$250 will seem ridiculous when you do them yourself and see how easy it is. Read up (or You tube) on up-side down fork re-builds, doesn't need to be Buell specific. It's great time to check your adjustments, if you are totally clicked to one end of the spectrum or another, it's a great time to change the weight of the oil to compensate, i.e. all your adjustments are maxed out to stiff, then up the weight from 7.5w to 10w.
Couple of points:
When removing the forks from the bike, loosen the upper triple and loosen the fork cap right then before you loosen the lower triple to remove the tube. It uses the lower triple as a vise to hold it when loosing (or tightening) the cap without any homemade vice thing.
With the forks off the bike, support them in a good fixture so you don't need three hands for everything
Even the cheap e-bay fork compression tool is priceless.
Before you take off the fork cap, loosen the pre-load completely, but be prepared for a little spring pressure to pop it off when it's unscrewed completely.
After the new seals are on the outers, put some plastic like saran wrap over the top of the inner fork tube before shoving the sharp threads through the new seal.
Read closely how to re-set the threads into each cap and make sure they are the same.
Other than that, the factory manual (Buellmods.com or Buelltooth.com) is a pretty complete step-by-step. If you are mechanically inclined, don't be afraid to take it apart. Worst case is the embarrassment of taking it to a shop in pieces, no biggie.
No doubt it is something that could be done relatively simply with the proper tools as you describe, Shaughn. Thanks for the pointers.Just not a project I wanted to take on at the time and was having new tires put on as well (I know...could have done that myself, too!
).
@submax: 200 to 250 was sort of what i was guesing. I agree with you, I do most all my own work, but for some reason just don't want to tackle this fork business!
Shaughn, thanks for the tips! i have read through a few posts and watched a vid. or two, even read through the service manual ( i know what a thing to do lol) so if i can't get a reasonable bid on doing them I'll dive in myself!
Should i request name brand fork oil instead of harley oil? The local harley/buell place is my go to shop....I don't want to be one of "those guys" but if the other oil's are known to be a step above the Harley fork oil i'd rather put them in.
Here is a great video from one of our own https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FptHgvIhO4
2008 Buell XB12SCG Fork Seals
It is pretty straightforward and simple to do. Cole even gave up the angle iron compressor idea. The compressor tool is the way to go. I'd offer to loan you mine, but the reality is that they are so cheap, you could probably buy one for a little bit more.
I still would rather pay someone to put tires on, but I'll do the fork rebuild any day of the week on my own.
That said, if you still want to have someone do it.... there is a local shop that advertises fork rebuilds on CL pretty regularly. I dont think they are Buell specialists or anything, but the forks are just straight up Showas, so any shop worth its salt, should be able to tackle it with ease. This is from the local shops CL ad:
FORK SEALS SPECIAL MOST SPORT BIKES
$135-$160
NEW FORK SEALS
NEW FORK OIL
LABOR
(is that really Cole's garage? it seems.... empty. LOL!)
Last edited by 34nineteen; 01-23-2018 at 05:31 PM.
Here is the fork maintenance guide https://www.buellxb.com/forum/showth...2Scg-With-Pics!
That's funny, I will take and hour or two to do the forks but I still won't swap tires myself eitherlol
I really enjoy the satisfaction of doing a good job and especially learning a new skill, but I totally get it. Job, wife, kids, all get in the way of whats really important. Drinking beer in the garage of course! Damn kids....
I'd highly recommend taking the forks themselves to the shop vs. the whole bike. They usually appreciate that and the price and turn-around time will reflect that
Either way, we're here for ya if you decide to dive in
Well dillon Harley in Omaha quoted me"less than 250" including oil and seals, so took the forks off last night and dropping them off this weekend with their ONE! Buell guy. He's very good and really loves buells so they'll be in good hands I'm sure.
The above info will still come in handy guys, I'll be doing my own fork oil change as soon as the weather warms up a little !
Thanks !
P.S. Cooter, I'm finally one up on you, I've done tires, they're really easy, with the right tools.
Last edited by njloco; 01-24-2018 at 06:54 PM.
I did my tires the last lip was being a real pain so I used my box cutter to help me . I even warmed them up with my tire warmers.
side wall01.jpg
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote