correct height for 5th gen Forks?

Re-installing my front forks on a 5th Gen. The Honda manual says the top of the "fork leg" should be 41mm above the top yoke. The Haynes manual says the top of the "fork cap" should be 39mm above the yoke. Grateful for advice on where you should measure to, and what is the best distance to use.

 

On most VFRs--if your bars are stock--forks go down until the narrow snap ring near the top stops the action.

 

The Honda service manual says it is 41MM from the top of the upper triple tree to the top of the fork tube. Tthe actual fork tube, NOT the top of the pre-load adjuster.

 

39mm from the top flat edge. See attached pic.

 

Interesting, the HSM I have shows this as the setting (see image below). Just so we are on the same page, this is for a 5 Gen we are talking about? Correct? The manual I have says 1998-2001 on the cover.

 

Definitley 5th Gen and the pic is from the workshop manual - which admittedly is the US/Canada version

 

Hmm, even my 2002 manual says it's 41MM. I wonder what gives? However, I am not sure what continent my manual is printed for as it is one that was downloaded from the internet, i.e. a Scanned copy. That being said, maybe we should just say the setting should be 40MM +/- 1MM That works too right?

 

Does make you wonder how much you can trust these manuals sometimes! Maybe the spec was altered over time.

I've just dismanted mine and sent them away for re-chroming. There was a mark on each one where they had been clamped into the bottom yoke for years though and I'm going to re-fit to that point. Hopefully it will be 39mm! Or 41!

This link has a useful video about removing and replacing forks on a 5th gen :https://www.youtube.com/user/Blumphermann

 

Mine are set to. 55mm from the top of the fork tube. It makes a huge difference in how the bike turns in and responds to steering inputs. The bike is much more responsive.