Easy Cheap Suzuki DR650 Fork Rebuild - No Fuss

[@SKIDSnSTUFF]

FYI for anyone following along. Anywhere between 130mm - 160mm airgap is good when refilling the fork legs.

[@rupertsuzuki3376]

Good video, like the plastic wrap trick. Personally though I’ve never needed a seal driver. I take the old seal, cut the seal lip off and walk a razor blade around the outer edge so it doesn’t stick in the bore or touch the new seal then I just flip it upside down and use a clean pipe, everything pops together effortlessly.

[@motoric5188]

Don't even own a DR but did really enjoy the vid! 👍

[@SKIDSnSTUFF]

Ha! excellent, thanks for dropping by 😀

[@GavinWilson-w6u]

great video....just saved my life with your "special" tool....hoping its gonna work on my XF 650. will also check out your cheap preload adjusters....

[@SKIDSnSTUFF]

Glad it helped

[@benjohnson7170]

Am enjoying your vids... Inspiring me to get the high km pig out the shed. Give some love and rego. Been a year and a half... cheers

[@SKIDSnSTUFF]

Great to hear that Ben, the weather's perfect for it right now if you are out this way

[@benjohnson7170]

@@SKIDSnSTUFF Cheers mate,yeh bloody great time of year. I'm in SA.

[@redgum78]

Great vid man. Thanks!

[@BillySBC]

Nice job.

[@Amiebike]

Hi dude, thanks for the vid I did everything as you did but my fork keeps leaking, I don't know if I mess the seals with the PVC pipe or what :(

[@Dastardly_X]

Yaaaa, Thanks 🤘 🌟🤘🏻

[@PsychoSainten]

Hey skid! I have a question i did the steps but when i sit on the bike the front drops an inch or 2 lower that it does in the rear with my weight on the bike did i not cycle the oil correctly? Or do i need more oil? I have .50 springs with cogent ddc's and 5 weight oil. Before changing one fork had atf and the other fork im not sure but it was stiffer so ill assume 10 weight. Any help is appreciated thanks! Love the videos!

[@rick2wheels1214]

Great video thanks. Would you use 7.5w oil without emulators if the bike is used 50/50 off/on road or do you only use this oil with emulators in?

[@SKIDSnSTUFF]

Go heavier oil if no emulators, like 10w, or 15w

[@rick2wheels1214]

@@SKIDSnSTUFF OK great, thanks for your help.

[@PennsylvaniaDualSport]

I’m back to this very useful video. I’m servicing the war pig forks this weekend. You said you only put 565 mil fork oil in which seems low but you might be on to something. Can I ask your weight and spring rate? I run a 52 and I’m 170 pounds without gear.. 5.3 Acerbis tank but don’t normally run full when trail riding. I’ve been running 600 ml with cogent DDC’s. Faster areas it’s fine but when trying to blow through single track littered with canned ham sized rocks it feels as if I’m not using as much as stroke as I should therefor can feel harsh. I was going to drop 20 ml but you say you’re only at 565. You ride the snot out of that thing. Assuming you’re not bottoming out all the time I think I’ll try the same. How much preload are you running? I’m so happy your channel blew up the way it did showcasing the mighty war pig. !

[@SKIDSnSTUFF]

I would say anywhere between 130mm and 160mm air gap should do the trick. Measured with spring out and fork fully compressed. In this bike I was running somewhere around .54 springs and teknik emulators with 7.5W. On the new bike I'm still using whatever the previous owner had going on in there, he just told me 'heavier springs'. Its fine. I'm 75kg dry. The front doesn't bottom excessively on either setup... the emulator setup definitely stiffens up more late in the stroke and controls rebound damping better. I was running preload a few mm above fork tube on that bike, can be seen in our 'adjustable preload cap' vid. Dunno about this preload on new Warpig havnt looked inside yet, but will be finalising adjustable preload cap vid and swapping valving over soon. Thanks a lot for your support

[@SKIDSnSTUFF]

If you are using anything over 10W fluid with you Cogent emulators then that will be your problem right there. Recommend 7.5... even 5W is probably good with emulators

[@PennsylvaniaDualSport]

@@SKIDSnSTUFF cogent recommends 5wt with their emulators. They calibrate them with Golden Spectro 5wt which is the exact same oil and weight I use. I’m sure 600 is just too much for my application.

[@SKIDSnSTUFF]

@@PennsylvaniaDualSport sweet yep that's the go 👍

[@TopanKJ]

I want to build the tool with 2 bolts and thread bar. What bolt size do I need ? Bolts needing a 30mm wrench ? Sorry couldn't get it from the vdo. Thanks !👍

[@SKIDSnSTUFF]

Yep whichever bolt accepts that size nut

[@GreenBrowne.]

What size is the nut and the bar? 23 millimetres?

[@SKIDSnSTUFF]

More like 30 IIRC

[@B3nAn]

Exactly the tool I need. What size of bolt and nut did you use?

[@adventureguy4119]

Mate, Iv noticed my upper fork clamp both don’t flush out the back when fully seated and these is about 10mm of threat that is not engaged have you noticed this

[@SKIDSnSTUFF]

Should not be any thread visible that's for sure. Those caps can cross thread pretty dang easily though so be sure it's not that.

[@PennsylvaniaDualSport]

My shit started making a clunk all of a sudden today. No leaks. Just clunk and really bad suspension behavior. No fucking idea what the hell happened. Head bearings seem fine. I was at a 3 day event this weekend with lots of rocks and it was super sketchy. I don’t know if it was too many hits and it fucked something up. I’m sprung for my weight and have emulators as well. Funny thing is.. I used to be able to hear the emulators check valve blow by and now it’s like I don’t even have them. I’ve been camped for this event so it’ll have to wait till I get home. Might as well order the rebuild kit I guess.

[@SKIDSnSTUFF]

That's a weird one. The bottom bolt still in the fork lug? Or maybe the emulator came apart? Nar doubt it. Lemme know when ya find out if you can please. Sorry to hear about the bad turn of event.

[@SKIDSnSTUFF]

Ya figure out this problem Pennsylvania?

[@PennsylvaniaDualSport]

@@SKIDSnSTUFF soooooo…. I disassembled everything. All seals and bushings looked fine. I replaced with new anyway. However my fork fluid looked like it went through a lot of heat cycles. It’s a semi synthetic Golden Spectro 5wt that was the recommended oil by the emulator manufacturer since they were tuned running that fluid. There was about 7 months in between fluid changes. I can only think that the fluid was shot and I didn’t know by how bad till I got to that event. I flushed the emulators out reassembled everything and things seem fine. I don’t know dude.. you ride pretty hard. How long do you go between fork fluid changes on the war pig? I think the next change I’m moving to a full synthetic

[@SKIDSnSTUFF]

Even if it was old swamp water fluid i wouldn't have thought it could cause an issue like you were having. Between a Spring reliability issue and getting the setup correct, the Warpig has only low mileage between fluid changes to this point. Have been using penrite just because availability but also mixed with silkolene cos it was in the shed, hadn't noticed performance issues other than the Weight rate, even when swamped out from emulator/bushing wear

[@TopanKJ]

Great video! Just ordered a set of emulators. Will use your tips for the install! Thanks!

[@SKIDSnSTUFF]

Excellent, glad to help

[@elprofesor1886]

Español necesito el vídeo en español

[@danejohnson6823]

Replaced a fork seal last year. I had to strip my fork apart several times because of that stupid fucking plastic bottoming cone getting wedged, and couldn't unwedge it by pulling the tube. Fork tube kept slipping down too much when I was ramming in the fork seal. Also, it was tight to get the top cap back on initially, and suspension made a grinding noise. Thought I stuffed up something with the bushes, so stripped it back down again.... ended up just being the emulator not being seated correctly; was on an angle and held up the spring.

[@SKIDSnSTUFF]

I've bent a spring one time when the emulator was installed on the piss. Always a treat when all goes right the first time

[@bouncingyellowskull]

Had the same experience. Thought I’d never get the forks apart, that damn plastic cone. Great vid from skids and stuff.