Suzuki Bandit Fork Rebuild NIGHTMARE! NEED HELP ASAP!!!

[bergj1986]

I'm rebuilding the forks on my 03 Bandit 600 due to a failed fork seal. I have the forks off the bike, new seals on, but am running into a problem.

When I slide the inner fork leg onto the outer fork leg, slide the tapered part down into the inner fork leg and tighten the bottom bolt, the fork tubes no longer move. I've printed out the parts diagram from the Suzuki service manual (was only able to download the 99-00 manual), but something's not adding up. How is the fork supposed to move when it's bolted to the bottom of the fork leg?

One thing I wasn't able to find (pictured below) is the white plastic cap at the bottom of the fork leg. The exploded view doesn't show this piece or any of the springs and seals inside it. What's the deal?

[Icepaws]

is it binding or is it just hard to compress?

[bergj1986]

Once the bottom bolt is tightened, the fork leg will not compress.

[Kreylyn]

Set the lower to the side and forget it a moment.

Put the "tapered part" (damping rod) in the upper tube with the small spring on it as you have in the pic.

Does it come all the way through the bottom and stick out? Does it slide easily- IE; can you hold the upper tube upright, and push with the palm of your hand the damping rod up a bit and gravity will let it drop right back down?

If NO... then you have a problem there and need to check further.

IF YES... then that is working as intended. Lets move on to the next step.

Pull the damping rod out of the upper tube. Find a flat surface. Roll the upper tube on the surface and look for wobbles of any type at the end as it's rolling (ever played pool and seen someone check the stick for warping?... same thing.)

If you see wobbles... your upper tube is bent and needs replaced.

If it's straight, move on to the next step.

Insert the damping rod into the upper tube. Insert the upper tube into the lower. Slide the lower all the way down. Insert bolt into the bottom and lightly snug it down. Don't torque it yet. Can you pull the upper tube up at this point and move it a few inches up and down?

krey

[bergj1986]

I figured it out. I dremeled some material off the outside of the white piece. Since the white piece was getting stuck in the bottom of the fork leg, that's what was keeping the fork from moving once the bottom bolt was tightened. I have the forks back together and they're working fine. From the manual, Suzuki made it sound like the plastic piece is supposed to be stuck to the bottom of the fork, it's not.

Thanks for everyone's help! What a nightmare this project was!

[Icepaws]

I figured it out. I dremeled some material off the outside of the white piece. Since the white piece was getting stuck in the bottom of the fork leg, that's what was keeping the fork from moving once the bottom bolt was tightened. I have the forks back together and they're working fine. From the manual, Suzuki made it sound like the plastic piece is supposed to be stuck to the bottom of the fork, it's not.

Thanks for everyone's help! What a nightmare this project was!

what changed between taking it apart and putting it back?

[shpielers]

Same as icepaws - what happened to the piece in between? Cause it worked without being dremeled before you took things apart. I'd be really careful unless you can find out why changing the shape from how it originally was (and worked) and how you "fixed" it. Not saying anything is wrong, more of a play it safe type of thing.

[bergj1986]

The white tapered piece was wedged into the bottom of the fork leg. Once the metal tapered piece was dropped into the fork leg, the internally threaded end would slightly protrude from the white plastic piece. Once the bottom bolt was tightened, the metal piece was secured into the plastic piece, thereby stopping all shock movement. Once the outer diameter of the plastic piece was shaved and allowed to move in and out freely from the bottom of the fork leg, this allowed the metal tapered piece to have movement once the bolt was secured.

I'm still not sure how all this happened but I'm glad it's over. It shouldn't take 2 days to do a fork rebuild.

[steves]

That sounds odd. I didn't have that problem when I did the forks on my Bandit