Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech damper rod removal?

I bought the progressive fork spring lowering kit, and put the new springs and spacers in, but I need some direction on pulling out the damper rods so that I can put the damper rod springs in. I tried to search, but I can't seem to find instruction.

Help!!

I’m not sure what a “damper” rod is but I recently swapped out my springs. I used a wire coat hanger straightened out and made a little hook to pull out the spacers and the springs.

What I've done to remove mine was:
Locate a broom handle the you can put a taper on the end of.
Pound it down into the damper rod.
Grab hold of it with a large pair of channel locks and loosen the hex bolt on the bottom of the leg.
The reason for this is that the damper rod will try to spin with the bolt loosening.
Some others have had luck using an impact driver on the bottom bolt.

Theres an 8MM hex (or Allen) bolt in the bottom of the fork leg. You need to remove the axle to get to it.
Its easier to "break" the bolt before you remove the springs, fluid, etc..., then remove the spring, remove the bolt and everything else falls out.
If you already have everything apart try inserting the spring, spacer and cap to see if you can still break it.
If not try an impact driver.

Thanks for the help, I see a lot of bikes on the fum with the lowering kit but I had not seen this topic covered. I will try to take some pictures. I have an impact wrench, so I am going to try this method. Does a standard socket with 8mm hex fit in the bottom of the fork leg, or do I need to find a longer one? Thanks for the help.

longer for sure.

How much fork oil goes back in each fork? I see a post that says 19 oz, but when I put in that much it is to much to even fit in the forks. I am guessing that it is 19 oz total for both forks, but I do not like to guess. Thanks

484 cc's dry fill... each fork.

When measuring the 166 mm of air space, is the fork fully compressed or pulled all the way uncompressed?

measure from top of tube with fork fully compressed with the spring left out. they sell a special tool to extract the oil out i used a mighty vac to get the oil out.