No Paul. Because I couldn't move the blue nut at all. Nether CW or CCW. And I applied quite a bit of force with the socket. But nothing. Both of them would not move at all in any direction. When I released the top cap from the fork I was expecting some sort of force pushing the top cup up but there was none. I think I've been riding all this time without any preload set. Shall I put some wd4 into it and let it be for a while? then see if it moves. Will this damage any internal components? Do you think I will need to disassemble the stepper motor?
I think you’ll have to disassemble the fork cap/preload adjuster/stepper motor and work out what’s going on within. I would have thought it unlikely to seize, it’s not exposed to the elements and is in an oil rich environment. However, it may be cross threaded . Is it impossible to turn both of them?
yes, both of them. I hope not. I took those forks to a Ducati mechanic in east London and what I discovered after was that he let me ride out without the rod attached to the top cap. He even told me before leaving that one of the fork was "a bit" loose". How do I know? When I removed the front wheel the stanchion could be pulled easily down with a touch of your hands, pouring oil out. I'm starting to wonder now what else he did butchered. That's why I decide to do the work myself. I'm considering if with the preload always at minimum ( I presume this being the case by the fact that the springs, when I removed them, didn't have any tension or tried to push the top cup up) could put extra strain on the oil seals making them fail prematurely. there could be another explanation which I found online in a posted service bulletin of many years ago. It really hard to come across any information from Ohlins, so thank you for your replies. As always any input from anyone reading this, it's always welcome. If I managed to get through this, hopefully the post will help someone else in the future.
I had a Monster 1100S a few years ago, from the day I got it there was always a clacking sound from the front under sharp braking. I lived with it, asked a few questions on here about it too, some said ‘Öhlins forks do that, it’s the shims inside them’. Not having had a bike with Ohlins before I just left it until it was time to change the fork oil at which point, rather than just drain and refill, I stripped and cleaned. I had never even tried to adjust the preload, my strip, clean & refill was the precursor to my first step on setting up the suspension for me. Like most, up until that point in time, I just bought a bike and rode it, but I wanted to learn more about suspension. I discovered one of the preload adjusters had either not been connected, or had only been connected with 1 thread and had become disconnected. The clacking I could hear was the 2 components bashing against each other inside the fork. Only one leg was providing preload. The internal thread on the adjuster was damaged as a consequence and I couldn’t just reconnect it. I managed to get it rethreaded at a suspension workshop and all was ok after that. I’ll see if I can find my posts about from a few years back.
I couldn’t find the posts on here but found some photos from the time In the last photo the top cap is the one with the damaged thread. These forks were not electronic so obviously don’t have the motor for the valving connected but that just unscrews. The guy only charged me €50 to clean up the threads. I forget the size now but they’re an odd thread, not something that’s found in your average tap & die set.
Hi. Just an update in case someone is reading this. I managed to free the sized bolt. Also I realized to unscrew the motor assembly from the outer shell you turn the blue nut clock wise. Fg860 and FG8650 Ohlins DES forks: So basically should be like this: Remove connections. Turn blue nut CCW until it stops and won't go anymore. With the special tool you undo the top cup a bit. Remove the fork and put it on a vice. Undo the top cup that at this point it will not detach itself. Then you pull down the outer tube. Withe a 32mm socket on top and 19mm open spanner on the nut under the cup, undo them and free the top motor. Be careful cause there is a long rod attached to it. If not look inside the larger rod still attached to the fork, it will be in there. This rod can be undone by simply pulling it. Do not bend it. Push the spring down with your hand and remove the nut from the top. Remove The spacer N1. Remove the spring. Drain the oil and the preload tube N3 will come out. Detach the outer tube from the inner one. Heat up the fork (which will help you a lot) a little so the removal dust seal, cir clip and oil seal and spacer will be much easier. Clean everything. If you want to clean inside the stepper motor, as I said before, you unscrew it CW. Install the spacer, new oil seal, cir clip and dust seal on the stanchion by putting some masking tape to the top of if to protect the seals going in. Remove the tape. Slide it in to the outer tube. Put everything on a vice in a way that doesn't move and it's protected from scratches. Heat up the outer tube near the part where the seal seat so it will be easier to push them in. With the help of a seal tool 48mm push the oil seal in making sure it seat well and past the grove where the cir clip will go. Put in the cir clip and the dust seal. With the fork standing upright, and no preload tube or spring in it, lower the outer tube to the max. Pour oil in and move the rod up and down for a while until the system is bled. I used a syringe with a tube attachment marked at 170mm from the top of the outer tube. Suck out any fluid until you have air coming into the syringe. The air gap again is 170mm with no spring or preload tube inside. once done, install the preload tube with the wider part on the top. Install the spring. Push the spring down and insert spacer N1. Push down (it requires some force) and screw the nut in. Minimum distance from the top of the rob must be 27/28mm. Screw in the stepper motor with the long thin rod attached to it. It slides inside the bigger rod. Move the nut to the bottom of the stepper motor. With a 19mm open spanner hold the nut and with a 32mm socket tighten the blue nut on the top to 20 Nm. Slide the outer tube up and screw it to the stepper motor. Tighter it to 20 Nm. (I find this easier to do when the fork in son the bike). Hope this help anyone trying to service those forks. And If anyone has any other tips please feel free to add.
