Race Tech Gold Valve, Springs, Adjustable Fork Caps upgrade

Gus1300

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Got my '04 buttoned back up recently from the Race Tech upgrade I bought back in March. In case anyone is interested, this was the first time into the forks, steering head, and valve check for me. Also first time having the front wheel off myself. Pretty straightforward but I'll highlight a few areas where the common sense side of the house didn't quite prevail. As always, recommend getting the service manual and becoming familiar with the pages/pictures that deal with the area of interest for your project at the time. Some of the pictures are basic, but I find it helps sometimes to know what to expect if you haven't 'been there, done that' yet so pictures as things came apart is where I'll start things off:

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Here's a comparison of the left and right forks (as viewed from the front), which is why I decided to go ahead and do this swap now. Started to see some fluid on the left fork and wasn't sure how much was still inside or what shape it was in. The wheel was getting coated as well. All indications that there was something amiss. No, I didn't use the 35mm film trick or the commercial product for helping to clear the seals. In my mind, if the fluid was getting that high up, it was time to put my well earned money (and well spent on the RC kit!) to good use.

The fender comes off fairly straightforward. The reflector clips have to be loosened for the bolt heads to clear, or removed entirely. I just loosened them. While it was off I put on my STuffSTopper...great product, went on perfect and so far has done the job...highly recommended if you're out of farkle ideas.

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I removed the right side delay valve and crossover lines first; when it all went together, I think it would be easier in sequence to do the left brake hose clamp first but the manual says otherwise. Just be careful because there isn't very much clearance on the right side to get to the bolt heads with the hard lines there.

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The forks come out just like the manual says. It does help to loosen the top pinch bolts and loosen the caps while still mounted on the bike. Mine weren't tight at all and came loose easily. I took a picture of how high the forks were mounted; it appeared they were just flush with the top bridge so that's where they went back on at too. Once the pinch bolts are removed, the forks slide right out. I had all the plastic off already but it's been said here that you can do this job without removing any. It will be more difficult to get to the bolts, but it can be done. To me it's not that hard to remove the plastic and it also gives me a chance to take a look around inside to check for wire chaffing, etc while it's off. You can see there is also a spot on the radiator where it looks like fluid has been blown onto it on the left side of the bike.

I don't have a stand so just put the bike up on the center stand and blocked up the front end to remove the wheel. Be aware that with the forks also gone, there isn't enough weight forward and the bike will settle onto the rear wheel. I don't recommend removing the supports though because you never know when work pressure will cause a shift back in the forward direction and it would be a bad thing to pivot onto the floor with the wheel and forks gone! Mine shifted back onto the wood blocks several times during the project.

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When you remove the caps, the upper part of the fork will easily slide down. There shouldn't be any fluid loss at this point as the forks are filled with the upper tubes at their lowest position. Below the cap is the spacer and spring; some tension may be required to get wrench clearance onto the nut at the top of the damper.

I took pictures and measured the fluid that was removed from both sides for comparison but they were relatively equal at about 400ml. Don't know what the level measurement was upon disassembly; didn't remember, or really care, to measure it at that point but I did expect the left would have less fluid than the right, which wasn't the case.

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The fork protectors pry off easily; they are indexed and with the shield facing forward in 'protection' mode, they can't be installed incorrectly.

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So off with the cap and then the spacer comes out. The spring is farther down, ie more difficult to reach, so the fluid got poured out at this point. Removing the bolt at the bottom of the fork (through the axle hole) wasn't as difficult as some have experienced. It felt like it was torqued properly and popped loose. Both oil locks slid right off the dampers for me, no issues there.

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And they're removed by taking out a wire clip at the bottom of the damper. I found that pushing it in slightly to get it out of the grove, then just grabbing it and pulling it out was easiest. Just reverse the process on the rebuild. It snaps back into place nicely when you're ready.

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Here's what the bottoms of the forks look like with the clips, bottom valves, damper valves still installed on the damper rods and the damper tube to the left. The second picture shows the same things, just from a little more distant perspective. The top one is still 'assembled', the bottom is dissected a little further for relational viewing.

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Enter the Race Tech kit!! The valves in my kit, and I assume any future kit, were already built up for the ST1300 and were labeled C and R and packaged as sets. There was little guessing as to which went where but just to prevent confusion, I did only open one package at a time during the rebuild to prevent getting things wrong. The bottom valves and damper valves go together into the same fork as a set so there is potential for screwing this one up. Race Tech recommends using the right fork for rebound and the left for compression so that's what I went with.

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Some of the other articles talk about having to grind off the bottom nut to remove the valve stack. I did this on the first but it's not required with this kit because you just hold the rod and unscrew the valve assembly in its entirely. The dimple in the aluminum doesn't cause any distress, neither does the threadlock. Just don't crimp the tube while you're holding it. I jury rigged a clamped block with a hole drilled in it and also had to put a wrench on the other end (that is under the cap with the nut...) to hold it. I think the aluminum block is used for this but that didn't occur to me at the time so I made it work another way - improvise, adapt, overcome!

The right hand picture above shows the old damper valve (bottom), the new gold valve (installed with thread lock) and the needle that goes inside the tube down into the valve for the adjusting rod to work on. The o-rings for the needles were in my kit. However there were no o-rings for the bottom valves so I reused the ones from the stock valves. Louie said there should have been some in the kit but I took pictures of it right out of the box and there aren't any in the photos...so I didn't lose them in the 6 mos it took to get around to the install. Check for them or you'll have to find suitable replacements to finish the installation.

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Here are both ends of the damper assemblies with the oil caps back on and the adjusting rods installed. Notice in the picture from farther away the 'new' holes in the compression damper. The instructions say to drill 4 1/4" holes at the top of the damper cartridge. This cartridge now becomes the compression cartridge and needs to go into the left (in my case) fork. Yet another reason why I did one completely at a time so the valves would end up in the right place.

To take the upper tubes out of the lower forks, there is a snapring and seal, then the tube pulls out to reveal the bushings. There is a backup ring just under the oil seal, then a slider bushing and a fork tube bushing. Mine looked like they were ok so I didn't do any replacements here.

That's the end of the pictures (guess I had more than 30). The pictures are also in my album if you want to see the tube bushings and disassembly pics.

Reassembly was straightforward. The oil I used was Honda (red) SS-8 10wt, filled to 130mm. I put one washer under the spring and one on top before the spacer for preload, and because the instructions said to use one on either end of the spring; the spacers are already the correct length for the ST1300 when ordered, according to Race Tech. So far I'm still tweaking the preload and valves. The bike seems a bit 'jumpier' than I remember it being but hadn't ridden it for a couple months before I started the project. It also seems to 'hunt' a bit more than I remember but I suspect that's related more to the steering bearing change than the forks. All in all, a straightforward job. Now comes the hard part of getting it right for my 'ride' and enjoying knowing that I did it myself and can adjust things as required, should they need it. Don't be afraid to dig in on your own! This site, the service manual and the members are all here to help you and answer questions as you go. And in my opinion, the more you can wrench on your own ride, the better off you'll be for knowing how it ticks and how it should feel going down the road. While the forks were off I did my first (bike's second) valve check as well. Now it's back to working toward my first mileage award, hopefully before the end of the year.
 
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mlheck

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The instructions I had said to use 5 wt. oil. I also used Honda Pro Superslick fork oil. The heavy oil may be why it feels jumpier.

Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk 2
 

GaryRivers67

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Great info, so how do you like it now? What are the changes you made and how well does the adjustments work?
 
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super job. just a "maybe" on the jumping thing: re-do the front wheel tightening sequence. That cured the "jumps" when I did my front end. I theorize that if that is a tiny smidge off, it's enough to make the front end behave oddly - only takes a few moments, can't hurt, might help.

:)
 
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Reassembly was straightforward. The oil I used was Honda (red) SS-8 10wt, filled to 130mm. I put one washer under the spring and one on top before the spacer for preload, and because the instructions said to use one on either end of the spring; the spacers are already the correct length for the ST1300 when ordered, according to Race Tech. So far I'm still tweaking the preload and valves. The bike seems a bit 'jumpier' than I remember it being but hadn't ridden it for a couple months before I started the project. It also seems to 'hunt' a bit more than I remember but I suspect that's related more to the steering bearing change than the forks. All in all, a straightforward job. Now comes the hard part of getting it right for my 'ride' and enjoying knowing that I did it myself and can adjust things as required, should they need it. :STOC::popcorn :well1: Hey Gus1300... How about updates and opinions. Can you tell us what you felt, and how you adjusted to make it feel better.?:chat1::rd13:
 
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Gus1300

Gus1300

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Sorry guys...been doing honey-dos and other things rather than updating the post. I suspect the front wheel tightening sequence may need to be redone. When I attempted to do it in the correct order, the axle hadn't been 'pulled' fully into alignment so I had to do that first, then loosen/tighten in the right order. Will try it again starting from the beginning and see if that corrects the 'jumpiness' and the slight right track. Overall there seems to be a bit more looseness in the front end; ie when 'disturbed' from a steady position, it tends to hunt a bit more than I remembered it doing before. Again, not sure I tightened the steering bearing as much as I should have/could have but haven't been back in to do anything with it yet. The adjustable valves are very noticeable in that while there aren't any 'clicks' as the instructions mention, it doesn't take much to notice a change in the 'feel' and you can mess with both sides to get a different ride each time you get on the bike. Since most of my riding is getting to/from work I haven't messed with them much except to tighten them both down a bit to the point where I could feel them working and then backed off just a tad. I am by no stretch a suspension expert (could barely even spell it correctly just now!) so will continue to 'mess with it' and see what happens. I do recommend the upgrade if you're so inclined, in my case it was just to get the system adjustable so I could figure out what it did and how it felt. Which I am still doing.

On a side note...does anybody running the new/bigger CBR rear flange bearing notice a 'roughness' when the bike is in a lean? My old ones were totally shot when I replaced them and now I'm a little concerned about what's causing the noticeable difference between upright and tilted to one side in a turn. Didn't replace any wheel bearings yet as they were all good front and rear while I had the wheels off. Any thoughts?
 
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mlheck

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The second thing I would do after checking the wheel tightening is to check your preload on the front. The sag numbers need to be in the ballpark before you start making adjustments to anything else. Both Racetech and Sonic recommend 36mm of ridder sag for the ST. You should have had about a 1" gap between the top of the tube and the bottom of the the fork cap before you installed the caps. This puts you close to where you need to be to get the correct sag. To much preload will cause many of the issues you are having. I used .95kg springs when I did mine and had to cut some of the spacer off. The heavier the spring, the less spacer you will need.

Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk 2
 
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Gus1300

Gus1300

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Thanks, I'll do that. Didn't have an additional body around to help keep me from falling over while checking the sag. The preload looked correct before I tightened up the caps but I did put about one full rotation on the adjusters once the caps were installled. I'll maybe try backing them off and see if that helps. Thanks for the advice. To me, so far anyway, most of this suspension stuff is new. Probably swamp gas, mirrors and sfetzer valve combinations make it all work!
 
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Saw your how to I am installing race tech springs. I did not receive a spacer instead several washers perhaps to use as spacers. Do you know what the correct length of the spacer is supposed to be?
 

mlheck

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Saw your how to I am installing race tech springs. I did not receive a spacer instead several washers perhaps to use as spacers. Do you know what the correct length of the spacer is supposed to be?
The spacers are for fine tuning the preload. You will have to cut the stock spacer if you didn't receive one. The heavy duty grey PVC pipe makes a good spacer also. A good place to start is to lay the stock spring and spacer next to the new spring and cut the spacer so that the overall length is the same for both. If you use PVC add one the washers to both ends and subtract their thickness from the length of the spacer.
 
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Gus1300

Gus1300

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Came back to this post because this next time being into the forks (Jan 2024) after doing the above upgrade, the left fork's bottom socket bolt is just spinning in the piece it inserts into and I'm at a loss as to how to get that inside piece to not rotate so I can back the bolt out. The service manual says to temporarily reassemble everything but that didn't seem to make a difference yet in my case.

Any ideas? I haven't reached out to Race Tech yet to see if they have any suggestions, but will if I can't figure something out by the end of next weekend. On a timeline for getting everything back together!
 

Sadlsor

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Came back to this post...
Without going to the trouble of actually looking, I'll go out on a limb and say this has to be one of the longest return intervals, from first to last by the same original poster. Over 11 years.
Wish I could help with your bottom bolt on that fork, but I got nothin'.
I'm thinking RaceTech has some helpful ideas.
 

STRider

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Came back to this post because this next time being into the forks (Jan 2024) after doing the above upgrade, the left fork's bottom socket bolt is just spinning in the piece it inserts into and I'm at a loss as to how to get that inside piece to not rotate so I can back the bolt out. The service manual says to temporarily reassemble everything but that didn't seem to make a difference yet in my case.

Any ideas? I haven't reached out to Race Tech yet to see if they have any suggestions, but will if I can't figure something out by the end of next weekend. On a timeline for getting everything back together!
When I was trying to replace the seals on our 650 VStrom the damper retaining bolt would spin too. Suzuki has a tool for this which has a knurled cone on the end of a shaft. The cone end is inserted into the fork leg and jammed into the top of the damper rod preventing it from rotating while turning that bolt.

This may work... or not. There are similar tools out there which appear to offer the same function.

What does the top of the damper rod look like? Is there a hex or square recess that such a tool could engage?

This one has a square cross-section and appears to have a 3/8" square drive so it would be attached to the end of a long extension to use.

 
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You can remove the fork leg from the bike - loosen the top cap before you loosen the clamp bolts. Once you take the cap off - I did this before I loosened the screw at the bottom of the fork leg, I think you can push/pull or grip the rod and prevent the lower part from turning. With the cap off, you can pour the oil out, collapse the fork and grip the rod more securely.

I'm not sure if all what I wrote above is possible, it has been years since I've been inside an ST's forks.

Edit: Ahhhh Hahhh! How many times have I said, "When all else fails, read the instructions..."? I just pulled my manual out. It shows removing the fork leg from the bike, removing the cap, removing the spring and pouring the oil out the top of the now open fork leg. Place the lower leg in a vise, and remove the lower screw and sealing washer. A note in the left margin says, "If the fork dampener turns together with the socket bolt, temporarily install the fork spring, spring seat, spring collar and fork cap."

So I guess the fork leg has to be out of the bike in order to remove that bolt. BTW, my bolt spun too, but iirc, I chucked an adapter in my cordless drill, snapped on a straight allen wrench and used the drill to spin the screw out.
 
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STRider

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You can remove the fork leg from the bike - loosen the top cap before you loosen the clamp bolts. Once you take the cap off - I did this before I loosened the screw at the bottom of the fork leg, I think you can push/pull or grip the rod and prevent the lower part from turning. With the cap off, you can pour the oil out, collapse the fork and grip the rod more securely.

I'm not sure if all what I wrote above is possible, it has been years since I've been inside an ST's forks.

Edit: Ahhhh Hahhh! How many times have I said, "When all else fails, read the instructions..."? I just pulled my manual out. It shows removing the fork leg from the bike, removing the cap, removing the spring and pouring the oil out the top of the now open fork leg. Place the lower leg in a vise, and remove the lower screw and sealing washer. A note in the left margin says, "If the fork dampener turns together with the socket bolt, temporarily install the fork spring, spring seat, spring collar and fork cap."

So I guess the fork leg has to be out of the bike in order to remove that bolt. BTW, my bolt spun too, but iirc, I chucked an adapter in my cordless drill, snapped on a straight allen wrench and used the drill to spin the screw out.
Yep, not surprising. However for those of us without a bench vise you can do all of this with the fork in the triple clamp. That's how I've accomplished this service on all of my bikes to date. I haven't had the pleasure with the 1300 however and I don't know how the Race Tech hardware impacts these choices. Re-insert the front axle to prevent the slider from rotating on the stanchion while turning that bolt.
 

STRider

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Yikes, how can people live in this world without a vise?:rofl1: But you are right, the clamps on the steering head will hold the fork leg securely.
I'm doing my best!

To others following this sad tale of inadequate shop equipment... When it's time to loosen the cap, be sure to loosen the upper pinch bolts that squeeze that section of the stanchion tube. Keep the lower pinch bolts tight.

Bench vise not to be confused with a Miami Vise... :rofl1:

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The bottom socket bolt can be a complete pain. It is stuck in with threadlock at the factory and after many years this will be rock-hard. Heating the head of the bolt may well help loosen the threadlock.

The bolt threads into the damper base, and that is a cylindrical piece held in the damper tube by a circlip and an o-ring seal. The damper base can turn inside the damper tube, and the damper tube itself can also spin as the only thing stopping that is the spring pushing it down into the bottom of the fork leg.

A rattle gun (pneumatic or electric) is definitely your best friend at this point, even a cheapie that you might only use once.

If you can push something down onto the top of the damper (e.g. a hollow broomstick) you can stop that turning and that might be enough to break the bolt free. You can also pull up hard on the damper rod which will pull the damper base harder onto the circlip and add some friction.

Good luck Mr Phelps.
 
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