F850GS Fork Rebuild - 2019 BMW

[@dgomes265]

Good video and very helpful

[@bobwolff68]

Thanks - glad to hear it.

[@MartinGallacher]

Excellent Bob, well done...

[@bobwolff68]

Thanks - was a lot of editing work to even get it down to 30min. But hopefully it'll be an enduring video for folks in the future.

[@Enonymouse_]

shared in f850 riders group, cheers!

[@bobwolff68]

Thanks - appreciate it.

[@pcolmegna]

You deserve way more views. Thank you

[@bobwolff68]

Glad it helped! That's awesome.

[@pcolmegna]

Bob Wolff have you found the upgraded shocks a real improvement vs stock?

[@bobwolff68]

Going to a rally this weekend. All packed and ready to go. Doing off-road training with Black Swan and a 3-hr ride through the forest near Yosemite. I'll know by the end of the weekend what I think off road!

[@bobwolff68]

FYI - I was unable to get out on the real forest ride so I can only report that the off-road training drills I was doing for several hours with BlackSwan went very well. The shocks felt great doing skid stop and skid turns as well as lofting drills.

[@pcolmegna]

Bob Wolff thanks mate. I’ll do this upgrade for sure

[@2ShoesPhoto]

I've been fighting with that C-Clip for 2 hours now, and it's driving me insane. I've rebuilt engines, manual transmissions, but these stupid little C-Clips are going to be the end of me. Why didn't they use a Snap Ring instead so you can remove it with pliers?

[@bobwolff68]

I hear ya dude. It drove me pretty crazy too. I found a pair of angled tweezers and a tiny flat blade to give me enough push-out from the outer edge and 'lift' with the tweezers at the same time to do it. I'm sure BMW has some special tool for it but why not go 'standard', eh? Pfft.

[@cyclepro101]

Hey Bob, I love all your videos. My F850GSA has just done 30,000 km’s and is due for fork oil replacement. Three questions. 1: how much oil in each fork and is there a measurement from the top to the top of oil level? 2: I assume I would only need to pull the forks down till both main springs were out? But leave the right damping rod in? 3: I think think the Manuel calls for a strange oil viscosity like 11.5. Was winding what you used and if you think I could use a 15wt oil as these shocks are a little soft. Regards

[@bobwolff68]

Hey Stephen - glad you love the content. The questions you ask are excellent and I did cover these items in the videos themselves. They're a bit long to watch fully sometimes, but the info is in there - even a discussion about that 11.5 weight oil. Grab a beer and watch / listen. :) I do believe on the oil that I went with a heavier weight for the same reason you have reasoned out. Super happy. Also the progressive springs were super helpful as an upgrade.

[@juanwiesinger4073]

Good video, again! You uploading when you put it all back together?

[@bobwolff68]

Thanks Juan. Indeed. Editing the re-assembly of both left and right forks next. Will likely publish it over the weekend. Subscribe and turn on the 'bell' for all alerts to get notified!

[@MotoTravelUSA]

Very informative, thanks so much for this, very helpful. Do you know what size fork seal driver you used? Motion pro has a ton of different sizes. Thanks!

[@bobwolff68]

Thanks man - Sorry I don't. I think I'd suggest using the BMW fork size which the web says is 43mm.

[@MotoTravelUSA]

@@bobwolff68 thanks for the reply. While I really like motion pro tools, I noticed the one you were using is adjustable and I think I'll go with something similar. Much appreciated 👍

[@tedcrum]

Very nice job. Too bad that good seal drivers are so expensive. What springs did you use, and did they come with the spacer pre-cut?

[@bobwolff68]

Hey Ted - thanks. I don't recall how expensive the seal driver was, but I wanna say less than $35 at Cyclegear. I bought the Yacugar springs (mildly progressive ones) from Beemershop. It gets discussed in the subsequent video on re-assembly. What's up with "the spacers pre-cut" you mention? Gulp. Did I miss something important?

[@Marc-zf3xv]

A lot of springs are not bike specific and require the owner to cut a new spacer to accommodate the spring and set the preload. I suspect the springs you received were the correct length for the F850 considering the factory spacer and did not require a new spacer to be cut. Otherwise it would have been mentioned in the directions with the springs.

[@martinkoonincks4308]

Hi Bob i have a question i want only to change my oil from my front forks. Must a take both legs off the bike or only the right one. Or can i suck the oil out . ?? Thank you Martin.

[@bobwolff68]

Hey Martin - Yeah I think the only realistic way to do it is to remove the forks to do the job. It's a bit more work, unfortunately, but it'll give you some great experience removing the front wheel and calipers and getting to know the underside of the front end. I had thought about sucking the oil out as well and while I'm betting it is possible, it won't get all the crud out like turning it over would. Would it be helpful? Yeah I'd imagine 90% of the goodness if I had to guess. If you do try that, please let me know how it went and how you feel about it afterwards!