te450 suspension recomendations..

so, i'm gonna replace a fork seal and my suspension is beating me to death on the slow technical stuff - very harsh, not plush at all...at high speeds it's nice. i ride mostly rocky single track and hatfield mccoy trails stuff.. (West Virginia is all rocks..)...not much soft/loose stuff at all..
so i'd like to really get it close to setup first time around...

oh it's 45mm zokes - i'm assuming someone has been in there and played with everything - they've got factory connection stickers and settings on them, but i think the previous rider was much much bigger than me.....

any recommended setup for 185lb rider (+ 10lbs or so of gear..) with more balls than brains.
i just would like to get a ballpark for something that works well..
front fork:
spring rate?
c/r settings?

shocks:
rear spring? settings?

i also noticed for some reason that it's not 100% comfortable to ride standing, which i'm so used to doing, i used same bars from my previous bikes (2000 drz400 and 2000 yzf426), and i just feel much more bent over on this bike..are the stock pegs somehow higher/closer to the front or seat??

I am a little heavier than you (210) but these are the springs that Bottones installed.

Front fork 5.0 c=10 r=8

Shock 5.6 hi c=18 low c=16 r=15 sag at 110mm with gear

They also revalved front and rear and that made a big difference. You may want to look into having them do the same for you, I think it is definately worth the money.

I rode my friends 400 for a short while and it is definately longer from pegs to seat. I assume you are fairly tall so some spacers may help. I'm 6'4" and put on 1" bar spacers and thought that helped alot.

how much fluid? 5w at 100mm or go to recommended 80mm?

Not a clue, but the fluid level mainly pertains to bottoming resistance so I would go with the manual.

thanks, here's what i went with so far, and it feels way nicer, not half as brutal as it was. i've gotta go out and ride a day to get it really nice..

Front fork 4.5 c=12 r=8

Shock 5.2 hi c=18 low c=18 r=14 sag at 110mm with gear

i still have to play with it a little more. i went with 610cc of 5wt. as per marzocchi specs - i haven't had a chance to see if it'll bottom out yet..

This seems like a good thread to add my question.
For a 08 TE450 with the 50mm non-cartriage forks: I replaced the right seal due to leak (1500miles on bike), and changed oil on both sides with Torco 7wt. BUT, the manual says use 775ml and height below top to = 4.74". Well, only 650ml fit for that height from top. I drained both sides and pump the inner dampning unit to make sure all old oil is removed.

Do someone know the correct volume or height?
With gear, I weigh 180lbs.

We have the same forks so maybe this will help. Les filled mine to 130mm. I don't know what wt. of oil he used though. I'm 170ish with gear. Mine's resprung lighter and valving set up for rocks/roots with clickers nearly all the way out on compression+ rebound. HTH

OK, I'll try 130mm until I can send mine to Les at LTR. But the volume descripancy vs oil height does not add up per the manual. However, the manual for my 08 TE450 says the compression adj is on the bottom for both the TE/SMR and the TXC/TC's. I think they are reversed on the cartriage type TXC/TC forks. So, the manual can have errors.