Fork bottoming out at half travel

[Will3554]

Thank you to everyone that helped out, I really appreciate it. I'll update after I take it back to the shop. They are closed on mondays, hopefully they dont get shut down from the craziness going on before then. Thanks again everyone,

 

[Gary in NJ]

The good news is that this is a simple repair. The forks are disassembled, the damping rod is removed from the lower santion, the seal removed, and the upper and lower sections are split. There is an inner and outer bushing and my guess is that they are binding. If the shop had properly pumped the forks when they changed the oil they would have caught this. My guess is that they never bothered to remove the forks from the bike when "servicing" them and replacing the leaky seals.

The other good news...you took the time to do the "hard" work that the shop didn't want to do. And now you know, there's nothing hard about it.

 

[Will3554]

The worst part is I took them the forks already removed from the bike lol.

 

[Gary in NJ]

Really? Is there another shop you can go to?

 

[Will3554]

Yeah theres another shop nearby, they kinda specialize in dirtbikes but work on everything. I know hardcore offroad guys are constantly changing out fork oil and rebuilding forks so I'll give them a shot.

 

[Gary in NJ]

Independent dirt bike shops have seen it all. Heck a few years back a valve seat removed itself from my tractor on Saturday morning. I removed the head and brought to RRP Cycle and asked if they might be able to help. Not only could he help, he had it done in about 10 minutes, for $20. I was back to cutting the lawn an hour later.

Dirt bike shops = mechanic + machine shop + problem solvers + therapist

 

[Will3554]

Quick update:
So after searching around on facebook marketplace I found a killer deal on a set of 03 r6 forks and brakes. Did an all balls tapered head bearing conversion while it was apart. Just got it mostly wrapped up today minus flushing the front brakes and my r6 axle comes in friday (I currntly have the fz6 axle as a temporary place holder just holding it all together) I'm also ordering the amazon/chinese naked conversion for it tomorrow.

 

[Gary in NJ]

Excellent - you went all in. You’ll be much happier with the R6 shocks...and 5 inches of fork travel. You won’t miss the fairing either.

 

[FinalImpact]

If you check the bikes sag and get more than 12 mm you can't adjust it out, either replace the springs or get it close to 10 mm and add about 1.25" of extra oil.

It will increase the damping rate of the worn out R6 springs. Good luck.