I'm planning on doing the same. I haven't seen any "how-to's" for HD's, however, I've been told that the video at Lowbrows website showing the shortening of some Trump forks is a big help and is basically the same thing.
take the forks apart and you'll see a little spring on the bottom, this is the return spring. get a piece of aluminum machined to the length you want it lowered that is the same ID and OD dimentions of that little spring (Ive heard of people using PVC pipe on the cheap too).
next remove a few coils off the top of the main spring leaving as much pre-load as you can still handle for re-assembling them. leaving more pre-load means a stiffer ride but it also means you can go back and fine-tune the ride height if its too low the first go-round.
to do it right you will need to pre-load your forks.
they do make lowering kits but its the difference between $300 for the kit or $5 for my way. either way is the same result, your choice though.
edit: the spacer that goes beneath the little spring on the bottom is how much your forks will be lowered. so, you will need a spacer nomatter which way you decide to lower it.
hmmm seems to me i should just be able to cut that top spring and not have to do a spacer...
do they make lowering kits?
can't get aaway with that. Any time the front end would come(lifting /giving gas) up you'de get a slop and thud from the lack rebound spring. It's much easier to see when it's apart. Either take the forks off or support the bike( both wheels of the ground) Remove the top caps. remove the springs, drain oil, (this maybe the hardest part) remove the lowers from the slider. most forks have a bolt in the center of the axle saddle. the trik is making or find something to keep the valve in the slider bottom from turning. I got away with using a broom stick and a powerdrill. Maybe an impact wrench would be great. Once it's apart you'll understand more about the works of it.
The long upper spring is for the compression(bumps)
The lower rebound spring in between the fork slider bottom and the rebound valve bolted to the fork lower. It's for the rebound of the fork. So when it comes back up in travel it doesn't SMACK! or THUD!
What ever you decide to lower the fork will be the length of the spacer that goes in between the rebound spring and the bottom of the fork slider.
Cut that length off of the long compression spring. Anything more would just make it a bitch to get back together.
Reassemble and add fluid. Same amount of fluid I believe.
This is how I did my cb forks in the past Harley maybe different, but I would imagine they are similar.
Gonna bookmark this one and take care of that shit when I get home.
Quote:
Originally Posted by easyspeed
can't get aaway with that. Any time the front end would come(lifting /giving gas) up you'de get a slop and thud from the lack rebound spring. It's much easier to see when it's apart. Either take the forks off or support the bike( both wheels of the ground) Remove the top caps. remove the springs, drain oil, (this maybe the hardest part) remove the lowers from the slider. most forks have a bolt in the center of the axle saddle. the trik is making or find something to keep the valve in the slider bottom from turning. I got away with using a broom stick and a powerdrill. Maybe an impact wrench would be great. Once it's apart you'll understand more about the works of it.
The long upper spring is for the compression(bumps)
The lower rebound spring in between the fork slider bottom and the rebound valve bolted to the fork lower. It's for the rebound of the fork. So when it comes back up in travel it doesn't SMACK! or THUD!
What ever you decide to lower the fork will be the length of the spacer that goes in between the rebound spring and the bottom of the fork slider.
Cut that length off of the long compression spring. Anything more would just make it a bitch to get back together.
Reassemble and add fluid. Same amount of fluid I believe.
This is how I did my cb forks in the past Harley maybe different, but I would imagine they are similar.
Shortened my Sportster forks a different way .....Took them apart,removed the dampening tubes,cut a section from the center of each tube,welded them back together......must be super straight....added a pvc spacer on top for added preload....Put them back together with new seals .....So far so good......
I just cut my springs, no spacers, no preload. Haven't really had any issues because of it. Rebound damping will do some good to keep the forks from just falling to full droop anytime the wheel comes off the ground. And you can always run a heavier weight fork oil if you need more control, which is what I did.
BUT, it is only a 400cc Honda, and it doesn't really have enough power to pull the front wheels or anything. I'm not real big on wheelies anyway.
I say, you are gonna have to cut it either way. Cut the 2.5"s off the top of the spring then put it back together. If you have problems, just add the spacer. If you don't, don't.
Shortened my Sportster forks a different way .....Took them apart,removed the dampening tubes,cut a section from the center of each tube,welded them back together......must be super straight....added a pvc spacer on top for added preload....Put them back together with new seals .....So far so good......
some (not all ) aftermarket lowering kit are done this way , spacer length usually equates to amount of drop
Send them to Franks Maintenance and Engineering in Evanston, Illinois. They will cut them and your springs to any length for $62.00 . shipping included.
Send them to Franks Maintenance and Engineering in Evanston, Illinois. They will cut them and your springs to any length for $62.00 . shipping included.
Why?, this is something you can do for almost nothing...Seriously like $5.00. After you ship your forks out there and pay for shipping back it would be closer to $100. There is no need to cut any length off of the slider. No welding required. it's a 2 out of 10 on the difficulty scale here guys. If your scared to try this I'de suggest going over to shopcult.com. .... just kidding, but really it's not that tuff.
This is one of thoes things that if you have never seen it done, its black magic, Pull the trigger and open up the forks, its about a three beer job, Or if someone has pics of it that would help.
I just cut my springs, no spacers, no preload. Haven't really had any issues because of it. Rebound damping will do some good to keep the forks from just falling to full droop anytime the wheel comes off the ground. And you can always run a heavier weight fork oil if you need more control, which is what I did.
BUT, it is only a 400cc Honda, and it doesn't really have enough power to pull the front wheels or anything. I'm not real big on wheelies anyway.
I say, you are gonna have to cut it either way. Cut the 2.5"s off the top of the spring then put it back together. If you have problems, just add the spacer. If you don't, don't.
this sounds like the way to go. im prob gonna try this, i as well am not big on wheelies, i get my fill on my buell.lol
Almost 100% positive that if you do a search, you will find about 20 threads on how to do this.
1. Pull fork apart.
2. cut amount off spring.
3. Cut spacer out of some PVC about the same length as spring.
4. Place spacer under little spring on dampener rod.
5. Put forks back together using a heavier weight oil.
6. Go bottom out. yay!
Here's how I did it. I had a different situation because my tubes were 2 over when I bought my ironhead. I bought 2 under (4" shorter than I had) tubes off ebay. Cut 2 inches off my springs, cut the 2 inch piece in half and installed it under the damper for rebound (wasn't in there to start with). Tossed the 1" left over because I had so much preload that I couldn't get the caps on.
Sounds pretty simple but I still have one small question. It may or may not matter, but where does the spacer go exactly? Can you put the spacer on top of the damper tube below the longer spring or does it need to go below the small rebound spring as shown? I'm getting ready to put my forks back together.
just kidding, but really it's not that tuff.
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