Fork pre load spacers????


S

sunkist

Member
Hi all,

may be a stupid question here; ive tried looking it up and could find any information on doing specifically this.

lets say, I was to spin up some maybe 8mm spacers on a lathe, take the fork caps off, insert the spacer over the inner tube above the spring, and put the cap back on, am I going to have any problems like spring bind or bottoming out?

I know the better solution is to replace to a stiffer spring, different weight oil, but just a thought for now.

any thoughts? anyone done it and nearly killed them selves?:zombie:
 
C

Chucker

Active Member
The spacer that is in there has washers on each end. You can just add more washers to increase preload. When I replaced my springs, I added more preload by cutting the new spacer a little longer. Your struggle may be that 8mm is too much for you to actually get the caps back on. If you can get the caps on, you haven't added so much that it would be bad.

Having said that, I would still replace the oil with heavier weight. It is cheap and easy.
 
M

Marthy

World Most Bad A$$ 6R
Elite Member
You can add some fender washer or something like that. 8mm spacer is quite drastic imo. You want about 40mm of rider sag
 
S

sunkist

Member
Thanks for the reply guys! Yeh I meant do the oil change as well probably needs it anyway.

@shards - I had actually ordered those but the thread pitch they sent wasn't correct. Hence the thought of just putting spacers in.

Might give them a go and see what happens. I'll check in later
 
alaskanflyboy

alaskanflyboy

Premium Member
They're a little more money, but have you looked at the Racetech valve emulators?
 
Y

yellowfz

New Member
sunkist said:
I did, however am looking at $200 + shipping just for the emulators. its an option, but I don't dislike standard that much, just after a very small amount of firmness.
Click to expand...
Varying the amount/weight of oil can do the trick there, a few CCs (10cc) goes a long ways.
 
Last edited:
S

sunkist

Member
so i put some spacers in. definitely did the trick, not bottoming out, a little bit stiffer.

yellowfz said:
Varying the amount/weight of oil can do the trick there, a few CCs (10cc) goes a long ways.
Click to expand...
will hopefully swap the oil out this week or next. 40 degree (c) too hot to do anything.

should i look for 10w or 15w??
 
Y

yellowfz

New Member
sunkist said:
so i put some spacers in. definitely did the trick, not bottoming out, a little bit stiffer.



will hopefully swap the oil out this week or next. 40 degree (c) too hot to do anything.

should i look for 10w or 15w??
Click to expand...
10w add 10cc, 15w use exact amount, do as starting point you can add or subtract as needed, most farm and ranch stores have large needles/syringes perfect for injecting/extracting oils (for adding/subtracting small cc amounts), they are used for livestock vaccinations, fairly cheap too.
Moving the forks up in the triple clamp a small amount has a great effect too.
 

M

Marthy

World Most Bad A$$ 6R
Elite Member
I used 20W here in Florida but if you ride on bumpy road 15W should be good. I used 130mm oil level too to add support under dive... worked good.

Cycle Gear has a nice oil level kit that comes with a syringe and sn adjustable tube that remove the guess work.

Oil level is set with no spring and fork all the way in.

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk
 
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