• 2 Stroke Husqvarna Motorcycles Made In Italy - About 1989 to 2014
     WR = 2st Enduro & CR = 2st Cross

  • Hi everyone,

    As you all know, Coffee (Dean) passed away a couple of years ago. I am Dean's ex-wife's husband and happen to have spent my career in tech. Over the years, I occasionally helped Dean with various tech issues.

    When he passed, I worked with his kids to gather the necessary credentials to keep this site running. Since then (and for however long they worked with Coffee), Woodschick and Dirtdame have been maintaining the site and covering the costs. Without their hard work and financial support, CafeHusky would have been lost.

    Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been working to migrate the site to a free cloud compute instance so that Woodschick and Dirtdame no longer have to fund it. At the same time, I’ve updated the site to a current version of XenForo (the discussion software it runs on). The previous version was outdated and no longer supported.

    Unfortunately, the new software version doesn’t support importing the old site’s styles, so for now, you’ll see the XenForo default style. This may change over time.

    Coffee didn’t document the work he did on the site, so I’ve been digging through the old setup to understand how everything was running. There may still be things I’ve missed. One known issue is that email functionality is not yet working on the new site, but I hope to resolve this over time.

    Thanks for your patience and support!

125-200cc Setting fork height & axle binding

W

Watky

Husqvarna
A Class
Almost all suspension website's say to set the fork height in the triple clamps with a ruler or digital callipers.
This website uses a different method by using the axle to set the correct fork level.
http://www.brucessuspension.com/kb3.htm
This next step is VERY IMPORTANT. This is the PROPER WAY to install forks. ATTENTION – if improperly installed, the forks can’t work to their full potential. First install the left fork (left is determined as if you were sitting on the bike) into the triple clamps. (A little WD 40 sprayed on the fork tubes will make them slide in easier.) The measurement you took before you removed the forks will allow you to reinstall the left fork at the proper height. VERY IMPORTANT – Torque the pinch bolts to factory specs. Next, install the right fork in the triple clamp at approximately the same height as the left fork and LIGHTLY tighten ONLY ONE of the pinch bolts. This next step is CRITICAL –install the axle into the forks, grab the axle between the left and right fork, and begin rotating the axle. As you rotate the axle, loosen the pinch bolt on the right fork and move the right fork up and down until you locate the place where the axle turns most freely. Now, at this position, torque the pinch bolts to factory specs. Install the wheel and brakes, and tighten the axle and/or axle nut. Torque the axle pinch bolts on the LEFT FORK ONLY. Now, you need to work the forks up and down. The best way is to tie the cycle down in/on your trailer, or ride the cycle SLOWLY up and down the driveway, and pump the front brake level several times, making the forks move deep into the travel. Now you can TORQUE the RIGHT axle pinch bolts.

The issue I'm having if I set the fork height by a ruler is once the axle bolt is torqued up the fork lug binds on the axle making it impossible to get the right side fork leg to align, even with a srew driver gently wedged in the axle lug. Loosen the axle nut slightly and the fork lug can move freely. Install the axle through just the right fork and there is no binding.
Should I use the above method even if one for ends up 1 - 3 mm higher/lower then the other fork in the triple clamps.
Or is this binding a sign of a stuffed axle?

Any input would be appreciated.
 
I read in another thread to measure both fork overall lengths, and subtract the difference from above the clamp. So I guess different heights is fine. I'd never heard of it before but it makes great sense. I'll be doing it. Yours is just a different way of doing it which may even be more accurate.
 
Yes & yes. I've been doing it this way for awhile now. My now ex suspension guy evened them out once & I mentioned that it caused axle bind. He asked why & I said "I don't know, you put the forks together"............
 
yup. super important getting it squared and free. fixing one right now, see the burn mark on the stantion? every little bit helps to not make that happen.

burn.jpg
 
think this is all i got of that one, denick/deburr (both sides were a mess), polish, change springs to 48's and new seals...it's back together now...sorry

001.JPG
 
Just changed my fork oil yesterday, drained out 850ml total between both forks. I pumped and pumped then let them drain on end over night. I needed to add 950ml total to get my fork oil height set to 120mm. Maybe that's why I was bottoming out over jumps. The oil that came out looked like 10w oil I would say comparing it to the 5w Belray I installed.
I'm wondering too about the installed fork height above the triple clamp.
Looking forward to see what the boingers do now :)
 
When I first got my little Husqvarna I was getting pretty frustrated because the forks were extremely harsh to a point of being quite punishing. I knew breaking them in was a factor but I had a feeling that something just wasn't right. I did the 50mm Marzocchi CC fork bleed process linked here which helped a little but it was still extremely harsh, so much so that the bike had spit me off a couple of times due to the front wheel locking in grassy braking situations. I knew I HAD to have some type of binding issues going on.

So I searched the web for "fork binding issues" or something similar and came across basically this exact procedure that some fellow had posted on another dirt bike forum and I tried it. Sure enough my throttle side tube is a couple of mm longer then the other one and needs to set slightly higher in the clamps...

The difference was drastic and pretty much eliminated my woes. I was extremely re-leaved.
 
Have tried setting the fork height with the axle which does have the forks at a different hight above the triple clamp, but it's making no difference with the binding once the axle nut is torqued up. I'm thinking a new axle is needed.
Loosen the axle nut slightly and the right side fork lug can move freely. Tighten the nut up and the binding is there.
 
the nut should be 3-4 fingers tight. just snug. then snug the axle pinch bolts next to it. with the right side pinch bolts still loose you should be able have the "claw" float around on the fat part of the axle a little. if not something is bent! pull the axle and check for straight on a pane of glass, or, for runout in v-blocks w/ a dial indicator. check for burrs/debris/damage in the right "claw" and on the fat part of the axle too. when you snug the nut on the left side, then, the left side pinch bolts, it should not pull the right side "claw" with it, same should float freely and you can then tighten same and both satntions with then be squared.
 
All of the tips pvduke are very good ones, But,,,
The triple trees could be bent, so that fork legs aren't true in the X and Y plane. Seen it a few times.
I have a piece of plate glass that I lay on the front of the tubes and make sure it lays pretty flat. Also check inside dimension of the tubes top and bottom and make sure they are fairly parallel.
You may also have a problem with a bent inside slider or two. The checks I mentioned will reveal if you have one problem or the other.
When I think I have bent triple trees or inner sliders for sure and have the forks apart I roll the inner sliders on a flat surface or turn them between V blocks
Edit, with the forks on the bike, another test is to rotate the outer sliders in the triple trees and see if the axle binding changes.
 
Got a new axle, the standard type that doesn't have the axle puller welded onto it.
This seems to work better, still a bit of binding, but gently inserting a flat head screw driver into the right fork axle lug claw allows the claw to slightly move & jump back into place when the forks are bounced up and down which is good and something the old axle with the axle puller wouldn't do.

One note though, is it normal for the end of the axle to sit 2mm - 3mm inside the axle lug claw?

Thanks all for your help and input. There definitely seems less stiction in the top part of the stroke when you gently bounce the bike up and down now.
 
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