here's a lil trick to help get the most from your front boinger... 1- plop her up on the stand and yank the front wheel 2- re-insert the axle only with the right clamp nuts (throttle side) finger tight so you can slide it. how does it fit? is there a miss match due to one leg longer than the other? 3- loosen the left leg (clutch lever side) clamp bolts. slide that leg up or down so the axle can now go into the hole un-restricted. 4- retorque the clamp pinch bolts (to spec or a tick less, uber-important here!!!) and plunge the protrusion at the top of the clamp with a caliper and record your findings. 5- clean seals and clamps, grease the axle, reinstall the front wheel and 'set the axle' as per George et. al.. this helps with stiction and what not in the small n choppy stuff. what happens is most of the time the fork OAL is not the same. and we set the ride height up at the top clamp using the ring on the leg by the cap, making the protrusion equal. if your axle is not sliding in all by itself (i.e. ya gota pound it or wiggle) the leg lentghs are not equal, nor will the damping action be. re-perform this if you service your fork- as you should after the first couple tanks on a new bike. this also makes it WAY easier to service a flat on the trail. every little bit helps when it comes to fork action. mreeep braaap baaarooooooop!
If the leg lengths are not the same within reason it is assembled wrong. Usually an issue with how far the cap is threaded onto the cartridge rod before the locknut is tightened down. I suppose the best way to check would be to remove both fork legs, insert the axle, hang them by the axle, and compare/measure. But the overall length most certainly should be within a millimeter or two if assembled properly.
due to manufacturing tollerances, suppliers, the amount of parts in there etc, ive seen them more than 2mm off and assembled correctly. that's why you check the OAL at the axle. and if its off 2mm the axle wont go in right, forcing you to bind the assbly. due this to eliminate stiction in conjunction with other methods such as propper clamp torque and axle setting.
Don't know about sticktion but when alignment is off it will preload the longer side fork spring. More preload on the spring usually makes forks harsh on little roots and rocks. Most people recommend about 5mm preload but I like mine with less than 2mm for woods riding.
I remember LTR saying that OEM forks are nearly always different lengths externally. Just 2 mm's difference can be an ass kicker getting the axle back in when things go wrong in the slop by yourself. Thanks for the reminder pv.
Definitely helps a ton with getting the axle in at full droop, but I'm not sure it's going to make a difference in suspension performance, unless it's way off. The only way the forces on both sides are going to be the same during riding is if the springs are the exact same length, the exact same rate, the preload spacers are the exact same length, and that you have the same oil level and the same valving settings. The odds of these all being perfect are pretty slim, so you're always going to have a force imbalance between the fork legs. If the positions are off by 1-2mm, at stock spring rates that's only 1-2 pounds difference in preload per leg (assuming all else is equal). Considering that suspension forces in motion are on the order of hundreds of pounds, 1-2 pounds is in the noise. In fact, bikes have been built with compression damping in one leg and rebound damping in the other, which means they have WAY imbalanced forces; by all accounts, these designs seem to work fine. It's not the same as a change in preload, because the two sides will cancel each other out, and the net preload (across both springs in parallel) will be the same.
sure it makes a dif in suspension action. just like worn bushings, dirty fluid, too tight of clamps, cocked axles and all the rest do. it ALL makes a difference. that's the point. im not getting into it...try it or not...totally up to you'all.
I think this is good info. Also consider many modern suspensions us a spring on only one side and still work well. IMHO this is important and will make R&R the front wheel EZer but will have very little effect on actual suspension performance unless something is drastically wrong.
Great point. How about the SFF fork where there is only one spring on one side? It was all the rage before the airfork, and worked great. Anyway, a binding axle sure is a pain is the ass anything to help eliminate that is a good tip.
Agreed 100%. It's worth doing this just to make axle/wheel swaps easier. Your example of a spring in one side is even better than mine about separate compression and rebound, with regard to the fact that this isn't really going to change suspension performance.
again- it makes a diff. it all does, as i've noted above in post #10. and if the fork has one spring? it wont cock and installing the wheel is a snap. and taking what i said out of context and comparing it to whatever? again- see post #10. ANY binding, unwatned flex, too much clamp pressure blah blah blah WILL affect fork performance. that's a fact. period. the race team here? you wouldnt believe what they go through and the riders can sense the littlest thing. i dont normally got for the final word thingy here. but ya kinda been jumpin my stuff lately, something i said or???
One race team would not run a skid-plate i built specifically for them as this thin chunk of aluminum bolted tot he bottom of their bikes was said to change how the frame flexed!!! Wild stuff.
Probably confused by your urban dictionary lingo Actually he agreed with you. Its a good post and good info.
copy...got it. thanks for the clear up. and yup...local shop was eons ago welding skid plates to box the bottom, including the link bosses, on a lot of frames to stiffen things up. still does on the KX500 desert race bikes they produce.
Dude, just because somebody doesn't agree with you doesn't mean they're "jumping your stuff." I agree that it helps with axle swaps. I don't agree with it making a significant difference in stiction (see aforementioned examples of comp/rebound in different legs or 1 sided springs). To each their own and all that. Nothing wrong with giving the people different points of view.
i'm checking this TONIGHT! when i pulled my axle last week for the first time it was a B****H to get in and out. i almost had to hammer a screwdriver in the clamp to wedge it open. so, lets say this doesnt fix the problem. any other ideas? '09 te310.
