Spring upgrade; How to lift the front end?

[Juan_Banjovy]

My Sonic 1.0 fork springs arrived & I'm in the process of putting them in. Right now my old springs are out so the forks are bottomed out. I need to take weight off the front wheel to lengthen the forks enough to cram in the spacers & new springs. There's no frame to put a jack under. Can I put the jacks under the engine cases to lift the front end or will that damage it? Thanks for any help.

[Mr.Metal]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the correct process along the lines of:

1. Remove wheel
2. Remove fork
3. Take out old spring, empty out fork of old oil by "pumping it"
4. Put in new (different weight?) oil and new springs
5. Re-assemble

:?:

I'm assuming you have a centerstand? If so, you can put a jack under the bike to tilt it onto the rear wheel. Alternatively, you can attach rope to the handlebars and suspend it from your garage ceiling.

[Juan_Banjovy]

OK, I've got the front wheel 2" off the ground now. How do you cram the spacers & springs onto the forks if you only weigh 250 pounds? Is there a trick to it? Just doing springs now, will have dealer do fork oil another time. Do I need to remove the front wheel & forks for this if I'm not changing the oil?

[Juan_Banjovy]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the correct process along the lines of:

1. Remove wheel
2. Remove fork
3. Take out old spring, empty out fork of old oil by "pumping it"
4. Put in new (different weight?) oil and new springs
5. Re-assemble

:?:

I'm assuming you have a centerstand? If so, you can put a jack under the bike to tilt it onto the rear wheel. Alternatively, you can attach rope to the handlebars and suspend it from your garage ceiling.

I think you're right. Looks like there's no shortcuts to doing this upgrade. Tomorrow, the front end comes off & I hope it's rideable by Monday.

[Scarlett Harlot]

When we replaced mine last year the bike was on the center stand and some weight was placed on the seat and luggage rack. A jack was placed under the engine and the front came up beautifully. You can replace the springs only but changing the fork oil is easy enough to do and is an important component for getting the results you want when upgrading the suspension.

Try doing a search on this as there are many posts with lots of pictures and helpful details. The job takes about 2 to 3 hours.

[FastEddie]

Do yourself a favor and buy a PitBull stand. There is a special one that lifts the front end from the steering tube, leaving you free to remove the forks from the triple clamp and do all of your rebuilding on your work bench. I bought Sonic springs and will be doing the same exercise.

[Mr.Metal]

Try doing a search on this as there are many posts with lots of pictures and helpful details. The job takes about 2 to 3 hours.

I think my searching skills are off today, as I can't find any HOWTO/Installation threads. Does anyone have a link handy? I'm curious to see what I'll be getting myself into.

[Scarlett Harlot]

Well Mr Metal it is not just your search skills, I can't find it either. I can't even locate my posts on how I replaced my springs. I basically followed the service manual's instructions for removing the front wheel and forks. Then it is a simple matter of unscrewing the fork caps and draining out the old oil, adding new oil and then dropping in the new springs and spacers.

I recommend the Sonic Springs as they are an excellent product and come with good instructions and some replacement washers. I used the original washers for the bottom of the springs and used the ones supplied by Sonic for the top.

If you want more details just PM me

[FastEddie]

Make sure you loosen the top clamp on the triple clamp before you try to remove the spring cap or else there is a good chance you will bugger up the threads.

[Juan_Banjovy]

Well, I got all my tools, thought it through & realized this will be much easier than I made it to be. I couldn't get the spacers & springs stuffed in because the forks collapsed when I removed the caps. I should have lifted the front BEFORE removing the caps. Bought a hoist today from Northern Tool & Appliance, but it's non-functional so I'll be exchanging it tomorrow. With that done, I'll wrap this up & be riding again. ;)

[Mr.Metal]

Thanks for the details! I watched my friend (pro mechanic) replace the springs on my cruiser, so I figured the process would be very similar. I think I'm up to doing it myself. Now I just need a Wee ;)

[Juan_Banjovy]

Got it done. But, it's raining now! :sad: Yeah, I'm a fair weather rider I guess. I don't mind rain, just hate lightening when I'm out in the open. Anyway, it was easy to do once I got a working hoist. Springs & spacers dropped right in. Used Silkolene 15 wt synthetic fork oil. Supposed to rain again tomorrow. Ah well, I guess the lawn needed it.