet this evening. Hopefully 24 hours soaking in pb blaster will do the trick.
Next question is what parts do you normally replace to do a full rebuild on the forks? All rubber seals of course. Would like to get the parts ordered right away. Waiting on parts is always the most frustrating part.

Look into sonic springs.

[wilbucd]

Have a brand new set of 1.0 sonic springs to install. Thought I was going to get away with just changing springs and oil. Not so lucky.

[RichDesmond]

Other than the seals, the bushings/sliders probably need replacing too.

[bonanzadave]

Remember there is a lot of potential energy in that stuck spring affair.

That was a bad day. Nearly 100f with 90 percent humidity. My bike was on the ctr stand with the rear end removed. I decided this was the day to look at the forks (dumb,dumb dumb....) When that stuck spring came shooting out it was like a comet with a nasty black oily tail shooting all the way across the garage. Then the forks collapsed (of course they did) and the bike went forward enough to fold up the ctr stand. Did I mention the rear end was removed. Nothing I could do....I fell over on its side. Lucky / unlucky for me there was a 5 gallon bucket to cushion its fall...but the bucket was FULL of drain oil...and it tipped over. It was a very ugly scene.

Other than the seals, the bushings/sliders probably need replacing too.

+1. Actually theres 4. 2 per fork.