FZRSupport: the FZROnline Archive

I just re-did my '87 FZR 1000 forks and found an inexpensive way to keep the damper rod from turning while you un-do the allen hex bolt in the bottom of the fork leg slider. Most people will at least try to use an air impact to break it free and this may work. You do have the cap on the downtube, don't you?

If that doesn't work, and it may not if you are trying to disassemble something 20+ yrs. old & never-apart, go to your hardware store and find a 3/4" I.D. X 10 t.p.i. hex nut which uses a nylon thread lock insert at one end. I found that while it is not an exact "tightest-fit" you can use it with an extension and a socket of the appropriate size (use a piece of masking tape to hold the nut in the socket) to index within the 12-point female of the top of the damping rod so you can lock it in-place with a ratchet or a breaker bar when you undo the allen hex bolt inset to the bottom of the slider. As they say, "assembly is the reverse of disassembly." Be sure you clean all thread & mating surfaces and don't forget the copper washer on the allen hex bolt. Interestingly, I tried other 3/4" I.D. nuts w/o the nylock feature and the flats did not fit inside the damper 12-point.

I hunted several hardware stores, including the 'big-box' store,before I found a nut of the correct dimension.

Beats buying a Kent-Moore tool for $$!

As another handy tip, I found a great use for a tool I infrequently use but it works great for re-assembling the downtube caps. Back-off the preload adjuster completely, so the cotter key is against the bottom of the cap. Don't forget your 'silver-dollar' discs which sit on top of the spring before the tube cap goes in-place! Otherwise, your infinitely-adjustible cap preload function has nothing on-which to bear.

Now, I use a 3/8" offset socket drive handle, the kind of lever that has the "Model T" handcrank shape to it. A deep socket will provide clearance for the cap preload adjuster, since for the installation it's all-the-way out (the preload adjuster). Carefully align the cap to avoid cross-threading of the cap or tube, and use the mushroom end of the socket handle to compress the spring while you hold the offset and crank it to tighten. The combination of the deep socket, the large end of the manual socket handle driver, and your tightening action with the offset will make the easiest job possible to seat the cap with great ease.

Almost-done. Now, grab a crows-foot 10 mm open-ended socket and again use the offset handle to tighten the preload adjusters to where you need 'em, don't forget to match the settings on both sides. That should take < 1 minute.

I tried the ratchet and deep socket method before as needed, (and got frustrated from not easily being able to seat the threaded cap in the downtube) and it wasn't until I happened to come-upon this combination of equipment that I was able to make an almost pleasant experience out of servicing my forks.

Incidentially, I tried the rubber seals advertised as 'leakproof' with a lifetime warranty, and 'so-far-so-good.' These are the all-rubber ones with no tiny internal springs or metal bands around the exterior of the fork seal. Be sure and follow the assembly sequence exactly, as there is another flat washer which comes with it which gives you the correct stack height to be held in-place by the seal clip. They also include a dust seal set. I found them on eBay.

I've owned this bike since late '87 when I bought it from a friend of mine who purchased it new from Broward Motorsport in Ft. Lauderdale. I got it with < 3K mi. on it and I have about 24 K mi. now. It runs like a top! I could do without some of the cowling and side-fairing decals, but I have always found the lines of the bike and its white pearl paint to be very appealing. I recently found another FZR and am considering selling this to buy the newer model.

looks like your gonna be a huge help to the forum, only on your second post and your doing how too's. on some bikes you can get away with using a sparkplug socket upside down and a bunch of socket extentions to hold it in place. i belive for the 19mm damper rods, not the 22mm like the fzr just throwing that out there

Yeah, thanks for the vote of confidence. I searched several well-stocked stores w/o success for finding the right tool, It looks like a 1 1/16" hex wrench would fit, good luck finding one! My method is cheap & effective.

I've been riding for nearly 50 yrs. and try to do as-much of my own repairs as I can. My most-interesting bike is probably my SOHC Rickman-Honda. I never got into the British bikes too-much but a TR6-C or a Bonneville is just so well-proportioned, but I don't want to deal with the maintenance they require.

Check out Motion Pro as they usually have the tools for any motorcycle repair.

how bout a pic of that honda? ? never heard of it before, i have visions of a bike with a civic motor in it or someting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTHDmAex ... re=related

Be sure to watch just before 1:47 for the blonde!

If you speak Italian, you're all-set. Great photography. This is not mine, but it's the same bike.
http://www.satanicmechanic.org/rickman.shtml

Pic of the nyloc hex nut size I use:
[img][IMG]http://i802.photobucket.com/albums/yy306/torpor_2001/FZR%201000/th_FZR020.jpg[/img][/img]

apsolus wrote:looks like your gonna be a huge help to the forum, only on your second post and your doing how too's. on some bikes you can get away with using a sparkplug socket upside down and a bunch of socket extentions to hold it in place. i belive for the 19mm damper rods, not the 22mm like the fzr just throwing that out there

A,
you really should have read the Fork how-to's on my site as that info has been there for what nearly 2 years in the FZR section & on my original mech site in the '90's LoL

Glad some one else now knows the "trick" may be with 2 of us spouting on about it others just may learn it too.................

I wish I knew too would have saved me so much time

cad600 wrote:Check out Motion Pro as they usually have the tools for any motorcycle repair.

Cad,
I hope they are cheaper than YAMAHA's official tools for the Job.
I made most of our Service shops tooling because it was just not economical to buy Y's tooling for 12 mechanics we had working for us. The Damper rod tool, fly wheel remover & the clutch tool were what I made up the most , I still have all my own from those days, just my luck that none of the damper rod tools fitted from back then for the FZR which is why I did the write up on the web site.

http://www.saltmine.org.uk/fzr/fork.html

I think I will add the link to our site here in the WIKI
EDITED:
this info has been in the WIKI since November 2008 !!!!!!!!!!

I may be looking in the wrong place but I went to the FZR WICKI and found two subjects 'fork seal replacement' and 'front fork tuning.' In neither did I find any info on what I posted. I may have not accessed it properly, but I went the the WICKI and was unable to access your resource. If you can tell me where it is, then I will know for the future. I didn't search for the subject before I posted, I just wrote up the technique I used. Frankly, I probably would not be looking in the FZR 600 section for info on my 1000. I see that is where there is also tool info post-search.

It isn't uncommon that several people approach the same problem and arrive independantly at solutions. One of the most familiar to people of a certain age is the polio vaccine. I recall being a little kid in school and getting Dr. Salk's SQ vaccine, and later, receiving Dr. Sabin's oral dose. We're not curing health scourges here, but I like my simple solution better, because you can easily carry it tucked-away in your toolbox. I spray-painted mine just to remind me when I am in the box, what it's for. The 3' all-thread is handy when the need to cane a bike thief though.

Ultimately, I knew what I needed, and set-out to locate the proper part, reading the other posts wouldn't have made my hardware search any quicker, nor would it have done the work for me, but I am glad to know others also choose to contribute.

Today I replaced a rear brake disc and pads (FA88 replacement) and while the rear wheel was off I used a brass-bristle brush to work mineral spirits into the recesses and to de-gunk years of nigrescent scime while it was all apart. I also bought paint to shoot the wheels in the factory '87 solid red, it should improve the looks considerably. They're going to receive a good media blasting first.

George, I just read your 600 cartridge emulator install and was entertained by it. It is a factual account with some (Queen's English) 'humour' to it. I have a spare set of damper rods for my '87 1000 so I may try the mod. I have read of them many years ago on other non-cartridge forks and always wondered about doing it. A project for another day.

FM,
I was not knocking your write up I was meerly pointing out to the others that thought the tool idea was new that the info is in the wiki and has been there for a couple of years.

I would imagine you have tried the WIKI main page have you tried the WIKI tech page:-

http://fzronline.com/wiki/doku.php?id=tech_books_links

This is not entirely model or even bike make related but more a repository of Knowledge for bike "fiddlers" as it has engineering references
another source of Bike facts and ideas is the "Gear Head & Guru's" section of the forum where only the title subject is posted and any chatting is not allowed to make it easy to search and any discussion can be added to the general chat part of the forum.

Please feel free to "WIKI 'ise" your 1000 specific write up to the OUR OWN GURU's How to:- section or if your not sure how the wiki editing is done PM me and I will do a transfer.

For non cartridge forks by the way Emulators are absolutely brilliant and the best dollars for improvement anyone can do to their bike.

George, thanks for the directions, I will take a look at them. Always willing to learn. Next week is an AMCA meet in Dania Beach FL. There is a great turnout of bikes & people, lots of British, Italian, German & USA bikes.
http://www.motorcyclemonster.com/events ... ch-FL.html

fire-medic wrote:George, thanks for the directions, I will take a look at them. Always willing to learn. Next week is an AMCA meet in Dania Beach FL. There is a great turnout of bikes & people, lots of British, Italian, German & USA bikes.
http://www.motorcyclemonster.com/events ... ch-FL.html

FM,
when I was in the Military and had a home in Sea Ranch Lakes Ft.Lauderdale I always tried to get to Daytona bike week just to catch up with some of my Brit chums who came out for the experience.

So this one is about what 3 miles south by Ft.L airport wasn't there an MX track down that way back in the ,70's

George:
Yes there was an MX track in Dania until a few yrs. ago & it was in the flight path for the Ft. Laud. airport so noise wasn't a problem. Eventually their lease ran-out and I don't think the land is currently used for anything. Incidentally, my friend Steve St. Clair is from Jersey, and I don't mean with a prefix of "New." He owns a parts house just south of the airport, and has been in-business since the 1970's. They are a good bunch of guys there, & Steve keeps probably $1,000,000+ in inventory in a 10,000 sq. ft. building he constructed. He doesn't have a service department any more, but he does sell/install tires, that's "Newt's" area of expertise. Newt used to be a Yamaha factory mechanic around here, but now only does tires for Steve. They have a wall of helmets 8 ft. high & at least 30 ft. long. They also sell batteries, brake pads, accessories from the aftermarket, all kinds of riding apparel, including boots. I used to use Castrol 'bean oil' I bought here in my weed wacker to remind me of the F1 cars I used to watch @ Watkins Glen, NY in the '60's, where I saw Jim Clark win and also Graham Hill. They filmed part of the movie 'Grand Prix' there, but couldn't obtain rights to the footage & had to cut the scenes thay had planned. The film car was a Ford GT w/a platform on the front in-place of the bodywork, for a camera, I think it was filmed in Panavision.

One time I was at Daytona for Bike Week and was watching the racing along the pit's access point to the 'hot pits.' It was somewhere in the middle of the card, I had friends running, and Britten was there w/2 bikes. I looked to my left and who was standing there, but John Surtees! I did get a chance to speak with him and told him I had seen him racing for Ferrari in F1 in the '60's. He was very polite, we spoke of the cars of the era, and I mentioned the Ferrari 'shark-nose' cars were my favorites (1961). He said, "yes, those were fun to drive but there aren't many left." Ferrari was known to crush his F1 cars at the end of the season to prevent the technology from going elsewhere, he was not sentimental about the machinery.

Yes, Daytona is fun to visit and you can pick & choose activities related to old bikes, vintage racing & etc. w/o much involvement in the 40,000 H-D black t-shirt rider scene, but the people and bike watching is probably unparalleled. Lucky Keizer's 5 litre V-twin (2 cyl's. from a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine he built a bike around, w/ a GMC supercharger & a Rochester Quadrajet on top for 'blow-thru' induction) was one of my favorites; another was what looked to be a Lambretta scooter with a transverse Honda 500 four, turbocharged, sitting in-front of the seat, named, "Menstrual Cycle."

I haven't been to Daytona Bike Week for years, I did 17 in-a-row with a friend, and may go again once he recovers from a shoulder operation.