Built my own fork spring compressor

[cyclic]

Needed to replace fork seals and install heavy "fat man" front spring. So I built my own fork spring compressor. Started by using a common clamp from sears. Then added a spacer and piece of tubing. A little bracing and some nuts welded to the outside. I used a mini lathe to cut the ends of the bolt down, but you could easily use a grinder or dremel tool to get the same effect. All of this came from my scrap pile and a clamp I hadn't used in years. basically a free tool. Once I got done building my tool, I was able to replace the seals, change the springs, and fork oil, both tubes together in under 2 hours.

 

[Tufbusa]

Cool Beans!

Necessity leads to invention!

 

[Ludicrous Speed]

That looks like it is probably a hell of a lot faster than the one I made! And mine takes two people to start

 

[Mr.Nix]

Sweet love making tools

 

[GIXERHP]

Very nice but you should make a pin that goes into the lower leg hole, for stability, you dont want a loaded spring to be launched!

 

[cyclic]

I found it was easier to just pull the whole assembly out of the fork tubing, didn't have to worry about the rod falling down inside. Basically I broke the caps loose, pulled it out of the triple. Impact on the bottom bolt and drain. Unthread the cap and dampner assembly, and remove. Pull the slider assembly and clean. Pull out the old seals, clean it and install new seals. Replace the slider in the body in the new seals. Place the dampner assembly in the tool and compress. Undo the fork cap from the rod, release the pressure, and replace the spring. Recompress with new spring, adjust the rod thread depth, and reattach the cap. Release pressure and place inside the fork assembly. Tighten down the bottom bolt and add fork oil from top. Thread cap down and reinstall fork assembly on bike.
By doing the dampner on the bench without the outer body if the rod slips down you have plenty of space to lift it up to reinstall.