I'm forked (S2R 1000 fork issues)

[blalor]

'07 S2R 1k, 16k miles, 2nd owner.  I discovered a blown fork seal on my Monster the other day. I also discovered how to lift the front wheel under power.  These events may be related.  I ordered a set of oil and dust seals, inner and outer bushings, and new springs from Race Tech.


The first thing I noticed is that the dust seals look completely different, and not in a good way:

Is this normal?  They're not really going to be that visible, but still, I'd expect them to be visibly similar.

The other actual problem: the inner fork bushing doesn't fit.  The lowers have GD051-50-L and GD051-50-R-3 cast into them (left and right, respectively).  The new bushings (FMBI 432015 P) don't fit into the recess where the original bushing sits (too wide), and the new bushing's outside diameter is too large to fit into the upper fork stanchion (outside diameter too large).  The dimensions of the original part (with the gap held closed) are 43.6mm O.D. x 41.5mm I.D.x  19.75mm wide x 1mm thick.  The new part measures 44.5mm O.D. x 41.5mm I.D. x 20mm wide x 1.5mm thick.  So the new parts have an O.D. that is about 1mm larger, are 0.5mm thicker (hey, math!), and 0.25mm wider.  I think the additional width is why they're not dropping into the slot for the original bushing.

I ordered these parts using Race Tech's low-tech order form.  I'd expect them to know their stuff.  A bit of googling suggests that the Showa GD051 fork is used on a couple of different Monsters, and if I somewhat-randomly choose a Monster 900S in RT's product selector, I end up with "FMBI 43201 P", which shares the same O.D. and width measurements but is 1mm thick instead of 1.5mm thick.

Has anyone run into this problem before?  Do I have forks from a different bike?  I do have a superbike front fender, which is a bit ugly but protects the fork lower from nicks, which should preserve the oil seals (oh the irony).  There's also evidence that the right fork leg (currently disassembled, with the blown seal) has previously been disassembled.  Suspicions abound.

I've emailed Race Tech and am waiting to hear back, but I wanted to see if anyone else has been down this road before.  Thanks!

[stopintime]

If your SBK fender has mounts both in front and rear of the sliders, it's not an OEM S2R fork (or at least not fork bottoms)

Ducati have used both types of dust seals - both with a plain rubber 'jacket' and with visible springs.

[blalor]

If your SBK fender has mounts both in front and rear of the sliders, it's not an OEM S2R fork (or at least not fork bottoms)

I've heard that fender is a fairly common "mod" to protect the fork sliders.

Ducati have used both types of dust seals - both with a plain rubber 'jacket' and with visible springs.

Thanks.  The new ones are ugly, but should be functional.

[stopintime]

Sorry, yes, older SBK fenders fit our bikes (I thought about 999 a.s.o.)

[blalor]

Sorry, yes, older SBK fenders fit our bikes (I thought about 999 a.s.o.)

I wish the forks were that fancy. :-)

[Speeddog]

Your dust seals are fine, they all have the gaiter spring now.

You'll need to pull out the cartridges and remove the plastic cups from the rods to use the R/T springs.

A quick search on the R/T site shows those are the bushings they spec for most of the adjustable Showas, but they do show some as using a FMBI 43201 P inner.
I'm not surprised that they've got the wrong stuff listed.

[blalor]

Your dust seals are fine, they all have the gaiter spring now.

You'll need to pull out the cartridges and remove the plastic cups from the rods to use the R/T springs.

Thanks for both of those pieces of information!

A quick search on the R/T site shows those are the bushings they spec for most of the adjustable Showas, but they do show some as using a FMBI 43201 P inner.
I'm not surprised that they've got the wrong stuff listed.

*grumble*  I keep finding gems like this *after* I've purchased the parts from them from across the country.  Figures.  Who has better products/service for this type of stuff?  For future reference…

[Speeddog]

Give these guys a call:
innteck-usa.com

They may have the bushings.
I tried to search their site, but it's not cooperating, I do know their ISP is a bit dodgy.

[MonsterHPD]

I think no mystery here, really. All the 50/54 forks as used on Monsters etc. have upper (slide) bushes that are 1.0 mm thick, and all the sbk forks (53 / 56 mm) have 1.5 mm thick ones. So, if I read your info correctly, you just got the wrong ones.
The dust seals are probably OK. The SKF seals I use look pretty much the same.

[blalor]

Yeah, it's their parts chooser that seems whacked.  They're going to send me "FMBI 43201 P", which is (hopefully) the correct part for my Monster. Of course, I won't have that until Tuesday…

Thanks for the insight, everyone!

[blalor]

You'll need to pull out the cartridges and remove the plastic cups from the rods to use the R/T springs.

Hm, so about that.  I tried to remove the cartridge and failed.  I got the "adjusting screw" (ref) loose, but couldn't extract it: I had the stanchion tube separated, the spring and spacer out, etc.  I was able to get it tightened back up by reassembling the fork and compressing everything with the fork upside down, but afterwards I still couldn't get the bolt any further than before.  I did use an impact driver.  Any other suggestions?  Will the Motion Pro "Damper Rod Fork Tool" work for this fork?

[blalor]

Followup: SUCCESS!  Since I couldn't get the damper rod out on the right side, I ignored Speeddog's advice about removing the cup and didn't have any problems with spring movement.  On the left side, however, the top of the spring was catching on the cup, causing the fork to bind.  I only found that out after reassembling that leg and filling it with oil…  Fortunately, the rod came out easily on that side with just an impact driver, and I was able to remove the cup with no difficulty.  The Motion Pro tool I mentioned above wasn't used and I don't really see *how* you'd use it, as it's shorter than the inner fork tube.

Anyway, it's all back together.  The ride is much improved with much less dive under braking.  Used to be that just a bit of brake when rolling up to a stop light would result in a couple of inches of dive and that's mostly gone.  Feels much more natural, now.  I bet part of that is the Race Tech springs are straight rate.  I do think I need to switch to a heavier oil, as I've got the rebound adjusters turned all the way in and it's just barely enough to keep the fork from "bouncing" back when it gets to the end of travel.  I ended up using a ~104mm PVC spacer between the spring and the stock metal spacer; the plastic bits on the stock spacer make sure it stays aligned with the spring on the bottom and the cap on the top.  I wasn't able to replicate that with just straight PVC, and I couldn't find an appropriate piece of pipe to replace the metal spacer.  1-¼" metal pipe like that used for under a sink is perfect, but the longest length I could find was 12" and that wasn't quite long enough. 

I bought the Motion Pro 43mm fork seal installer hoping to return it and make something myself to save the $40, but my DIY solutions were putting the seal at risk, so I bit the bullet.  It made the job *super* easy.

Lastly, Race Tech: that wrong inner fork bushing cost me a week.  I waited until the end of the day after I sent my email to sales and tech support, and then called (near the end of the day on Friday).  After getting bounced to two departments and disconnected once, the guy I spoke to said "oh, you're the guy who sent the email?"  Yeah, so why didn't you reply and save us both some trouble?  It sounds like this has happened before.  He said they'd mail the new part on Friday for Tuesday delivery, but they didn't ship until Monday (arrived Wednesday).  I have to pay return shipping.  And one of the springs they sent me was 5mm longer than the other, so different length spacers were required; not a big deal, but doesn't smack of high quality, either.  </rant>