TRAC Dial Forks

Im wondering what the TRAC dial for the front forks does. I've known of this dial from when I had my 87 but never knew what It did, anyone?

 

it's anti-dive....not sure how it works, but a higher number is supposed to keep your front end from "diving" under breaking.

 

Ah...thanks koorbloh, still havent gotten those bar ends yet but did get the F&R brakes, both Double H sintered, have'nt installed yet and replace fluid and bleed, think Ill do it next weekend. I wanna Ride!!!

 

"Torque Reactive Anti-dive Control", I think. Essentially, the dial selects an orifice that restricts the flow of fork oil when you are braking. The brake calipers float in their mouints, and pivot forward under braking. When they pivot forward, they engage the restricted orifice circuit. The orifice varies from "big" to "none", so you can select no dive at all. The kicker (literally) is that if you hit a bump under heavy enough braking, the forks will not compress at all in the "none" position, and very little in the others, so the front wheel can lose contact with the ground if it is a big enough bump. When it loses contact, it tends to stop spinning, and when it lands again, it tends to skid. Then you panic and apply more pressure, and, well, you can see where this is going.

It's pretty cool on a smooth surface, just because it's different (my 1100F has TRAC).

 

Wow, I had no idea that braking systems were that complex for a bike of that year. Cool to know what it stands for and does, I like the Idea of it. Now that I know what it does I know how to play with it. Thanks

 

Oh, don't be too impressed! It doesn't work very well. Hard to tell any change between 1 and 4. Nice idea, just poorly executed.

 

My VF500 has the same dial, I was wondering the same thing just a little while ago (and thus consulted my ever so handy service manual).

Here's the page I scanned from my book on TRAC.

 

If the wheel stops spinning, the susspension returns to normal. I has a delay built into it to keep it from immediately locking up when it hits the ground again. My Suzuki has hydraulic anti-dive that doesn't let up when the wheel stops, and the skid thing definately happens with that one.

 

Yeah, mine did that too, so I rebuilt the TRAC unit... It was full of gelled fork oil, and once cleaned out, it worked good. My Suzuki with hydraulic anti-dive still works better, and it's much simpler. I can't see why Honda would use a more complex, yet less effective system.

Suzuki later came out with an electric version that was even better. I'm converting mine to electric when the brake lines start to rot.

 

I'm getting rid of mine entirely when I install the RaceTech Gold Valve Emulators! :wink:

 

So not that I can do wheelies, yet. does the TRAC system have the same effect when your front tire makes contact with the road again? And hey fabinator, if you see this, how did you clean it?

 

It won't react fast enough to harden the susspension too much before the forks compress on landing... how were you planning on doing a wheelie with the brakes applied in the first place?:rain:

Anywhoo... I removed the bolt that goes through the dogbone between the caliper and trac module, and pivoted the caliper back. This allows easy access to the four little allen screws that hold the trac module onto the fork leg. Once removed, it should just pop right off (there is originally a gasket on there, so that can sometimes hold it on. Mine just fell off). Replace the gasket or use gray RTV spairingly to seal it again. Don't let any of that RTV crap to get inside, or it will clog the trac unit again.

Once it's removed, you can either slide the dial out (it's held in with a clip), or clean it in place while rotating it. Use a solvent of your choice to clean everything out (I used aerosol carb cleaner, since I had lots of it). Put everyhing back together, and refill the fork leg with oil... and it's thrash time.

This would be a good time to change the fork oil.:biggrin: