Fork Removal Procedure 2003 ST1300

[Igofar]

Or you could have taken a nice ride over to Oro Valley and met the ST-Whisperer in Person
I would be glad to teach you how to service your own bike, and assist you with any service needs you may have, for a whole lot less than the dealership would charge you.
Igofar

 

[viking1066]

You will end up using the forks as a slide hammer no matter how you disassemble the bike. I'm not sure what you'd gain by leaving the stanchions fitted into the triples other than making the bike more unstable when you try to shift the seal. You need to get the fork caps off, the springs removed and the bottom bolt undone to get the damper out before you can split the forks, and all of that would be easier with the forks in a vice or other clamp.

id crack the bottom nut with the forks in the bike , leave lower tree tight, loosen top tree and remove the top cap, drain the oil with the damper and spring removed, bike would be on centre stand and supported with a 1500lb lift , then get the lower off with and the seals, remove the bushings, clean it all up and reassemble. put the damper in and fill, pump from the bottom check the oil and insert spring and tighten up - repeat for other leg. i dont have a vice hence using the lower tree to remain tight and act as a vice.

 

[viking1066]

Or you could have taken a nice ride over to Oro Valley and met the ST-Whisperer in Person
I would be glad to teach you how to service your own bike, and assist you with any service needs you may have, for a whole lot less than the dealership would charge you.
Igofar

im guessing your the ST whisperer - i wouldnt got to the dealership period, ive already done a service, stripped the rear caliper, new pads allround, sorted a few other niggles and now the right fork leaks the joys of a bike thats been stood, still rides like a dream

 

[SMSW]

As far as holding the fork tube in order to remove/torque the top cap: Larry has a used triple clamp from another bike he uses to hold the fork tube when he is working on it. Having seen what some folks were asking for a t-c that would fit the ST's fork tubes on ebay (more than I wanted to spend), I grabbed a 2x4, drilled a large hole in it, then ran a drum sander through the hole to slightly enlarge it. I made a slit down the 2x4 through the hole and put in a cross bolt to turn the 2x4 into a clamp. If you are having trouble picturing this, I, in effect, made a wood triple clamp with only one hole to grab the fork tube. Worked perfectly to torque the top cap, and served to hold the fork vertical while I filled it with oil (I placed the 2x4 in a vise with the fork tube hanging over the edge of my workbench).

 

[CYYJ]

I agree with @TerryS 's assessment - there is nothing to be gained by leaving the fork stanchions in place. It won't save you any time. It's easy to remove the whole fork assembly from the motorcycle, and once you have it removed, you don't even need a vise or other form of clamp to disassemble the forks.

@Igofar recommends only removing one fork at a time (in other words, remove one, fully service it, put it back, then remove the other one), this because always having one fork in place avoids a lot of potential grief trying to line up the triple clamp & lower fork clamps when re-installing the forks.

I wrote an illustrated post about ST 1300 fork removal and overhaul earlier this year, here is a link to it: ST1300 Front Fork Overhaul: An Illustrated Bibliography. There are a lot of pictures in that post (probably too many pictures for a single post), so if you see any picture placeholders (small icons) instead of a full-size picture, just re-load the page, hopefully your browser will then fetch the missing pictures.

Michael

 

[Igofar]

Go to a local shop or salvage yard and pick up an aftermarket dirt bike triple tree or used ST1300 one off a damaged bike for next to nothing then just reverse the risers (upside down / underneath) and lock it in a vice. Works very well for those with limited space.