Hi, I removed my front wheel thismorning to replace the front tire.
I put the wheel shaft back in to the holes to keep it safe and off the ground and found that the shaft holes are out of alignment by quite a bit. I measured the space between the bottom of the Outer pipe and the top of the Fork slider and there is a difference of .23" (almost 1/4" )
I measured the top of the fork and the tripple clamf and they are pretty close, nothing that concerns me.
So, my question is 1. what has caused this and 2. can I temporarily raise one of the forks to bring the holes in to line, I understand the the difference in the lenght of the two forks wont be the same but atleast the holes will line up? Please, any help would be appreciated.
Britguy
That's normal, assuming no one has messed with the damper rods and they are functioning normally.
1: 2 different functions for each fork, one controls up, the other down.
2: Yup. I just put a little pressure on it, attempting to compress the fork a bit. Be sure to block the rear wheel well if it's on a jack.
Normal, one leg is sprung for compression the other extension. So one will pull up and one push down. Once the axle is in and seated properly the forks act as one solid unit
This has been the common thought thought the years, and it's been wrong every time. Vtx like a few Honda models have a dampening fork and a slave, on the x the on with the bolt in the bottom holds the dampening rod. Only one fork has one. The other leg is a slave.
The fork with the bottom bolt through the lower leg that holds the one and only dampening rod in, also has the compression dampener and the rebound dampener inside, specifically compression is at the top, rebound is at the bottom.
Also when assembling, you should adjust not only fork length but also set the preload of the springs equally. I had my dampening rod apart in 2006 and 2 years ago.
While it is normal on the vtx to see this, it still is not correct.
If I am not mistaken, what big bad is saying jives with the Honda Technical Service Manual. One fork has only a forkseal, slider, spring, oil and some air for added springiness.
The other has all the shock absorbing stuff for both compression and rebound. I *think* this is the left one.
Yes. The left one is more complicated than the right. Just had my springs and fluid changed with help and guidance by Chuck_VTX_F and Ironmk 2 weeks ago.
Yes it is true but spike would rather repeat what has been long thought as true, rather than take a look at it mechanically and learn something different. The world was once thought flat, to say it was round was ludacris.
Here is a tad bit more info concerning the alignment of the forks, and the nuts on top that everyone wants to adjust so the forks meet up..........
Honda states in the service manual during assembly of the forks, to run those nuts down by hand until they stop.............period. Then, install the upper caps and torque the nuts to the caps. Doing that, leaves a safety margin of thread protrusion or insertion as you will, into the upper caps.
Always have, not an issue lining up the legs. Just a Lil hand pressure and the axle slides in. Or, loosen up the long leg pinches and pull the leg up a tad upon installation....
Do t get me wrong I'm all about thread engagement, but my axle slides in with one hand on the axle and leaves my other hand free to scratch my head and ponder why on earth the Honda engineer spike mentioned earlier left us the ability to adjust preload on the springs, and height of the fork leg. I'm sure when he was done dreaming all that up he must of forgot to write it down in the manual (for those that believe engineers write the manuals)
But I must ask, show do you to believe that rebound is in one leg and compression is the other?
So basically, if there's anyone that believes that compression and rebound are done in separate forks I would like to see proof, bring pics or even your engineer friend, I have pics on bares board that will contradict it.
Now back on topic, you can adjust th forks on the vtx, in height, in dampening and in spring preload. It's not in the manual, just like cutting the air box isn't but you can do it. As far as thread engagement concerns, I fully support being on the safe side. Threads need to engage 1 full nut, or the diameter of the rod.
Next time you build a fork use a plastic sandwich bag over the fork rod to slide the seals over the sharp bushing areas. Put oil on the bag it works way better and faster than tape that is described in the manual.
There's a good you-tube video on overhauling the forks that includes a demonstration on how to adjust them so the axle holes line up. As I recall, the adjustment is done on the fork that doesn't have the damper in it.
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