Seals are a bugger to get to on USD forks like ours. You have to have at least a couple of special tools or fabricate your own. The holding tool for retaining the damper assembly down inside the fork is the hardest, but many of us have made a homemade tool for this. Sometimes you can just hit the damper holding bolt on the exterior on the bottom of the fork with a good air impact wrench, but sometimes the damper inside will spin no matter what you do. IMO the rear shock is actually easier to break open and work on than the fork.

 

First thing is to thank John at Moto Pro for getting me the perfect springs for my SF.

Just fitted the .52/kg/mm fork springs & they have stopped the diving & given me back the correct ride height & sag, as i have now removed the massive 1.25inch temporary spacers i had installed to help stop the diving but they did make me ride almost on top of the suspension!! Put some new 5wt oil in while the forks were off & set the clickers to 7 from firmest & it's actually quite a nice firm but fair plush ride now.

These springs will fit any SF (D-Tracker) perfectly.


The spring thickness side by side comparison was nice to see before fitting. Left are the 0.52's & right are the originals. Coils looked thicker in real life & felt much firmer to compress by hand.


Can't stop riding like a nutter at the moment with lots of slamming the brakes on!! For a 230lbs man, this makes for klx fast riding almost magical....finally :-)

 

Good one Joel,glad its all coming together. Post some pics of that Bad *** Kwaka.
I am waiting for John to send another set of springs. Last pair were too soft.

 

We are about the same weight (a little bit lighter) and I run .44's from Moto-Pro. On asphalt, there is a huge difference. Stock, which I think is .38, I would get a lot of front end dive when applying moderate front braking. In panic stops I had to release pressure to keep the back from lifting. Stock, with my weight shifted as far back as possible, I could lift the rear easily on clean pavement. I never could ride sand very well.

Then I swapped springs to the .44's. I can brake much harder without unweighting the rear. In true panic stops with a handful of brake the rear will get light. Off-road, getting rid of the pogo stick effect really helped my riding. Sane is much easier to traverse now.

If you are not happy with the .42's, I would go to the .46's. Your riding conditions must be much more agressive since the .42's didn't work for you.

 

At 190 I run .49's and a 6.4 shock. The fork valving is so open the bleed (what you adjust) has to be almost closed off. This adjuster is called comp on the fork leg but also effects rebound. With it out past say 8 it's like riding all spring- no dampening, I'm at about 3 or 4. (10w atf in mine)

the shock valving is sort of the same way but not quite so bad. Think I'm about 7 or 8 on comp and reb, but carry a screwdriver and futz with it,

 

Its been pretty bad rain here this month, so not cleaned her for a while! When the weather clears up i will post some pics, graham.

After one week of hammering around the streets like a Moto hooligan, enjoying plenty of late hard braking with the new .52 springs. I noticed with the correct ride height again on my bike, the "KLX speed wobble of death" was very noticeable at high speeds....HHHmmm i thought...

Is it the ride height?? Well i had measured about 1/2inch (10mm) excess sag in suspension height & thought i would fit five 1.5inch diameter across stainless steel washers in the pre-load.

Five of these washers stacked measure about 1/2inch (10mm) & sorted out the ride height & got rid of the extra unnecessary sag....GREAT, my forks are now 100% perfect in ride/height/sag/not diving/comfort/racing etc etc BUT to my surprise that 1/2inch (10mm) has almost completely got rid of, the high speed "KLX speed wobble of death".......which makes me double happy!!!

Just goes to show if you f@ck around long enough with all the suspension settings, eventually you will stumble across the perfect stiffness & geometry!!

 

I had same issue with stock setup. Adjusting the stock setting from 12 clicks down to 4 resolved the issue completely for me. I carry a screwdriver with me, so I can stop and adjust the damping before I hit the trails.

YMMV, as I have read that several folks seem to get (zero) benefit when adjusting their fork settings. Mine happens to be VERY responsive, as I would expect them to be. I would have to believe that those who get no effects from damping adjustments have *defective forks*.

 

You're going to fall on that screwdriver you're carrying around on your next crash. Well...probably not, but it's an urban legend story that's fun to perpetuate.

I agree that the OEM compression adjuster does make a change. You didn't mention which direction you went on that "4" setting...from fully open or fully closed? Still the OEM compression piston does such a poor job of oil flow that it's almost a moot point.

 

Thanks for the tip (no pun intended). I think I'll just grind the screwdriver tip flat, so it won't hurt me the next time I crash... Heck, I may even start carrying it in my tool bag, instead of my front pant pocket!

Clicks reference was "out" from fully seated. Going from 4 to 12 is a huge, huge, huge difference on my bike!

4 clicks out is like riding on a brick in the bed of an F-250; 12 clicks out is like riding on a stack of pillows inside a Cadillac Escalade (or in a Toyota Tundra... same mushy ride).

 

Ok all good again. Got the .46 springs from Moto Pro and just took a quick spin. Feels much better. The nasty diving under braking is now under control. Will take it for a solid mountain ride in the morning. Thanks to John from Moto Pro suspension for excellent service.