From:kris Thompson e-mail:vtwin74@aol.com
Subject:RE: Front Forks Date:Fri Mar 6 09:37:34 2015
Response to:5546
Rick, I can loan you a tool that was made by a fellow KJ owner. It compresses
the springs and allows for an easy assembly. Just let me know and I can lend
it to you. Kris. 402-890-3505

----- ORIGINAL MESSAGE FOLLOWS -----
I've got a strange problem that I want to run by the group here to see what
the experts think.
The front fork of Chris's KJ were making some noise and he was told the
damping spring will break and cause some noise issues. I pulled the for apart
this afternoon and found the cylinder that houses the damping spring is
striking the steering head in two spots on compression.

My initial thought is that something is bent and although the main fork tubes
are tapered everything appears to be good. At some point I noticed the yoke
at the top of the damping rod that attaches to the stem on the handlebar
center was ground to provide clearance.

The photo is of the backside of the front section and you can see where it was
hitting and the clearance yoke.

After thinking about it I feel the most likely scenario is the handlebar got
replaced at some point with one that had a different gooseneck stem locating
the top of the damping rod. Were there variations on that? If this one is higher
and not as long it would explain all the trouble.

Now the stupid question. When I go to reassemble the fork, what is the trick
to compressing all the springs at once?

Thanks,
Rick