You can definitely remove the cap unless it is captured by the upper triple tree (if it is then just loosen the upper pinch bolts)
Back off the preload all the way
Take the front wheel off so that you are only dealing with one leg at a time
Make sure you are turning the big "nut" on the cap
Now you should be able to pull the cap up - which is attached to the cartridge. If you can't pull it up then give yourself a little help by compressing the fork from the bottom with a jack.
Then you can see the jam nut, put a wrench on fork cap and nut and then get it loose
Spin cap off cartridge rod - may need to gram the rod with a needlenose to keep from spinning

 

In addition to oldjeeps instructions, you can loosen the pinch bolt at the top of the fork tube before loosening the cap nut to make it easier, also if you leave the wheel on and do both sides at the same time jack or block the bike up below the engine. Don't ask me how I learned this!!

 

The cap is off, it's attached to spring, there's a screw holding spring to cap??

Everything is all backed off, like normal.

 

The spring is not attached to the cap. The spring is just sitting between the cartridge and the cap.

 

Got it, pressed down, can see clip, gotta measure other side anyways, so popped that one, now both are exposed. Thanks.

I've only done my 04 strom. This is a little different. 👍

 

If your leak is just the o-ring that is at the cap. Then you don't even need to remove the cap. Just pull the oring over the top and install the new one the same way. smear some Vaseline all over it before installing

 

So you're saying grab this metal tab is the jam nut? Hold with pliers then finish backing all the way out?

Anything going to fly?

 

The jam nut is shown as B in this picture, You need to screw the preload in on the topnut or CapBolt A and the jam nut will be just below it. Right now the jam nut is inside the cap bolt because your preload is all the way out (compare this to your picture ). Loosen the jam nut and the capbolt will unscrew from the rod and you can pull the spacer, spring etc out.

 

Ok, tightened preload in.

So nut is seen through this little hole? Grab that with the needle nose? Must be a proper tool for this?

 

There's this little wire on thread, locked in on one side.

I ignore that eh? Or is that the culprit?

if that is, geez... Talk about pita to get out while turning.

 

What exactly is it that you are trying to fix?

 

Sorry, the pic I posted is from a 2006 Vee. Looks like you might need to check a service manual as that setup is different than I'm used to.

 

I'm trying to measure the oil on right fork, because it didn't leak.

And put equal oil in left fork, that did leak, I drained it, while cleaning seal.

I have this bad feeling, you do the oil adjustment upside down. Which means pulling tire and forks.

 

Oil adjustment is right side up, springs removed and sounds miserable to do on the bike. Take an extra 10 minutes - remove the fork tubes, put it vertically in your vice and do it the easy way. IN the amount of time you have spent so far you would be done and drinking a beer or 6.

 

Ya. The whole point was not to pull. 😂

Well, now everyone knows what's on top and that it appears you can't top off oil via cap.

And knowing is half the battle, G.I. JOE!

Fudge.😜

 

Omg, no holes on bottom like there used to be, there's an inside Allen key. And it looks like its threaded underneath. But Allen key has wrecked some of the threads.

Wtf.

 

K, called my Suzuki mechanic. As there's nada in book and I'm getting a bit frustrated.

So, these are designed to not really be serviced like I'm doing now. Supposed to be a full tear down and oil change. If you get a leak of oil, like I did, clean seals and keep riding. Do not bother trying to top fluid up as these forks are designed, not to lose much oil and the leak I was seeing is nothing more than lubrication.

Everything is done at the top, where I've been originally trying to get apart.

Nothing at bottom to do (Where tire is).

If I can get spring out, oil level is 113mm down tube. Apparently the trick is to push down on cap hard, while backing out.

Volume of oil is 597ml.

I guess see how this goes...

 

K, giving up. I can't get this nut to move at all under any sort of pressure. Must be trick or vice...

Going to plan c or D...

Draining good side, measure, put exact back in.

 

So, pumped piston, short half inch strokes when it stopped coming out, this must not be the lowest point, but, it is a consistent point, I can make a measurement from. All drips caught, maybe 6 drops attached to stuff. Should be 188ml still in there. That's, assuming, it was filled correctly to begin with, the stuff thats been wrong from factory. Probably not. 😆

One tasty beverage. 🍻

Second line from top.

 

Double post

 

If it was me I'd just drain the oil and refill with the quantity and not bother with measuring the height. Seriously, a few MM variation either way in oil height will not matter.

 

I thought about this, but, I don't know how sensitive this new design is, nor how much oil came out. I did see one drip of oil fall, just walking around the bike. If I cared to hang for second drip, then time it out, maybe? But then I don't know when it started and it does leak more with useage or heat. So, end of day. Could have been empty inside. Who knows without dipping. 👍

After talking to mechanic and this whole pita. I would have just cleaned seal and kept riding.

Good knowledge derived from situ for others though.😁

 

You have USD forks so things are different, there is a bolt running through the system to keep things in place (best description I could think of right now)

The easy way is to get a spring compressor, you need to pull down the white plastic tube in your photos so you can get to the lock nut and cap nut at the same time.

Race Tech Fork Spring Compressor Tool TFSC 01 : Amazon.com.au: Automotive

I would think there would be something on YouTube to help you

I built my own from some PVC pipe, 2 L shaped brackets hooked into the holes in that plastic tube and 2 ratchet straps, while it does work it's not easy and would recommend to proper tool but that will require removing the forks.

If you know how much in volume you want to put in you can use a syringe.

 

Ah... See that makes sense. So you press on the white pvc plastic?

Not that it's happening now, but I do need to put in a stronger spring at some point.

So what's the point of the holes? Once you tighten the pre whatever, the nut becomes visible, like, that's what the holes seem to be for.

As for doing by volume. I guess I could take off and shake out, but I was trying to cheat and make it simple. I've torn this bike apart too much the last week and a bit. Was a bit choked noticing the oil from the one shock. Just shy 15k km.

 

The holes are for the spring compressor tool to hook into.

If you zoom in on my link you will see one rod coming up from underneath to go in one hole and a bolt on the top to screw down into the other hole.

On the end of the tool is a big nut, as that is spun the spring is compressed creating a gap between the plastic tube and the fork cap.

Some conventual forks have a similar set up but getting to the lock nut can be easier with a thin spanner, USD forks are just that much harder again.

 

So, designed not to be messed with.

Sounds right.👍

So... With the way it works, you want the pretension all the way up, so there's less pressure and the nut to break it off, exposed faster then?

Lemme sleep on it, I think you can break it apart faster, while it's still hooked to triple tree. Providing there was enough weight on the front to necessitate the sliding of the pvc.

Just off top of head, a tool that clamps to handle bar location, then inserts dowels into the plastic holes as they are exposed. Then you release your Jack under the skid plate. Add more pressure if you need. Should do the same idea.

Sure hope the fjr is easier to separate.

 

Sorry - I just realized you can't drain the old oil out because you have the forks still on the bike. You might have to take the plunge and pull the forks off.

 

Yea. Gotta pull to get every drop.

If everything was accurate to begin with(volume correct).

I only got 409ml from the bottom adjuster. Which leaves shy almost 190g of the shippy ship. Which will be the crud. Probably the spacer for all the ship to stay in bottom and not in active, like a fuel tank.

But I didn't want to replace, just top up and ensure I'm within spec. Wasn't expecting such a learning ordeal. 😂

What's weird, there must be quite the cup on the inside, take a look at photo, this is where I drained from.

Hard to say there is half a red cup(shy of half of what I extracted) sitting there when it appears to be the lowest point. Maybe that's the safety point?

But, if you like doing a quick exchange of fluid every once in a while and are lazy, I'd say this is still a decent cheat to doing properly.

 

Later 1000 bikes you can't. It can be done but there's a clip in there that has to be removed first, quite hard to do, really easy to screw up . Avoid if at all possible.

650's yes, at least until Suzuki update the forks from damper rod to cartridge style.

Draining the oil, my plan was take the front wheel off, put the axle back in, lower the legs one at a time and tilt forward until the top is below the lower and leave to drain. Possibly rinse with something, drain again. Refit fork leg, pour in known volume of oil and call it good. That's not ideal and I haven't done it yet but that's the plan.

 

Kerosene seems to be the great cleaner for this stuff.

After doing this, the way you're wanting to do, you would have to work them quite a bit to clean.

Hate to say it, but the best way would be full tear down. The aluminum will head to bottom, you can flush some but not all. Probably would be easier to do flush if plug was in absolute bottom. But clearly it isn't. Or, they didn't put spec in my good shock. In which case, I'm topping 2/3 up. 😆

 

I just read the service manual around this - it goes to great lengths to say you have to remove all air bubbles from the inner damper rod when you refill the oil so it looks like it's a forks off job. It says to move the damper rod up and down at least 10 times to remove all air.

 

Ya, I was betting there's some bs like that where you get air in and it won't come out.

Too late meow. If it's that bad, I'll flip and pump, but, hopefully it works the air out.

I dunno. It would make sense, that installing the forks like this now, that air does eventually bleed out on its own. Otherwise, it's extremely poor engineering. Which sounds right for engineers. 😁

On the other hand, if you're reading this in manual. Good on ya. Because they cut that whole section out for a 1050.

 

Well, the Suzuki mechanic that looked up this on his Suzuki system, says there's two ways. You're right, height is what I wanted, but he said the volume is supposed to end up being 597ml. This would be, because it's simpler for all the shocks to get volume during manufacturing, rather than inspecting height. As for bubbles, if they're designing to make easier, would make sense that they bleed out. I pumped them one at a time after filling, no sucking air sounds. I'm hoping, it cleared them when I was testing out last night. Suspension seems really good. I had come across two posts where, 50ml was subtracted. I split it and put 25ml less.

I didn't want to change fluid, just ensue the leaky fork was topped up.

After trying to tear this thing apart, I think this style shock is made simpler in some respects, as there is nothing to do on the bottom of the shock. Which is why I think it was designed to bleed out during use. It would be stupid not to have it bleed out during normal use. Also, if it didn't bleed out during normal use, what happens if your oil aerates for some reason? A smarter/simpler design would address both those issues.

15-32 on diagram might be where that missing fluid is.

https://www.bike-parts-suz.com/parts/img_big

So far, seems better than before. 👍

Sure wished I found this yesterday.

getting air out of suzuki fork cartridge - Google Search

If this shock is like that one, it's purged the way I did it, not upside down.