Front forks not rebounding

so im doing alot of work to my bike this winter and iv run into a problem with my front forks after i did the seals. I completely took apart the forks like i always do when i do seals to clean everything and check all that good stuff. So i put them back together and back on the bike but now they wont rebound, iv done hundreds of fork seals but never had this problem happen to me. im wondering if they need air in them? has anyone had this problem happen to them? or know might be going on?

 

Might sound a bit daft, but have you tried emptying the oil out and replacing it? It could just be air trapped somewhere.

 

Did you maybe forget to put the springs back in?

 

rofl na, they are in there, i can get it to rebound a little bit, it isnt bottoming out but its close, if i lift the bars up the springs will move them up, but not all the way up. its acting like there isnt any pressure i guess. and yes the fluid is new Lucas oil 10wt synthetic. i bounced on them a couple of times after i put them all back together, seemed like good pogo sticks to me, but on the bike they dont do much at all.

 

maybe the axle is binding the lower tubes somehow, loosen the wheel up and see what happens

 

no go. im not sure how the axle could effect the rebound, its got to be something internal but i really dont want to open those things up again....ima try shooting some air in tommarow.

 

Check to see if the Speedo Drive and R/H Wheel Spacer are positioned correctly.
If they are, ... loosen the Upper Pinch Bolt --> one side at a time.
Place a wood block against the Lower Tube and lightly impact the block with a hammer.
Lightly, ... a few times.
Be sure to loosen ONLY ONE SIDE at a time.
Tighten the Pinch Bolts.
Do the other side.

If everything has been put-together hunkie-doorie you might be in the market for New Fork Springs.

 

Ad pre-load or get progressive springs.

 

Fork tubes bent? That will bind them up.

 

Exactly. Bent together so they worked fine before. Reinstalled in a different orientation so they bind up now.

Pinching or spreading them with something wrong at the front wheel can also cause that.

 

This is what the problem is. If the forks aren't bent, the front end was reassembled in such a way as to create a bind. It's easy to do.

 

hmmm ill prob have to bring it to a shop i just dont have time to take it all apart again i have other bikes to work on. But if they are bent out of wack ill prob get rid of the bike. i dont have the money to buy new forks.

One of my customers called me the other day and said he was selling his 85 V-max, so if i can dump the XJ i will upgrade but who knows it could be something simple, but thats not usually the case for me

 

If the forks are bent you don't have to get new ones. They can be straightened in a press, or you can turn the uppers until they are paired up so the bend is the way it was before you rebuilt them (both forks bent in the same direction). They will work fine that way, but you'll wear out the oil seals faster than if they were straightened.

As far as the V-max (or any other older bike) goes.....almost every older bike will have forks that are slightly bent....all it takes is a few wheelies during it's lifetime. The heavier the motorcycle, the more likely it is that the forks have a bend to them.

 

But the price of sending them might just be around or as much as getting new ones, iv never bent a single fork in my life so i doubt i did it this time. Like i said iv never had this problem in all the forks iv done, its weird...

i should add that my front wheel doesnt spin on its own at all, it might be my right caliper but im gonna pop those off today and see if it still wants to not spin then i do believe ill check the axle and all that stuff mounted to the forks, if it still dont spin.

 

The forks aren't bent (or probably aren't anyway.) The fact that the front wheel also doesn't spin means you don't have the front end together right.

You've created a bind, either with assembly order, axle or fender alignment, or they've twisted in the triples.

Take the front fender completely OFF. Then let's get the front end squared up:

LOOSEN and then snug back up, but only finger-snug:

The pinch bolts in the lower triple clamps, the axle pinch bolts, and the axle nut.

BOUNCE the front of the bike a few times, it should be freed up at this point, or will free up.

Tighten the lower triple clamp pinch bolts; bounce front end.

Tighten axle NUT; bounce front end.

Tighten axle pinch bolt, the one on the axle nut side. Bounce front end.

Tighten the other pinch bolt. Bounce front end.

If, at any of the above steps, it STOPS "bouncing" freely, stop. Loosen. Figure out what is being pulled out of square.

Once the front end is freed up and all of the triple tree pinch bolts and axle nut, pinch bolts, etc., tightened; THEN reinstall the front fender after first making sure that it lines up tightly and isn't responsible for putting a bind on the forks. A bent/twisted front fender is often the culprit, due to the very hefty stamped fork brace built into the mounting area.

 

Maybe I'm just missing it, but I don't see anything in here about making sure that the forks are true and parallel before tightening up the triple clamps.

True the forks, THEN tighten the clamps, THEN put the rim back on.

If that WAS done, then obviously something else is not right.

Dave F

 

Yea im wondering about the triple tree assembly binding since i did also do those steering bearings this winter

 

yea its looking like its the alignment of the triple tree either the upper or the lower im not sure yet. Must of put it together out of wack after i did those steering bearings. That i am assuming is what is causing the right caliper to lock up my front tire. once i pulled that off the wheel spun fine with the left caliper still on.

When you look at the front end and center the upper tripple tree up with the neck of the frame the front tire is cocked to the right about and 1 - 1 1/2 inch (when looking at the bike from the front) so i checked the spacers for the axle and speedo gear and checked to make sure the axle wasnt bent, all is good there. its looking like the whole tree assembly for sure.

In the midst of all this my mom had to go to the ER so im out, post comments about the tree and ill get to them later, thanks!!!

 

The fact that your Front Wheel won't spin now is a hint that you likely reassembled the Front Axle components.

Insure that the R/H Spacer is present where the Axle enters the Front Wheel.

Sometimes, when the Axle is extracted, the Spacer falls-off and rolls away undetected. Absent that Spacer (#17 Collar) during the reassembly; the Front-end Geometry would be off sufficiently to bind the Rotor in the Caliper and position the Lower Fork Tubes out-of-true.

Illustration:
Yamaha Motors Corp. USA
http://www.yamaha-motor.com/partviewer/ ... _-_1982%29
(Fair Use)

 

axle and wheel are fine. The lower clamp is cockeyed to the left when the upper clamp is centered with the neck

 

yup i think its in the triple tree as well, somethings just cocked a little bit.

easy fix.

 

i think i know how the bottom tree got out of wack, i bet it was when i torqued down the castle nuts on the top of the stem, i did have the forks in when i torqued those down to keep it straight, but apparently it didnt work does that sound about right?

 

Foolber,

Did you have the front wheel installed before you started torquing the cap nuts?

Gary

 

I do not believe so. I think i just had the forks on. I will add though that the forks are rebounding better (but not perfectly) now that the wheel is off and the all 4 triple tree clamps are loose. So it was definitely bownd up. It's very clear to see the lower clamps are cocked to the left when sitting on the bike.

I haven't broke loose the castle nuts yet. I have an 04 Harley coming in with a seized revtech motor (whispers "it was made in Korea" lol) so I moved my bike to make room. Hoping to get back to the xj this weekend!