I've rebuilt the forks again and went back to the factory springs and solved my problem already, but I'm still curious as to what the actual problem was so I'm posting my issues to see if any conclusions can be made by those here that are smarter in the area then I am. But I'm in no rush for answers because as I said, I've resolved my issue by going back to factory internals.
After finding a faulty fork seal and knowing that I had some slop in the stem bearings I decided to tear down and rebuild my front end (and I never want to do 20 year old 60K mile old steering bearings ever again. The steering neck is a little buggered up and getting the old ones out and the new ones in was more than a challenge) I went with some race tech 1.0kg springs for the front (I weigh in at 230lbs, mom is another 150 and is usually riding with me) to replace the wore out front springs that are fairly bouncy with both of us on the bike and will bottom out on hard braking.
Long story short everything goes together but I had to cut about an inch out of the measured preload spacers to get everything to go back together because I just couldn't get the cartridge side to go together without doing it. I couldn't compress the spring enough. I ended up cutting an inch out of both sides to make sure that I took an even amount of preload out of both.
On my test ride the bike felt wrong.. it was more twitchy to input than my race bike, and it didn't feel stable at all in a corner, it almost felt like it wasn't connected to the road. Braking however was greatly improved and I actually tested emergency braking and brought the rear tire off the ground a couple times trying to get used to the feel. I return home and realize (probably under my emergency braking drills) that the fork seal on the left side had wandered out of its groove when the c clip that holds it failed. No matter I had ordered new ones and kept the old ones so I just took everything apart and put the old one back in. Swapped springs back out to the factory springs that I didn't need to mess with the preload to install and refilled the oil (with the springs out of course)
My question is, do you think it was the fact that I did the fronts and the rear is so worn out that I upset the balance of the bike, do you think it was the fork seal that may not have been set right in the first place that could have caused the ill handling, or do you think it was the fact that I should have used a mathematical equation to figure out how much preload to cut out of each spacer instead of a straight inch out of both that caused both forks to be sprung differently. Or even was it just a horrible combination of two or all three?
Either way the bike is fine now and I'm glad to have her back. I still have some work I need to get done to her, clean the carbs after sitting so long, new fuel, vacuum, and water hoses. I've got all the parts on my shelf, I just wanted to enjoy the tail end of the riding season before it got too cold for mom and I to both enjoy it
After finding a faulty fork seal and knowing that I had some slop in the stem bearings I decided to tear down and rebuild my front end (and I never want to do 20 year old 60K mile old steering bearings ever again. The steering neck is a little buggered up and getting the old ones out and the new ones in was more than a challenge) I went with some race tech 1.0kg springs for the front (I weigh in at 230lbs, mom is another 150 and is usually riding with me) to replace the wore out front springs that are fairly bouncy with both of us on the bike and will bottom out on hard braking.
Long story short everything goes together but I had to cut about an inch out of the measured preload spacers to get everything to go back together because I just couldn't get the cartridge side to go together without doing it. I couldn't compress the spring enough. I ended up cutting an inch out of both sides to make sure that I took an even amount of preload out of both.
On my test ride the bike felt wrong.. it was more twitchy to input than my race bike, and it didn't feel stable at all in a corner, it almost felt like it wasn't connected to the road. Braking however was greatly improved and I actually tested emergency braking and brought the rear tire off the ground a couple times trying to get used to the feel. I return home and realize (probably under my emergency braking drills) that the fork seal on the left side had wandered out of its groove when the c clip that holds it failed. No matter I had ordered new ones and kept the old ones so I just took everything apart and put the old one back in. Swapped springs back out to the factory springs that I didn't need to mess with the preload to install and refilled the oil (with the springs out of course)
My question is, do you think it was the fact that I did the fronts and the rear is so worn out that I upset the balance of the bike, do you think it was the fork seal that may not have been set right in the first place that could have caused the ill handling, or do you think it was the fact that I should have used a mathematical equation to figure out how much preload to cut out of each spacer instead of a straight inch out of both that caused both forks to be sprung differently. Or even was it just a horrible combination of two or all three?
Either way the bike is fine now and I'm glad to have her back. I still have some work I need to get done to her, clean the carbs after sitting so long, new fuel, vacuum, and water hoses. I've got all the parts on my shelf, I just wanted to enjoy the tail end of the riding season before it got too cold for mom and I to both enjoy it