Thanks Brent, Glenn, Richard (e-tech)!!!

[rgranger]

This is the first time that I have come back from riding without my hands and wrists killing me. We rode some pretty chunked up stuff from the hare scramble last weekend, so it was a pretty good test. I still need to adjust/check the rear sag, but the bike handled much better. Could have been my glued up stacks last time, but I think that I had to much "chopper" in the forks, dropped them about 12mm and it was pretty darn sweet today. Maybe a little more playing with the rebound ( now that I actually have some adjustment - woot ).

I picked up that "extreme hose kit" from KevinCycleracing, and got that put on last night. No throttle issues today. I did find a few spare bits from the old fuel cap in there, never knew that I was missing them

All I can say is "Thanks to all of you that helped!!!", i was about to chunk this thing, it was pretty sweet today.

Robby, want to take it for a ride before I mess it up again?

Cheers!
Rob in Katy!

 

[BrentMartell]

You Be Welcome. LOL.

I knew my forks worked pretty well for me so it is good to know you feel the difference.

 

[Idahocharley]

The threads concerning potential problems with the 2011 Zoke 45's proved accurate to my EC 300 SD model as well. First ride last weekend and the clickers did not even come close to fixing anything on the forks.

Read the threads here and tore into them this morning - none of the four pistons in the forks were completely drilled in the oil passages. Fixed that and upped the rebound valving and lightened the Base Valve. Like a different bike now - haven't been on the trails yet but blasting the neighborhood ditches and bumps it is soooo much better.

May need some fine tuning (oil height) and maybe HS on the Base Valve but I think I'm on the way to enjoying this bike. You guys saved me much time and effort. I found Brent's and Glenn's postings very informative and positive through this forum. Thanks again guys for all the posts

 

[rgranger]

Followup: thanks again Richard, Brent and Glenn.

I settled on the .46kg springs for the front for now, going to try them for a while. I also went with a 5.8 spring on the back. Not sure that I will be able to get the sag right, I am at 40mm static and 90 rider, so if I add more preload to bring static down to 35, that will also bring down my rider sag.

I finally got to ride it Sunday for about 30 miles of some nasty stuff and it did pretty darn well. I wound up backing a lot of rebound damping out of both ends and it seems to turn in the washboard stuff much better. I guess I was compensating for it being under sprung with too much RBD. It is not the Cadillac ride that it was before, but it handles the hits and seems to turn with more authority. I think that I am going to beef up the spenders on the KTM now

Rob

 

[GMP]

Sounds a little stiff in the rear there Rob. 90mm is very little race sag for a GG. What do you weigh and what is the spring preload now?

 

[rgranger]

I am an easy 240-245 geared up. so, by the numbers I should be a 5.8. Just talked to Brent and he said the same thing Glenn, so I have the last 5.6 from EE on order should be here wednesday, so maybe I will have time to get it on. my darn preload nut is getting pretty bunged up. I think that I had about 5mm of preload on the spring, just enough to hold it solid.

 

[GMP]

The 5.6 sounds more like it and a better match for the .46s up front. When you have the shock off, clean the threads on the body and preload nuts real well. Put a very light coat of antiseize on and run the nut up and down a couple of times. Also coat the bottom of the nut, washer, and top of spring slightly. This makes preload adjustment a lot easier. Don't beat the crap out of the preload ring with a drift, instead use a tire iron as a pry bar against the frame, left side to tighten, right to loosen. I made a special tool for this with a soft plastic tubing cover that sticks to the frame and won't slip, but a tire iron is OK. With everything clean you should be able to twist the spring and get almost where you want before this though.

 

[rgranger]

Ohhh! thanks for the ideas. I did at least use some belray waterproof grease on the top and bottom this time. I will clean and use some aluminum anti-seeze that I forgot about until this weekend I am supposed to have an aluminum nut coming, but not sure when that will be. if the spring arrives before the nut, I will just practice RR of the spring one more time. At somepoint I should get good at it I forgot, until about 10 minutes into fighting the thing this last time, that I needed to raise the swingarm up to allow the shock to come out - LOL. Getting old sucks, but I meet new friends every day.

 

[GMP]

A varition of the shock removal I have done, providing your spring comes off the shock easy(unlike most Sachs) is to remove the spring while the shock is trapped in the bike, and extract the shock damper separately. Sounds weird, but it can be done without removing the pipe(just silencer). This is a big + if you have a Hyde combo.

 

[BrentMartell]

That is a new one to me, sweet. I have a hyde plate.

Rob, I didn't think I could do it but I proved myself wrong. I can, bike on stand, turn the spring by hand and change the preload IF the threads are clean. I made a bit of mess of my nut until I figured out that could actually get the thing to turn with my fingers.

Listen, it aint easy son, but ifn I can dooz it, anywon can.

Get that back end settled down and let us know how she does. I think I am in the 110 area right now. Seems good.

 

[rgranger]

Update

I put the 5.6 rear spring on this week, tried it out saturday and didn't like it much. the front did not feel planted and it just didn't feel right. I started with about 5mm of preload, when we got back to camp I added about another 4-5 and it really changed the bike up. I think that I am at someplace where I can have fun on the thing now! Thanks again everyone!
Rob