ST1100 Fork Oil Change

Joined
Jul 28, 2007
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3,120
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finger lakes ny
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1999 ST1100
STOC #
7959
One trick is to take out the spring and mark on the cap and fork tube where the thread start to engage. That helps you to know where to start turning while you're holding the cap down.
I've only had fork caps off a couple times, but this was a hugely helpful tip.
 
Joined
Jul 28, 2007
Messages
3,120
Location
finger lakes ny
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1999 ST1100
STOC #
7959
Loosening top triple clamps releases pinch pressure at top of fork for easy cap removal;).
Brant, for me that tip of marking the tube and cap wasn't used for loosening. It was to find where the threads engaged, to help prevent potential cross threading.
 
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Jun 8, 2007
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Ravensdale, WA
Hi Dwalby, It was impossible for me to press the spring down in the right fork far enough to slip the collar in. Without the spacer, easy. With the 3-inch spacer, way very much no. Had another local STer over (Dave) and even together we couldn't get it. Yes, I upgraded to progressive springs (and found out the originals are already wound tighter at one end, so I expect little difference in the ride), but side by side their compression takes about the same amount of force by hand. Dave and I took the fork apart, had the Clymer's in front of us, and everything's in installed correct. Sunday I bolted the fork upright to my workbench, mounted a steel L-bracket on a 2x4, and used a hydraulic jack pushing against an overhead beam to force the spring down enough for the washers, spacer, and collar in. Now the spring is compressed so tight that I can't even get a needle-nose plier in at the top to keep the rod from turning. The spring is so cranked down and snaking around inside I can feel it scraping against the tube as I slide it up; does not sound right :). Fully assembled, I can barely compress the fork a half inch with all my weight. IS IT NORMAL for the right side to be SO MUCH stiffer than the left? The left side I assembled 1-2-3, no big deal. This right side...I'd throw it through the window, but it'd probably crack open on the driveway and shoot back in and kill me :). Haven't ridden since JUNE due to an alternator fiasco and now this. Someone tell me these radically different compression rates between springs is normal and I'll install them; right now my fork faith has vanished.

Can't insert images for some reason (too novice?), so:

Here's before compressing: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8YQCNJCQZ7qczNIa1g2V0U2OUk
Here's after: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8YQCNJCQZ7qOE9QbEFVbnhYUkE
"Tool" used above: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8YQCNJCQZ7qOUZGVS14UXFDaWs
 
Joined
Mar 13, 2012
Messages
5,046
Location
soCal
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'97 ST1100
STOC #
687
I have stock springs, so I'm the wrong guy to ask, but I think I've read from others that with Progressive Suspension aftermarket springs, you throw out the stock spacer on the cartridge side fork and use no spacer at all. That might explain why you had so much trouble with a 3" spacer where none is required. The left and right forks should have similar spring compression rates, so yours sounds odd.
 

John OoSTerhuis

Life Is Good!
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May 10, 2005
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Bettendorf, Iowa
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1991 SSMST1100
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1058
This is just wrong! Take it back apart, CAREFULLY! As I poSTed about the OP's problem on ST-Riders:
If you have aftermarket Progressive Suspension springs like I do, the OEM spacer on the damper rod side is discarded during its install. And the other side spacer is shortened to 3.25".
Is there another spacer left over? What came off/went back in the other fork? Can you look at a Honda Service Manual? Did you personally disassemble both forks initially? How far... seals/bushings... fork tubes separated from the fork sliders?

John
 
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Joined
Jun 8, 2007
Messages
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Ravensdale, WA
Leaving out the spacer would work out perfectly, from a left/right matching compression perspective, but the instructions that came with the springs said specifically what size to cut for my 95 ABS. The progressive spring is actually 1/2" shorter than the stock. Thot about putting the spacer on TOP of the piston, but then the cap wouldn't reach the rod :). Will review John's link, and read the spring instructions carefully again. Found a shop nearby that would look at it, but I know how that'll turn out: either (A) "you forgot this one little step, now it fits perfectly, $150 please", or (B) "you did it exactly right, $150 please" :). Will update.
 
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Only one spacer came off, from the right side. I replaced that with the PVC spacer provided, and its almost exactly the same length. The left side has no spacer. I've been working from a Clymer's, from when I removed them from the bike until now (should have taken more pictures! :)). Did not disassemble the rod assembly or take the bushes (bushings) off. Will review your link and the spring instructions again. Thanks for your continued advice!
 
Joined
Nov 6, 2010
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488
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Maple Valley, WA
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2001 ST1100
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8294
Eric, this may be a dumb question but... Did the instructions that came with the springs talk about which spacer to put on the "right" and "left" side fork or does it refer to them as "cartridge" and "damper" sides? Yours is an ABS model so the cartridge and damper sides are swapped compared to a standard non-ABS model. I'm just wondering if the instructions assume a non-ABS model and thus the spacer goes on the damper side and no spacer on the cartridge side? Just a thought...
 
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'97 ST1100
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Only one spacer came off, from the right side. I replaced that with the PVC spacer provided, and its almost exactly the same length. The left side has no spacer. I've been working from a Clymer's, from when I removed them from the bike until now (should have taken more pictures! :)). Did not disassemble the rod assembly or take the bushes (bushings) off. Will review your link and the spring instructions again. Thanks for your continued advice!
I think I see what went wrong. You say the right side had a spacer originally, but the left side did not. For an ABS model the right side has no damper rod, the left side has the damper rod. So the only spacer you removed came from the side without the damping rod.

but then you show pictures of the left side (with the damping rod) with the 3" spacer installed. That spacer was from the other fork tube, you somehow got confused and switched it around.

On an ABS bike, the left fork (sitting on seat looking forward) should be the cartridge style fork (with the center damping rod). The right fork should be a standard fork (no damping rod). On non-ABS bikes they are reversed (why, I don't know???). I suspect you remembered removing the spacer from the right fork, then read the Clymer manual for the non-ABS bikes and saw the right fork diagram with a damping rod, and got left/right confused with the forks off the bike.

So put the 3" spacer back in the fork without the damping rod (the right fork for ABS models) and no spacer in the fork with the damping rod (left fork for ABS models) and you should be done.
 
Joined
Jun 8, 2007
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Ravensdale, WA
Dwalby, that could be it. Would like to think I kept left and right separate, but this has been ongoing for weeks now, with lots of intervals of nothing between bouts of work, so it's possible. And while the drawing in my manual designates parts differences between ABS and not, I realize now that the photos do not, so a left/right swap is possible (I'll check my Haynes again--maybe they have some things wrong). Similarly, the spring instructions differentiated between ABS and not, but not between left and right. I called them yesterday and after I described it all, the guy said the instructions were wrong, cut the spacer down to about 3/4-inch :). Fits perfectly by hand now, same spring resistance as the left side. But if I put a 3" spacer in the left side, I'd be back into the super-compressed-spring problem. I might open the left side up again, I might not. Wife on girls weekend in Vegas, so I got all Saturday to play with this :). Will update!
 
Joined
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687
One other thing that I don't think was mentioned. I think the two forks work pretty much as a single system because they're attached together at the top/middle/bottom, so its not critical that the spring preload on each fork be matched exactly to the other. So if you later want to adjust ride height by changing the spring preload, adjust the length of the spacer in the fork without the damping rod and leave the side with the damping rod alone. You don't have to apply equal preload changes to both sides at the same time.
 
Joined
Jun 8, 2007
Messages
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Location
Ravensdale, WA
I opened the left fork and yup, it had the spacer I had cut from the provided PVC and installed weeks ago. Which left the factory spacer on my workbench and led me to believe (weeks later) that the right side needed the spacer. Time was not my friend here :). I put in about a 3/4" spacer to balance the spring pressure between forks, and got them reinstalled with nary a wasted step (and nicely aligned thx to those R&R tips from KoTAOW). Alternator charges sufficiently over 2500 RPMs, forks dive noticeably less but don't feel stiff at all. BUT, bike runs like poop. Idles beautiful. Races in neutral strong and steady. But flying down the road, it irregularly sputters and chokes like I'm burning half water, half gas. Last time I got on the road after the first alternator fiasco, it took a few miles for the hesitation to work out, but it did. This time I didn't even have to take the carbs off again (some hoses were disconnected before), but something is definitely not right. But I guess that's a topic for another thread. And another day. I learned a lot; hope you all did too. Thanks so much for your help, everyone. I now own the bolt and nut used to hold the piston rod up, the spanner/hex tool for removing the rear swingarm and fork top bolts, and the 6mm nut/wire for aligning the alternator gears for install, if anyone needs to borrow :). Keep the shiny side up!
 
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