Aprilia SL-1000
Fork Spring Replacement
(Continued from page 1... click here to go to the start of this
document.)
Fork Removal
Procedure
Remove the fork
leg
- You do not have
to remove the forks to replace the fork springs. But I
really believe it would be more messy and time consuming to
work with them in place. So, I recommend placing the bike
on a suitable front stand. Both Pit Bull and CFM Motorsports
(Woodcraft) make front stands to fit the Falco steering
head (27 mm pin is required, as well as unbolting of the
air dam and top of the horn cover). However you choose to
suspend the front of the bike, do not weight the wheel or
forks, as these are being removed! Remove the front wheel
(unbolting the calipers helps--see the owner's manual), and
remove the front fender (four bolts, very easy). Slip the
axle back through the forks.
| CFM front stand in use. Forks
are ready to be removed. You probably shouldn't hang your calipers
by the hoses. I propped them up after I got the fork removed. Slip
the axle through the forks and you can unbolt one without it dropping. |
- Working on only
one fork for now, loosen the pinch bolts on the upper
triple clamp and clip-ons.
- Before removing
the fork leg, break loose the preload caps (the red
anodized caps). These are very soft aluminum. I've
deformed mine a bit using a 12-pt socket on them, so now I
use an open ended wrench that's been taped to protect the
anodizing. Try not to scratch the tank or smash the
instrument panel. If you have a soft-jawed pipe vice, you
can skip this step and break the cap loose later.
- Loosen the
pinch bolts on the lower triple clamp, keeping the axle
through the fork to keep it from dropping to the ground.
Remove the axle and carefully pull the fork out of the
clamps from the bottom.
- Take the fork
leg somewhere clean,
and clean the fork leg of any dirt before you open it up.
During disassembly, it's helpful to have a way of clamping
the fork in an upright position while you work. A soft
jawed vice will work. I stacked up about four used tires
on a square of carpet and placed the fork in there. Even
if the fork tipped, it couldn't tip enough to spill oil.
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disassembly procedure.
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