Front Fork Rebuild

[HarryL]

I would appreciate any and all advice on rebuilding the front forks on my Voyager 1200. The left shock just started leaking lots of oil and Seal Mate did not help at all. After 147K miles I'm sure the bushings are probably worn out. I installed Progressive springs at about 100K miles.

The shocks are off the bike, on the bench and I purchased the All Balls kits to rebuild both shocks. I have the Kawa manual but I have no doubt you guys have some insights and suggestions that will help keep me out of trouble.
I have seldom posted here but this site has been fantastic in helping me keep the old girl going all these years.

Thanks in advance
Harry in San Antonio

[Nails]

I think this topic is better in the "Tech" section ... even though I didn't used to do that.

The shocks are off the bike, on the bench and I purchased the All Balls kits to rebuild both shocks.

You must mean the forks.

Personally, this is a job I took to my local mechanic, along with all the parts. It isn't too difficult, but goes a lot easier with the right tools. Although I generally do my own wrenching, it's good to support your local independent -- sooner or later you're gonna need him/her. It won't cost much to spread some good will; and it relieves you of tooling up and more than a little hassle.

I'll let others chime in with technique, beyond saying that you should consider getting one of those rail clamps (https://www.lowes.com/pd/Jorgensen-36-i ... 1000988408) to deal with the springs.

And put Progressive springs back in, not the tired-and-crap-anyway stock springs.

[Joshn569]

I think this topic is better in the "Tech" section ... even though I didn't used to do that.

The shocks are off the bike, on the bench and I purchased the All Balls kits to rebuild both shocks.

You must mean the forks.

Personally, this is a job I took to my local mechanic, along with all the parts. It isn't too difficult, but goes a lot easier with the right tools. Although I generally do my own wrenching, it's good to support your local independent -- sooner or later you're gonna need him/her. It won't cost much to spread some good will; and it relieves you of tooling up and more than a little hassle.

I'll let others chime in with technique, beyond saying that you should consider getting one of those rail clamps (https://www.lowes.com/pd/Jorgensen-36-i ... 1000988408) to deal with the springs.

And put Progressive springs back in, not the tired-and-crap-anyway stock springs.

Are the 86 model year the same fork seals as the later years? I thought I read they changed the forks at some point after 86.

[Nails]

Yes, I understand '86 are smaller. Hope you got the right kit.

I think the Tech section here has this information.

[GrandpaDenny]

I suggest getting the bushings from Race Tech.

[Heavy Armor]

A little late to this party, but I think someone mentioned once upon a time that there were some kind of fork "inserts" that you could drop in instead of doing a rebuild? I've never heard of those before and would love more info (if I'm not making it up, that is... ).

[GrandpaDenny]

Maybe you're thinking of cartridge emulators? They don't do any good if the forks need rebuilding.

I had my forks rebuilt recently, and am still in the process of tuning the oil level. I won't know the exact level until next time I open them up to change the oil in a year or two, but my observations are this:

- 145mm as recommended by "the gurus" here is way too high. Maybe for roads in Florida or somewhere else where the roads are smooth as glass this is good.

- A few guys use extremely light fork oil or Dexron ATF to make the ride softer. IMObservation this is not solving the problem, which is oil level too high.

The stock recommendation for fork oil level is 140mm from the top of the fork. This is known to be way to high for use with Progressive springs, hence the 145mm recommendation. This is WAAAY too stiff for the roads around here. Progressive instructions say if you don't know what the stock oil level is, start at 160mm and go down from there, to a max of 190mm. (Down meaning down from the top of the fork). I think Progressive knows what they're talking about LOL.

I've seen many different recommendation on fork oil. Kawasaki specifies 10w20 which is no longer manufactured or readily available in the US. I did find a source for 10w20 hydraulic oil from a manufacturer in Switzerland in 55 gallon drums LOL. Some guys use 10w, some use a mixture of 10w and 20w to achieve 15w, some (like me) use 15w. Progressive, on their website, recommends 20w for heavy duty use. I figure between the roads around here, and my size (about 300lbs in full gear) and the way I ride constitutes "heavy duty" use. Now the concept of "weight" in oil is unicorn farts - meaningless outside of comparing one manufacturer's brand and type of oil to the same manufacturer's same brand and same type of oil. One manufacturer's "20wt" oil can be lighter in viscosity than another manufacturer's "10 weight" oil. Researching and learning this and comparing oils trying to figure out what the "ideal" oil would be made my hair fall out. Ok, to be honest, my hair was gone already. Anyway, back to Progressive - when I emailed their "tech support", I got the answer that, contrary to what it says on their web site, and the Progressive brand fork oils that they sell in "10w" and "20w" flavors, Progressive recommends "10w".

Confused yet?

So my mechanic put in Bel-Ray synthetic 15w and I've been very successfully tweaking the oil level by the highly precise and scientific method of pulling the valve stem core out of the forks air valve, applying the front brake, and pushing down on the bars to make a little oil squirt out. It's working! The ride is more compliant than ever, even passes the "Doylestown Bypass" test now. Not only is is compliant, but is perfectly damped - no bouncing at all no matter how big the bump or how high the speed, like suspension should be.

How's that for an exact answer?

[Nails]

Pretty sure my 30K bike came with the original oil, which was seriously nasty. I rebuilt the forks including Progressives and Dextron (reportedly about 7.5wt) at 140mm. I remain impressed by how well that works, both on rough roads and the twisties.

I also put Dextron in the shocks, and recently swapped it out with 7.5wt Motul (which was already sitting on my shelf). The Dextron cleaned things up very nicely. I expect the fork oil to come back clean too, and I'll go back to real fork oil, 7.5wt, and probably a little less.

I'm sure emulators would be sweet, but they can be a PITA to dial in. I don't think I need them ... in this bike.

[Heavy Armor]

Maybe you're thinking of cartridge emulators? They don't do any good if the forks need rebuilding.

Ah bummer. I just noticed mine are leaking a bit. Just one more frikkin thing to do. I was hoping to get off easy for once.

Do you guys generally pull the whole fairing off to get at a rebuild, or do you just loosen the clamps and slide them out the top/bottom?

[GrandpaDenny]

Loosen the clamps and slide them out. Check out the Tech section for a blow-by-blow description.