twowheels wrote:Phatpaht, I hope you kept the receipt for the tool to set the oil level - it is done by volume
The inner chamber volume is 210cc. The studs on the factory team are said to use 380cc in the outer leg, but mere mortals usually run 300-310cc.
There have been numerous threads on the subject over on the gasgasrider.org site (brought to you by the same great folks that run this one) so rather than re-iterate everything here, I'll just suggest you look over there. Ignore the early threads that suggest you need a strap to reassemble the inner cartridge.
When you've read that and familiarized yourself with the parts you'll find hit up Glenn or myself (and others I may have forgotten) and we can answer more specific questions.
No worries, I've had it a while for my old bikes.
Ok thanks, will give it a read and thanks for offering some help and answers!
I sort of like the stiffness of the forks as they are now, gives me a lot of stability and the ability to ride quite agressively over rough terrain, a lot more than with any of my previous KTM's. However I'm open to experimenting and finding out what the forks have to offer as they do feel a little stiff over the very rocky but still relatively fast parts.
GMP wrote:Pretty good video for an overall look at the parts, but he didn't show you the fun part of closing the cartridge. Being you likely don't have a nice vice like that, I can't stress enough being very careful how you hold things. Think it out. Parts are expensive and not on every corner. This is important because you will have to apply significant force to compress the ICS spring in the compression assy somewhat and engage the cartridge threads. I have a done this many times and use a slightly different method for holding and sealing the cartridge. Get a seal driver(which you will eventually need anyway) attach it around the top of the cartridge under the lip, and clamp in in your vise so it can not be forced loose. The cartridge will be a loose fit that can be turned but not fall through. Lightly grease the upper edge of the driver or you can cut a large plastic washer from a milk jug. Put your cap wrench on the cartridge, and use this to turn the cartridge within the improvised holder while simply forcing the compression unit straight down with the cap tool. It is much easier than trying to turn your wrist enough to engage the threads under the force of the spring. I do this with KYBs as well but it's more useful with the Zokes which have a much stiffer install due to the preload on the spring.
I'm trying to visualise what you're trying to explain and I think I might get the idea. But it sounds like I'll be having to use one hand to still push up the cartridge from underneath to compress the spring and get the threads to engage? Thanks for a thorough explaination/guide!