89 Front Fork question

[videoarizona]

Hey guys and gals,

I'm slowly getting close to putting new seals in the front forks. The manual says to reduce the air pressure before taking them apart. Makes sense, right? Problem is....between the manual and the Forum...I'm supposed to reduce the air pressure to zero. Well...my auto-magic air system will only take it down to 7lbs. Not exactly zero. I know I can loosen the top bolt in each tube and let the air bleed out. Just curious why the air system won't let me bleed down to zero.....even in manual mode.

Is it my bike...or just normal.

TIA,

david

[cowpuc]

3 hours ago, videoarizona said:

Hey guys and gals,

I'm slowly getting close to putting new seals in the front forks. The manual says to reduce the air pressure before taking them apart. Makes sense, right? Problem is....between the manual and the Forum...I'm supposed to reduce the air pressure to zero. Well...my auto-magic air system will only take it down to 7lbs. Not exactly zero. I know I can loosen the top bolt in each tube and let the air bleed out. Just curious why the air system won't let me bleed down to zero.....even in manual mode.

Is it my bike...or just normal.

TIA,

david

Hi Vaz!! How are you folks? Hope all is well out there! You find my baby rattler yet? LOL

On your bike,, here is what I would do.. I would run the air down as far as possible. Pop the caps and go to town. I would also absolutely drop a set of Progressives in those forks after doing your seals. I would also stick in new fork bushings while I had it down.  I have found that with Progressives front fork air is a thing of the past. I would dead head the airline going up front BUT, you dont have to do that if you dont feel the need.. To me, less going on = less potential for issues.. Leaving it hooked up and running 7 pounds on the progressives wont hurt anything but may make it ride a little stiff depending on how much preload you put on the Progressives..  IMHO, and that is all it is, running sacked out ink pen springs in the forks and using air to take up the slack so to speak is the #1 cause of seal failure as the air is actually putting more pressure on the seals than the bike was designed for. Hope this helps until one of the guru's shows up to set us both straight  

Hi to Pat! Love you both!!

Puc

[cimmer]

Hi Dave,  Just like Cowpuc said, but dont try to drain the forks till all the air is out of them. You will have a mess on your hands. I installed progressive in mine a while ago and didnt  put a lot of preload in them so I run about 7 lbs of air just to keep the oil pressurized a bit. I get a nice comfortable ride that way. I also unhooked my electronic fork dampeners as they really arent needed with the progressives. I just unplugged them under the dash was all, and left them attached to the forks.

Rick F.

[saddlebum]

If once you drain the air down as far as possible using the manual setting on the class control panel and if there is still air left in it you can slowly loosen the air line either at the forks or at the compressor unit  at the rear of the bike to finish bleeding off any air that may be left in the system.

Edited March 25, 2021 by saddlebum

[Marcarl]

Achh, just take out the screw and the oil will come, it'll be in a hurry so get ready to catch it. Be done with that in the matter of seconds rather than hours. When one side is done, put the screw back in, add a little air and do the other side. Ice cream bucket does the trick.

[saddlebum]

1 hour ago, Marcarl said:

Achh, just take out the screw and the oil will come, it'll be in a hurry so get ready to catch it. Be done with that in the matter of seconds rather than hours. When one side is done, put the screw back in, add a little air and do the other side. Ice cream bucket does the trick.

Yup that's the way @Marcarltold me how to do it the first time I did them. then he quickly moved and stood at the other end of the garage as I proceeded to follow his directions.

Edited March 26, 2021 by saddlebum

[Marcarl]

10 hours ago, saddlebum said:

Yup that's the way @Marcarltold me how to do it the first time I did them. then he quickly moved and stood at the other end of the garage as I proceeded to follow his directions.

When did you start following directions???

[saddlebum]

10 hours ago, Marcarl said:

When did you start following directions???

That was the day I stopped following directions

[skydoc_17]

Hey David,

In an effort to answer your original question, It is NOT just your bike, and it is done to keep the forks from bottoming out due to the lack of air pressure and your 32 year old fork springs. The stock springs were not designed to run with zero air pressure, so the computer won't let you run zero air pressure. You will need to crack a connector to bleed the fork system of all air pressure, and it is suggested that you do so. 

I hope this helps,

Earl

[videoarizona]

Thank you all! Enjoyed the humor too!    😄

Sorry for the late response, been camping in Tombstone for a week, then camping at the lake for another week with my sailing friends and their RVs! The RV has had more use this past year than the sailboat. Heading for The Mojave Road in 3 days for four days off 4X4ing and tent camping! 

Earl's response makes sense! Thank you! I'll crack a joint to let out the rest of the air.

Don't know about the progressives. I found a good combination of air pressure and the original springs giving me decent control and a good ride. Since I'm still thinking about selling one of the bikes, I might just forgo the progressives for now. It's easy to replace them later. The difficult job is the seals.

Thanks again. Now back to backing for the wilderness desert!

 

Edited March 29, 2021 by videoarizona
Correct my grammer...

[saddlebum]

11 hours ago, videoarizona said:

Thank you all! Enjoyed the humor too!    😄

Sorry for the late response, been camping in Tombstone for a week, then camping at the lake for another week with my sailing friends and their RVs! The RV has had more use this past year than the sailboat. Heading for The Mojave Road in 3 days for four days off 4X4ing and tent camping! 

Earl's response makes sense! Thank you! I'll crack a joint to let out the rest of the air.

Don't know about the progressives. I found a good combination of air pressure and the original springs giving me decent control and a good ride. Since I'm still thinking about selling one of the bikes, I might just forgo the progressives for now. It's easy to replace them later. The difficult job is the seals.

Thanks again. Now back to backing for the wilderness desert!

 

When you pull it apart don't be surprised if you find it already has progressives installed by a previous owner. I pulled both my 89s apart and found both had progressives in them already. They are identifiable by the longer overall length and the closer spacing of the coils at one end. When installing progressives I always install the tight group to the top so as to not increase the live weight to the lower half of the forks. 

[videoarizona]

On 3/24/2021 at 4:06 PM, cowpuc said:

Hi Vaz!! How are you folks? Hope all is well out there! You find my baby rattler yet? LOL

On your bike,, here is what I would do.. I would run the air down as far as possible. Pop the caps and go to town. I would also absolutely drop a set of Progressives in those forks after doing your seals. I would also stick in new fork bushings while I had it down.  I have found that with Progressives front fork air is a thing of the past. I would dead head the airline going up front BUT, you dont have to do that if you dont feel the need.. To me, less going on = less potential for issues.. Leaving it hooked up and running 7 pounds on the progressives wont hurt anything but may make it ride a little stiff depending on how much preload you put on the Progressives..  IMHO, and that is all it is, running sacked out ink pen springs in the forks and using air to take up the slack so to speak is the #1 cause of seal failure as the air is actually putting more pressure on the seals than the bike was designed for. Hope this helps until one of the guru's shows up to set us both straight  

Hi to Pat! Love you both!!

Puc

Hi Puc,

Good to hear from you. It's hard to believe my ride East to "Tip & Puc Land" is coming on 3 years now? Yikes.

I'm dallying about the fork repair as I'm a bit overwhelmed at the moment. Lots going on. Nothing bad, just "stuff". 

Need to get the valves done on the RSV too! 

I'll say hi to Pat... You give Tip a hug for me! 

[videoarizona]

On 3/29/2021 at 8:36 AM, saddlebum said:

When you pull it apart don't be surprised if you find it already has progressives installed by a previous owner. I pulled both my 89s apart and found both had progressives in them already. They are identifiable by the longer overall length and the closer spacing of the coils at one end. When installing progressives I always install the tight group to the top so as to not increase the live weight to the lower half of the forks. 

Actually I would be surprised. I bought the bike from the dealer that did all the maintenance and he never mentioned shocks. Only to say the bike was original and we'll maintained. 

But that would be nice, wouldn't it!!!