Kawi2strokes.com Forum

Hi guys!

Forks are off of the bike. It's an '72 S2. Springs and dust booties are removed and all clean. I looked in the haynes manual and it has a whole blurb about a chain wrench to separate the tubes?
Clearly a vice and pipe wrench are out of the question! But, I have never seen a chain wrench before. A strap wrench seems to be similar, but maybe a chain grabs better?

Then there is the fork disassembly note from the resource site. But thats for the H-series? Any differences?

Secondly, these forks seem to be in good shape. There is a little pitting and rust in places as well as crusty clear coat, but I think once I am able to soak them in evaporust for a day, that'll all disappear.

What are my next steps here? How to get them apart, then what? Other than a through cleaning and replacing the seals, what else should I expect to do?

Thanks for your time!!

--and no post is complete w/out pics!--

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running... '78 KH400, '07 KLR. In a state of repair.... '72 S2.

I think the tubes need re chroming or replacing, along with replacement of the seals.

Yeah, I did a little interweb search to see what it looked like. I guess I'll order one up (and wait a week+ ) for it to arrive. I kinda wish there was an alternate method, so I don't have to buy a special wrench for a minute of use.

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running... '78 KH400, '07 KLR. In a state of repair.... '72 S2.

Copy that about the seals- that has been in the plans!

But you think the tubes need to be re-chromed? Are they that bad?

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running... '78 KH400, '07 KLR. In a state of repair.... '72 S2.

That Haynes manual can get you into trouble.
Try one or both of these:
http://www.kawatriple.com/manuals/maint/contents.htm
http://kawatriple.com/smanual/sindex.htm
Any chrome pitting can cause leaks but rechroming isn't usually the answer... new is best.
Stick some new seals in them and give them a try.
PS: you don't need to tear them completely down to replace seals.

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Answers are here: http://kawatriple.com/

OMG! How did I miss these manuals?! Amazing. THANK YOU!!

__ Good to know about the [re]chrome vs replacement. I'll take a pic of the tubes after a good cleaning so we can all inspect the aftermath.

__ I don't think I need to (or want to) disassemble the whole thing. They seemed to function perfectly fine prior to pulling them off the bike.

__ I need a chain wrench to get that ring nut collar off, clean the parts, replace the seal, and put it all back together. Hopefully that'll do the trick!

Again, THANK YOU!!

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running... '78 KH400, '07 KLR. In a state of repair.... '72 S2.

If you polish down the rough spots they won't tear the new seal, they will "carry" the oil out. But depending on how much and how hard you ride it can be a very tolerable amount. Wipe it off once in while.
I ran with a small piece of cotton rag stuffed under the fork dust boots for a long time on one of my bikes until I finally broke down and fixed it. I would change out the rag piece from time to time and never had to add any oil to the fork tube.

Always a day late...... I just saw a video on how to make a chain tool. It was super simple. But I don't remember where I saw it.....

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Twist the throttle, tilt the horizon, and have a great time. What triples are all about...........

There are some good companies that replate forks and grind them to original specs. Your old stanchions come out looking like new and are just as good.
Did this to a few of my Triples in the UK as it was cheaper than NOS. There maybe be good reproduction ones now you will have to check.