Rebuilding Air-Assist Forks

If it's broken or just needs tweaked

Moderators: Volker_P, tidd650

User avatar
DammitDan
Posts: 111
Joined: Thu Mar 16, 2006 9:46 pm
Location: Nashville, USA
Contact:

Rebuilding Air-Assist Forks

Postby DammitDan » Thu Mar 16, 2006 9:56 pm

Ahhh, thank you thank you thank you for starting this board up again. I only hope we can also get all the great resources from the old board (Especially the stickies! Those were awesome!)

I started working on the bike again after stripping out a sparkplug hole in the head. I went ahead and rebuilt the whole top end to sort out some other (somewhat serious) problems. After about 4 months of searching, I found a great parts bike for $125 that was only about 200 miles away. She was a mess too... Anyone need any parts (minus the top end) off a 1982 CB650SC? I've just about got everything for it!

So anyways... I'm going to rebuild the front forks since they started leaking like a bastard, but the manual says to take them to the dealership since they're air-assist. $220 for a forks rebuild IF I BRING THEM IN OFF THE BIKE? No way, man. There's gotta be a way to do this at home!

So, anyone got any suggestions? I plan to do it this weekend and FINALLY get the old beast back on the road!

Thanks guys... Oh, and did I mention THANK YOU!!

- DammitDan
Last edited by DammitDan on Fri Mar 17, 2006 1:07 am, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
rob
Posts: 33
Joined: Mon Mar 13, 2006 6:09 pm
Location: Canada
Contact:

Postby rob » Thu Mar 16, 2006 11:36 pm

Hi Dan,

I am in the same boat as you: fork seal has been leaking for sometime, and seems to be getting worse. I tried looking on the web for instructions on rebuilding the air assist forks (google, sohc4.us) but didn't find much. I am just about to admit defeat and take it in to the shop, perhaps doing it at the same time I get new front rubber to only get hit by labor costs once. If you have a go this weekend post your results!

Rob
'81 CB650 Custom

cb650
Posts: 2959
Joined: Fri Mar 03, 2006 7:20 am
Location: Denver CO USA
Contact:

Postby cb650 » Fri Mar 17, 2006 9:02 am

I havent done the air assit but for 220 would learn real fast.




Terry

Zeke

Postby Zeke » Wed Mar 22, 2006 11:16 pm

Hey Guys:

We're all in the same boat. I have a set of forks from an 81 or 82 that I'm gonna put on my 80 so's I can have twin discs and a bit more adjustability on my bike.

I wanna rebuild 'em too, but that warning has me wondering. I do have a full honda manual, I'll see if I can find it and see what they say.

The issue might be, that the seals are delicate and very difficult to make them hold air. I ordered a seal kit for my Cane Creek MTB shock a few years ago, and I could not get it to hold air. I ended up sending the shock to them, where they rebuild, leak test, then rebuild again (if leaking), and so on until it holds air for 24 hours.

Hard to say - but if you go thru with it I'd be interested to hear how to do it.

out

cb650
Posts: 2959
Joined: Fri Mar 03, 2006 7:20 am
Location: Denver CO USA
Contact:

Postby cb650 » Thu Mar 23, 2006 7:37 am

You will need the triple clamps also. They were wider for the dual disks. Then you can put in tappered steering bearings. Also the 82 (+newer?) calipers were 2 piston but would need the disks to go with them.



Terry


Return to “Technical Discussion”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 43 guests