Hi,
I needed get my fork sliders rechromed so I did and very nice they are too. £165 with free return post. It'd normally be £150 but the allen bolt at the bottom of one leg rounded out and I paid them to get the bolt out.
I got new seals and I'm refitting the forks this weekend. I'm having some trouble though. The manual isn't really that clear with rebuilding them, so I've got some questions.
Does this spring clip fit within the dust seal? I've tried fitting it in there for about an hour and I can't get it to stay put.

Where is the fork oil added and what is best proceedure?
Is fork oil added from the top.

Or is it added through this little bolt hole? I'm guessing this bolt hole is some kind of bleed screw.


Any help would be greatly appreciated.

It feels good that the bike is slowly coming together.

Cheers,

Rich

Hi there
The spring clip fits in on top of the new fork seal in a recess, make sure the seal is in as far as it goes, and then push the spring clip in on top of it, then grease the dust seal mating flange and it will push in by hand,
Filling the oil in through the top with forks fully extended,
best of luck,
jonmac
_________________
John

Thanks so much for that. It really helped me out.

It doesn't say the amount of fork oil in the workshop manual, but I've just read on the Suspension Tuning page I have to add 383cc of fork oil to my SE/SP forks. With such an exact amount of fluid I'll use a big syringe I've got in the cellar.

Thanks again

Rich

Page 1-10 clearly requires 383 ccm for SW and SP forks. Or 145 mm if that's easier.
The hole is the oil drain hole. A.f.a.i.k. there is nothing to bleed on a fork.

I too was suprised that there is so little in the manual about fork dis/assembly. The Japanese manuals aren't very good at that, I found that the English manuals (if available for a model) are a lot better.

I can't seem to tighten up the M8 x 30mm allen bolt at the bottom of the forks. The bolt just turns around because the part of the inner fork it attaches to justs freely.
After losing all fluid from it leaking out the bottom, I assembled it dry. Compressed the shock in the hope the friction would allow the bolt to be tightened. No luck.
Does anyone know how to get this bolt tightened? It's a blimmin nightmare!

Would I have to remove the fork stanchion, and try bolting it that way? Maybe jamming something into the bottom part of the inner fork assembly?

Cheers for any help


I've got 'forking' oil all over my driveway.

I have never assembled an NSR250 fork but assuming that is pretty identical to a VFR400 fork, here is what the Haynes manual says:

Reassembly
1. Insert damper rod into the fork tube and slide it into place so that it projects fully from the bottom of the tube, then in install the seat on the bottom of the damper rod.
2. Oil the fork tube and bottom bush with the specified fork oil and insert the assembly into the slider. Fit a new copper sealing washer to the damper rod bolt and apply a few drops of a suitable non-permanent thread locking compound, then install the bolt into the bottom of the slider . Tighten the boltto the specified torque setting (20 Nm). If the damper rod rotates inside the tube, wait until the fork is fully reassembled before tightening the bolt.
... (everything until dust seal is in place)
3. Slowly pourin the specified quantity ofthe specified fork oil and pump the fork and damper rod at least ten times each to distribute the oil evenly; the oil level should also be measured and ajustment be made if necessary. Fully compress the fork tube anddamper rod into the slider and measure the fork oil level from the top of the tube. Add or subtract oil until correct.
install spring, spring seat, spacer, washer.

4. If the damper rod Allen bolt (from step 2) requires tightening, clamp the fork slider between the padded jaws of a vice and have an assistant compress the tube insto theslider so the max. spring pressure isplaced on the damper rod head- tighten the damper rod bolt to spec. torque.

I would also recommend to make sure the bolt and damper rod threads are clean and undamaged. And yes, assembly is dry.

Almost all open bath RSU and USD forks assemble exactly the way described above. You can use a impact to remove the bolt holding the damper to the lower tube. For reassembly, if it spins you can put everything back together without oil to use spring pressure to stop the damper from spinning. You can also use a holder tool, or something wooden or plastic to hold it or even use an impact again at low psi if you know the torque it's generating. Fork oil in an open bath fork should be set by oil height and that is always with the fork compressed. The spring seat,washers,spacers and spring are left out while doing this.

Thanks for the help chaps. I've finally got the forks together.

I put the forks in with the local bike shop to get fixed but they didn't know how to do it. Said it was a grey import so none of their tools fitted.

So I spent much of the day, trying to stop the fork internals turning by compressing the assembled forks to tighten up the bottom bolt.
In the end I used this technique, using a sash clamp and an offcut of aluminium and it didn't need a huge amount of force.

The slug of aluminium had an 11mm shallow hole drilled into it to centre the damper bar.
I made sure, when tightening the clamp there was room for the allen key to go into the bottom hole. When it was tightened up I was able to tighten the bolt into the bottom damper. Torqued to 20NM


Maybe this technique will help someone out there.