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Uh, oh...
I think I goofed up.
I wish I had seen this thread before now...
(See at end of quoted)


Yesterday I pulled my forks apart to do the factory lowering and I thought I followed the shop manual procedure exactly and the first leg went fine. No problem taking it apart and putting it back together and cycling the tube in and out. However, the second leg would get stuck when I pushed the tube all the way down after reassembly (No spring or cap on). The dreaded "lock down" you warn of no doubt. The thing is, neither damper rod had the plastic tip shown in the picture above.
What????

I did not pull the fork tube out of the lower leg, I only removed the preload spacer, the spring, the damper rod and the top out spring that was on the damper rod.
So, the white plastic must have stayed in the lower leg.
When I reinstalled the damper rod it was no problem to line up the allen screw and tighten it up using my "special fork tool" (a whittled round end of a 1x1 stick)
I never saw the white plastic cap...
So, I need to take it apart again and find out what is going on in there.
Actually I will have to take them both apart since I did them the same...
I am guessing the plastic cap must be stuck under the end of the inner fork tube but not centered on the damper rod?
I don't remember anything in the shop manual saying anything about it.
At least on the "lowering" page I was using.
I didn't look at the pages for bushing & seal replacement though.
Arrrrgh!

Any suggestions or recommendation's?

I don't recall any white spacer/cap on the end of my damper rods either - is this something to do with the factory lowering setup ?

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showpost ... ount=36300

Look at Distech's post and then mine. Neither show a white plastic cap. I never saw one either. I did not disassemble my forks, just took the damper rod out, modified it, and put it back in. There's no way I got lucky enough to "reinstall" the cap on the down stroke. I don't think there was one.

I looked at the BikeBandit parts breakout for 2005....no cap. I've ridden 4000 miles on it after the fork work with no problems so it's not coming back apart to check.

Maybe some years have 'em and Suzuki realized the "stuck" problem and did away with it?

They all most certainly do have the plastic bottoming cone.... (or at least came that way from the factory) this tapered cone prevents metal to metal bottoming at full suspension travel. The taper creates a hydraulic dampening lock which prevents, or at least greatly reduces the chance of, a metal to metal contact. It is item 3 in most OEM fiche diagrams. Likely the cone was stuck in the bottom of the fork legs for those that did not see the cone. The reason for collapsing the fork tube into the bottom of the leg is so that the bottoming cone will be in perfect center of the tapered bottom of the fork tube when the dampening rod bolt is torqued. I'm sure you all have them... the machine would bottom violently without these cones.

Thanks Rob.

I looked at the parts fiche and wondered which one could be the plastic thing.
I guessed #3 called the "piece, oil lock" in the fiche.
So, I need to pull the fork apart and remove the tube to get to the plastic and then see if I have destroyed it or if I can reuse it by putting it on the end of the damper rod, correct?

The first leg I modified lined up perfectly when I installed the allen screw but the second leg, the one that sticks, didn't line up until I moved it with a screw driver through the bolt hole.

There is no way you could have assembled the forks without the cone being in place... unless it was missing altogether. No room for it on the side of the dampening rod. If your leg retaining bolt screwed into the dampening rod everything is in place properly. I'd just remove the fork cap and spring then loosen the leg retaining bolt and bottom the leg up into the fork tube and re-torque the retaining bolt. That should center up your cone and dampening rod correctly. I doubt you could get it out of center far enough to really damage the cone.

Great write up and pic's I bought the all balls kit,but went to the dealer with forks and kit in hand.100$ later,well it was the way for me to go.Got rid of the blinding yellow boots and replaced with black one's

OK, forks are back in pieces again.
I found the white plastic spacers.
And found out why I didn't see them when doing the "lowering" mod.
They do NOT come out unless the fork tubes are removed from the legs.
They are stuck solid in the bottom of my tubes and I have only tapped lightly from the inside and they are not moving.
I doubt the allen bolt would be able to screw into the damper rod if the plastic piece was not in the correct position.
So, if anyone is doing the factory lowering of changing the spacer location, you will NOT see the white plastic.
Lowering does NOT require pulling the tubes out of the leg, only the spring and damper rod get removed.

Only if you pull the lock ring and seals and remove the fork tubes will you see it.

I decided to go ahead and order the replacement bushings and seals since I have them all apart now.
Grungy oil and dirt in the bottom of the leg so it was good to go ahead and rebuild.
It does have 38,000+ miles on it.
I have put all of about 10 miles on it since buying it.

I have ordered almost $1,000 in parts to fix a neglected $1,500 bike....
No one ever said I was real smart.....

I'm rebuilding my forks, and am a bit confused. So far I've only dissassembled the right side leg. First, when I measured the full travel of the tube it was only 9.25", I thought it was supposed to be a little over 10"? What gives? Is it the "top out" spring thats preventing me from fully extending the tube by hand? Second, when measuring the stroke, the tube "locks down" at the bottom and is quite difficult pull back up again, makes quite the popping sound when it does break free. Is this normal? It does take a fair bit of effort to compress it the last 1/2 inch or so. Third, the plastic cap for the end of the damper rod is firmly embedded into the inner tube, should I be trying to get it out? Won't it just wedge in there again when all is reassembled? Seems like everything will go back together easier if I just leave it in there. Sorry for the questions on my first post!

Cleaning the fork components would be the reason I'd want to remove the bottoming cones.... you'd hate to have any crapola trapped under the cone. If they are that tight stuck to the bottom maybe that won't be an issue. Once you've bottomed your fork tube completely the hydraulic lock makes it tough to pull the fork leg back out until the lock is broken.... it also makes it tough to fully bottom you tube a lat bit of travel. The more pressure you use to bottom the forks the harder it will be to get them off of bottom due to the taper matching surfaces of the tube bottom and cone with oil between them.