Not either direction? Squirt a little WD and let set, or possibly back your preload adjusters all the way out and see it that changes, then go back to a good base line setting and record them. Maybe PO bottomed them out tight...mine move almost too easy.
Not either direction? Squirt a little WD and let set, or possibly back your preload adjusters all the way out and see it that changes, then go back to a good base line setting and record them. Maybe PO bottomed them out tight...mine move almost too easy.
Man, I really appreciate that! Thank you! I have been stewing over this all day and I don't know what else to do. I don't want to break anything, obviously. I don't even know how to get any WD-40 down in there enough to penetrate anything either. I don't understand what would cause it to seize up. The bike has always been garaged and only has about 12,000 miles on it.In the off chance that it's slightly corroded (where you can't see it), you could try 'shocking' it - gently tap the top, where the threads are, with a hammer, in the same way you'd try to break loose a carburetor drain screw that hasn't moved in several years. You can also find a small wrench or crescent wrench that fits the flats of the adjuster perfectly, and apply some light rotating pressure at the same time you're gently tapping the top, sometimes the combination will break it loose.
I'm going to go find a diagram of the adjuster as I don't recall what the guts look like from when I rebuilt my forks a few years ago, and see if I have any other ideas for ya.
And yes when I say gentle, I mean very gentle. The adjusters should take very little effort to turn when it's set up properly, and you don't want to damage the needle or seat by hammering on it or applying too much force if it's already bottomed out.Man, I really appreciate that! Thank you! I have been stewing over this all day and I don't know what else to do. I don't want to break anything, obviously. I don't even know how to get any WD-40 down in there enough to penetrate anything either. I don't understand what would cause it to seize up. The bike has always been garaged and only has about 12,000 miles on it.
I had the adjustment issue when I put seals in. Will keep this info for next time. ThanksOK I did a little research and this jogged my memory from when I had my forks apart.
Here's a diagram of a cartridge fork with the rebound adjuster clearly shown (From https://www.racetech.com/articles/cartridgeforks.htm)
View attachment 38002
Essentially the adjuster is just a long rod that changes the location of a tapered needle down in the rebound valving assembly. When this adjuster rod is fully "tightened", the tapered needle is seated and allows no fluid through that orifice. As you "loosen" the adjuster, the tapered needles moves up in the seat allowing progressively more fluid through, quickening the rebound (or decreasing the rebound damping).
The relative location of the needle in the seat is determined by the location of the threaded portion of the adjuster in the fork caps, WHICH IS SET DURING FORK ASSEMBLY! If you do not properly set the rebound adjuster when reassembling your cartridge forks when changing seals/fluid or during an overhaul, the amount of damping adjustment may vary between the forks. I recall that when I reassembled my forks, I had slightly different amounts of damping adjustment, so I disassembled the fork that had less, loosened the jam nut on the fork cap, reset the the rebound adjuster, then reassembled - then I had the proper amount of adjustment available once reassembled.
Here's an excerpt from an old install guide from Traxxion Dynamics:
View attachment 38004
If your forks have been this way since you bought the bike, then my guess is that somebody was in your forks for one reason or another and didn't properly set the rebound adjuster before reassembling it all.
And, learn from my mistake and check that you have the full range of rebound damping adjustment once you have the fork reassembled but before you reinstall the forks in the bike!
Thank you, Wayne. I have done fork maintenance a bit on my cruisers. I should be able to take that cap off and investigate further, no?Don't know if this will help much.
I don't think so. You would need to remove the forks I believe.Thank you, Wayne. I have done fork maintenance a bit on my cruisers. I should be able to take that cap off and investigate further, no?I
OK I did a little research and this jogged my memory from when I had my forks apart.
Here's a diagram of a cartridge fork with the rebound adjuster clearly shown (From https://www.racetech.com/articles/cartridgeforks.htm)
View attachment 38002
Essentially the adjuster is just a long rod that changes the location of a tapered needle down in the rebound valving assembly. When this adjuster rod is fully "tightened", the tapered needle is seated and allows no fluid through that orifice. As you "loosen" the adjuster, the tapered needles moves up in the seat allowing progressively more fluid through, quickening the rebound (or decreasing the rebound damping).
The relative location of the needle in the seat is determined by the location of the threaded portion of the adjuster in the fork caps, WHICH IS SET DURING FORK ASSEMBLY! If you do not properly set the rebound adjuster when reassembling your cartridge forks when changing seals/fluid or during an overhaul, the amount of damping adjustment may vary between the forks. I recall that when I reassembled my forks, I had slightly different amounts of damping adjustment, so I disassembled the fork that had less, loosened the jam nut on the fork cap, reset the the rebound adjuster, then reassembled - then I had the proper amount of adjustment available once reassembled.
Here's an excerpt from an old install guide from Traxxion Dynamics:
View attachment 38004
If your forks have been this way since you bought the bike, then my guess is that somebody was in your forks for one reason or another and didn't properly set the rebound adjuster before reassembling it all.
And, learn from my mistake and check that you have the full range of rebound damping adjustment once you have the fork reassembled but before you reinstall the forks in the bike!
Thanks, that is very helpful!Don't know if this will help much.
Its both forks. Yesterday I went to adjust them. The left one turn slightly (about an 1/8th turn) but never clicked, and then the right one did the same thing. After that I could not budge either one of them in either direction. Weird! I was hoping that upgrading to a newer bike that I wouldn't have to worry about this stuff for awhile. Its a 2017 and had less than 10K on it.Thanks, that is very helpful!
@HeathCreek - I forgot to ask, is it just one fork that is not allowing you to adjust, or both?
Unfortunately, I believe that working on any inverted forks will require you to remove them from the bike. I've done some suspension work on bikes with damper rod forks without removing the forks from the bike, where I either had a drain bolt at the bottom or didn't need to change fluid and it was much easier...
In order to correct this, and assuming you have the right tools, you'd just:
- Remove the forks from the bike
- Follow the service manual procedure to remove the fork cap and get your fork looking like the picture posted by kzz1king, making sure you have plenty of threads between the bottom of the fork cap and the lock nut that's resting on the holder in the pic
- Unscrew the fork cap several turns
- Back the rebound adjuster all the way out
- Slowly turn the rebound adjuster in to the specified number of clicks for your bike (C14 is 11 clicks) *see below
- Screw the fork cap back in until it bottoms out, making sure the rebound adjustment knob doesn't rotate
- Recheck that you still have 11 clicks of rebound damping adjustment
- Finally, tighten the lock nut back up against the bottom of the fork cap, reassemble, and check again that you have the proper range of adjustment
If you need the tools to do this, check out YouTube for some creative DIY solutions, or you can order a kit from Traxxion Dynamics, I bought the kit a few years ago and it worked great, and it should work on any inverted forks that I run into in the future.
*Kawasaki FSM states to measure this based on the distance between the bottom of the fork cap and the top of the adjuster rod after setting the locknut to specific distance from the top of the shaft:
View attachment 38006
I found that when I did mine, it was easier to just bottom it out at "full tight" setting on the adjuster and that got me right where I needed to be. YMMV.
Sorry for the info dump, but hope it was helpful. If this all seems like way too much, a good independent moto shop should be able to fix it pretty easily, and I would guess it would be fairly inexpensive if you bring them the fork(s).
Before taking the forks off the machine I would suggest taking the bike over to your motto friends garage. Let them have a quick whack at turning them.Its both forks. Yesterday I went to adjust them. The left one turn slightly (about an 1/8th turn) but never clicked, and then the right one did the same thing. After that I could not budge either one of them in either direction. Weird! I was hoping that upgrading to a newer bike that I wouldn't have to worry about this stuff for awhile. Its a 2017 and had less than 10K on it.
I am so appreciative of all the help I have received. I will likely just remove my forks and take them to my moto shop who rebuilt the forks on my previous Connie. I haven't dealt with these before and without somebody to walk me through it in person I am afraid I would get in over my head or screw something up. It would be worth it to me to just take my forks in and let the guys with the tools and the experience get them in shape. This is such a mystery.
Before taking the forks off the machine I would suggest taking the bike over to your motto friends garage. Let them have a quick whack at turning them.
I suspect they’ve been way over tightened one way or the other. I do see on one of the pics the plastic outer gear edge looks like a pliers was on it.
Wish I had more for ya.
Wayne
Thanks, that is very helpful!
@HeathCreek - I forgot to ask, is it just one fork that is not allowing you to adjust, or both?
Unfortunately, I believe that working on any inverted forks will require you to remove them from the bike. I've done some suspension work on bikes with damper rod forks without removing the forks from the bike, where I either had a drain bolt at the bottom or didn't need to change fluid and it was much easier...
In order to correct this, and assuming you have the right tools, you'd just:
- Remove the forks from the bike
- Follow the service manual procedure to remove the fork cap and get your fork looking like the picture posted by kzz1king, making sure you have plenty of threads between the bottom of the fork cap and the lock nut that's resting on the holder in the pic
- Unscrew the fork cap several turns
- Back the rebound adjuster all the way out
- Slowly turn the rebound adjuster in to the specified number of clicks for your bike (C14 is 11 clicks) *see below
- Screw the fork cap back in until it bottoms out, making sure the rebound adjustment knob doesn't rotate
- Recheck that you still have 11 clicks of rebound damping adjustment
- Finally, tighten the lock nut back up against the bottom of the fork cap, reassemble, and check again that you have the proper range of adjustment
If you need the tools to do this, check out YouTube for some creative DIY solutions, or you can order a kit from Traxxion Dynamics, I bought the kit a few years ago and it worked great, and it should work on any inverted forks that I run into in the future.
*Kawasaki FSM states to measure this based on the distance between the bottom of the fork cap and the top of the adjuster rod after setting the locknut to specific distance from the top of the shaft:
View attachment 38006
I found that when I did mine, it was easier to just bottom it out at "full tight" setting on the adjuster and that got me right where I needed to be. YMMV.
Sorry for the info dump, but hope it was helpful. If this all seems like way too much, a good independent moto shop should be able to fix it pretty easily, and I would guess it would be fairly inexpensive if you bring them the fork(s).
I should have a range of 12 clicks on both forks when done correctly, right?Take them back, talk to the shop foreman or ask for the owner, and make them do it right.
Also show them the scratch.
Thank you!The number of clicks doesn't mean much. As long as you can close the adjustors all the way clockwise and they feel the same doing so then you're good. Should be a good smooth feel through the clicks and then a good solid stop. At that point you can turn the adjustors ccw 2 to 4 clicks and give it a try. You will never see more than 6 clicks ccw as it will be like a pogo stick. There is only rebound adjustment on stock forks.
Nah. I didn't notice it until months later. I ended up taking the forks off and had a dealer open them up, put them back together properly and in sequence, and got them all fixed up. Took them two tries but it got done. Changed the fork oil while I had them off. Wish I would have done the fork seals, too. During the course of this, I learned a lot about these forks and I think I will try to do fork maintenance myself next time.When I purchased my '10 the right adjuster was stuck. It wouldn't turn either way. It was still under warranty and the PO told me the local Kawa dealer was aware of the issue and had ordered the part. I got ahold of them they eventually replaced the adjuster under warranty. My bike sat on a dealer floor in Florida for a few years before it was purchased by the PO and I'll bet that's where it happened. The adjuster was toast. Did your shop put a new one in or try to rehab the existing adjuster?