How To Open Top of Fork

Hi! I'm currenlty riding a 1988 Suzuki GSXR1100 FJ Katana. I've got
the forks off and I'm ready to take them apart but I'm confused by the
locking mechanism. It's a flat disk with a groove in the middle and
what appears to be a very thin notch on one side. There's no fork
bolt. The disk appears to be holding down the spring and all the other
stuff.

Does anyone know how to get this disk out? Thanks


Jamie

 

1988 GSX1100FJ Katana had a damper rod fork, with no preload adjuster
and no threaded spring cap.

Find a radiator hose clamp that will slide over the steel stanchion
tube. Tighten the hose clap right above the dust cap above the oil
seal. You don't want the fork leg to compress while you're trying to
compress the spring inside...

Secure the fork leg to something that won't move so it won't move
around while you work on it. Last time I did this operation, I tied the
fork leg to a wooden 4X4 holding up the back stairway of the apartment
building where I lived...

Push down *hard* on the spring seat with a tool that has a rounded end,
or you'll be looking at scratches on top of the spring seat forever...

That will compress the spring...

Then you should be able to pick the ring stopper out with the bent part
of a machinist's scribe. Remember that scratches are forever, so don't
blame me if you scratch the inside of the steel stanchion tube or the
top of the spring seat...

If you go to www.partsfish.com and register, you can look at the parts
fiche for the front damper of model J. The ring stopper is #23 and the
spring seat is #21...

All that's keeping your front springs from flying up an hitting you in
the face is that wire ring stopper. It looks so bogus, but I've never
heard of a ring stopper coming out. If you bend the old ones while
removing them, do buy new ones, okay?