Rogue's VF500 rebuild or part out!!

Do it! 500 forks are great ones to get started with. I have plenty of hard parts if you F something up. Gonna do Emulators? Now's the time.

 

ehhh, I really didn't want to spend much on the rebuild since it is a flipper. But I will judge the cost if someone can send me the info on emulators and where they go. Doesn't that lead me down the road of rear shock to match? Who knows maybe I will like the 500 and then keep it..the pressure. LOL
Fork seal driver set. Preferences?
I saw these on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/ALPHA-MOTO-U...mzn1.fos.18630bbb-fcbb-42f8-9767-857e17e03685

 

I've done 36mm (EX500), 37mm (VF500F, 454Ltd), and 38mm (FZR600) with the same piece of 1.5" (38.1mm) PVC. I just ground part of the outer diameter about 1.5" up about 2mm off and smoothed everything. I've actually borrowed that kit from a coworker you linked when doing some 41mm forks (GSF600/SV650) and kind of found it annoying--it worked fine though. I bought a dedicated 41mm driver. But for 36-38mm... Give me the 1.5" PVC.

I'd been wanting to just tell you to do the fork seals yourself because you've done plenty of things on your bikes that are 5x more involved than fork seals already. But you do need to pick up a few tools. But once you've done it once, it's almost the same damn thing on every conventional fork you'll ever encounter.

Emulators would be a you decision. If you think this is going to be a ride it for a year for some kicks and then flip it, I would just change the fork seals and put in some new oil. I'm not trying to talk out of selling it though. The bike will make that decision for you once you put some miles on it.

 

They are easy, drilling a few holes in the damper rods on the 500. I'm ordering some YSS Emulators (like Race Tech) soon for the CB-1, and they are a bit cheaper. But, I didn't know it was a flip, so not worth it right now likely. Can always be done by... somebody.

Oh and PVC for sure. I even split some different sizes down the middle and clam shell for the any size fork.

 

Dudes, I was certain it was a flipper until I did the test ride. Although that ride was only down my elongated driveway 3rd gear max. A highway ride will tell me all I need to know as soon as I finish the forks. PVC it is.

 

Cut the length longer than the compressed fork tube. I have extras of the large seal washers and use them as an interface when driving the bushings and seals into place. You need an extra washer to do the 2nd seal. No damage to the bushings / seals and nothing but PVC around my fork tubes. I use my split versions on everything, super easy. Hold them together with one hand near the top of the slider until they just get inside the wide spot after a couple taps, then move my hand up to hold them together and drive them home with a big plastic coated mallet. The force is all straight down an they get driven perfectly straight. I used to try and wrap them with something to hold them together, but it just isn't needed.

I never do fork seals with the forks still on the bike, in the triples, so I never needed an "expensive" split aluminum driver in the right size.

 

And there we go. Everything came apart, no issues on this fork.time to clean and reassemble.

 

Teflon looks good.

 

Does not look too bad from my angle. Glad it was easy...seems like none of mine are when you restore an 80's bike.

 

The bottom bolt on the second fork does not want to go. Figures . Also I need to find crush washers and fork oil, so I won’t finish these this weekend for sure. Probably had something to do with picking up a fixer upper Saturday.

 

Tease...

 

Forks look pretty damn good. Easy rebuild, nice.

 

Still haven't taken the second one apart with the TRAC. The bolt head wants to give up. Might have to drill. You said drill bit same size as head of bolt or M8 threads?
Also, the manual does not specify fork oil weight. Any recommendations?
Cheers!

 

Manual specs ATF. I run 10w normally (in stock damper rod forks), sometimes I'll mix up a custom ratio slightly under. Don't go to 15, it's too harsh with the stock damper rods (imo).

 

I use 10w...

 

Drill size slightly larger than M8 threads. The bolt head will pop off way before the bit gets anywhere near something important.

 

How have you tried to loosen the bottom damper rod bolt? I have never not gotten a damper rod bolt out ever since buying an impact wrench.

Nice work on the first fork though!

 

That’s an 8mm drill

 

That is the bolt I am talking about. I started to try and loosen and the hex allen stated to round out the bolt head. I blame my craftsman socket. I put a little pen lube on last night to sit, while I gather more rebuild items. Thanks for the reminder, I just picked up a little pancake compressor for small work, but it will go to 110psi. I can throw my old pneumatic impact on that. Long story short, I am missing a lot of gear that most builders have at the ready. So I am in the process of building my tool chest 1pc at a time.

Motion Pro retaining ring plyers FTW! Thanks for the recommend everyone!! 10w will be my choice for these bad boys.

One last question. My manual didn't really specify, but I kind of assumed I should take the TRAC gear off first. Does it matter, conventional pull apart vs TRAC first?

 

I don't think you need to take that TRAC gear off at all. If you're just changing seals, dump out the old fluid. The oil lock is almost certain to just stay stuck in the bottom of the fork lower. The damper rod will have a little spring and washer setup on the track side--just leave it on. The only reason to even mess with the TRAC stuff is if you're going to be disabling/deleting it. That little spring/washer setup on the damper rod would need to be discarded in that case along with drilling 6 additional holes in the damper rod itself. For a fork oil change/seal change... leave it alone.

Old pneumatic impact is probably going to be more than enough if you have a decent 6mm (or is it 8?... sorry, mixing bikes up in my head). It's just that quick jolt that cracks the thing loose. Do it while you have the cap on the fork tube. You can loosen the top cap while it's on the bike, but don't remove it until that damper rod bolt is cracked. I wasted to much time rounding/drilling bolts out before I just made the impact wrench my go-to. I also bought a bunch of spare damper rod bolts so if they get rounded at all, they're getting replaced. They're "cheap" if you've already got enough of an order to reach free shipping at one of the parts houses.