DR650 Replace Fork Seals & Install Gold Valve Cartridge Emulators 

Geez, everyone here is an expert suspension tuner - give the guy kudos for making an excellent tutorial. You can learn plenty from it.

Greetings from the USA m8! Thanks for making the video - late comment to the party that could have been addressed - when loosening the fork cap 22mm bolts in the triple clamps, loosen the top clamp pinch bolts a hair as they are binding the fork tube and making it harder to break that fork cap loose.

Just wanted to add a little on your comment about using 4 turns because you have a safari tank. Don't confuse the spring preload on the imulator to spring preload on the fork springs. You want to increase fork spring preload to bring the level of the frontof the bike back up with a full safari tank (sag). More turns on the imulator spring will create stiffer compression damping. Fork spring = ride height, based on weight of load, imulator valve spring is increase or decrease in compression damping= how fast the forks react. Just my .02 cents.... take it with a grain of salt... I put valve emulators in my DR and it is a world of difference. I remember how disappointed you were after just the springs, when you could feel the difference with the rebuilt rear shock. All in the valving. Another great "how to" Mark. ps if you pour the oil in before you put the springs in, getting rid of air bubbles is easier. As the forks take up space and make the oil closer to top of fork tube.

Excellent. Particularly like the “take the video as you go along “ 😂😂😂. I learned that. The hard way. Thanks for great content

The bands you refer to are the bushes, when you try to knock the seals in you also are knocking the smaller of the 2 bushes into the fork leg, that's why it takes a little extra to try and seat the seal. Extra little tip is to measure the oil level in each fork leg to make sure it is the same in both, compress the fork all the way down, without the springs and measure the height from the oil to the lip of the leg. From memory the DR is 165mm, the smaller the gap, ie 160 will make the fork stiffer, the larger the gap ie 170 the softer the fork, basically making the air gap larger or smaller. Great idea the 25 mm box section, engineering genius at work Mark. 👍👍👍

Not sure if you'll see this comment on an older video, but Thanks! I'm an average bloke in Wisconsin, USA who finds your how-to videos a must watch before I tackle a job on the DR. Needless to say I also enjoy the other channel content as well.

Mark, just now got around to watching this. I removed my forks and took to local mechanic for new seals/dust covers (Triumph Tiger 800 XR, street version). Wish I had watched this first, would have saved me more than a few $. Great video,please just keep being yourself. Also, some of the comments below help explain better so thanks to all that reply.

Just a suggestion Mark, you should have used the spring tension to slacken the bottom bolts that hold the damper rod also good for holding everything in place to line them up easily. Great video though!

Nice and thorough video with explanations and close-ups. I now feel confident I could do it myself! Thanks for posting brother.

Great video. I am a Honda guy and I got my DR because your videos. I love it! Chers from Clearwater Beach, Florida.

Hey man loved the vid , it was very detailed and your trial and error approach helped me learn, thank you.

Really great videos Mark, I'm enjoying them very much! Thanks guy!

I'm glad u made videos like this. Good reference. Good to see these things done by someone else before I attempt anything on mine to screw up.

You _have_ to drill the damper rods. Also 1 1/2" PVC pipe work great for driving the seals.

Thanks for your great detail Mark. Well done mate !

Best video I’ve seen on this job! Top bloody job as always Mark! 😜👍🏻🍺

Good job mate, looking forward to hearing about the results.

Enjoyed and learned...thanks! Looking forward to the test ride. (I know, I'm behind on vids again. Life...)

Did you remember to drill out the dampening control holes in the damping rods to delete there effect .. cos you want the emulators to have full control of the dampening duties .. it totally transformed my forks, I started looking for bumps to hit instead of avoiding them .. Amazing improvement.

When I remove the 8mm bolt on the bottom of fork I use an impact gun and have been able to take apart and put back together with out having to hold the damper rod inside. I have done this for friends and for customers when I use to work on motorcycles and have never had a problem. I just don't go crazy with the impact gun when tightening the bolt so not to strip out the threads. Hope this helps if you ever do this again with the DR style of forks. It will not work on inverted forks that are found on sport bikes and full motocross bikes.

Great video, ill be doing this to my DR650 once the parts arrive 😁

Another Great posting. Got my stickers the other day , all the way to USA, Thanks Much! Plan to throw em on my '97' Valkyrie. "Eat your heart out Harley riders", lol.

2:34 Always use the ring end of the spanner if its at all possible .

Thanks for putting this up mark . I'm gonna try the F.F.R.C. emulators soon and it helps fallowing along to become familiar . Was wondering when you are going to install the dampener into the forks ? The fork brace does stabilize wobble with full nobs on especially bumping off rocks and tree roots . I suspect the dampener will help as much . Keep um coming ; -)

hey mark you got a mention by "Dino's Tinker shed in canada a while ago on taking the rear shocker out. Ive just watched a video that he put on about doing fork seals on he's DR 650. both yours and he's was very good. thanks great video..

I know this is super late...... but what a great, great video for us shadetree mechanics..... funny thing; I don't even have a DR650............

Awesome job greetings from the super ancient megalithic city of TIAHUANAKU BOLIVIA 🇧🇴

You forgot to drill larger holes into the dampening rod for more oil flow. The emulator is doing minimal work because there is reduced oil flow

Thanks for braving this new territory for you and sharing the video! I'm about to throw some emulators into my DR this weekend- this video definitely helped alleviate some questions and concerns I had. A quick comment that I learned from a suspension manufacturer after saying the same thing as you; it's a DAMPING rod, not DAMPENING rod. Dampening makes you wet, damping makes you fast:)

Cool Mark! One of my forks seals are leaking, so i'm about to undergo the same surgery as you. This video really makes it much more manageable in my head :D Might do it soon!

Aren't you supposed to drill extra holes on the dampening rod? If you don't then the dampening rod is still badly affecting the compression and rebound.

Mate always use the ring end on the spanner on your motorcycle stops you from damaging from the nut especially on those aluminium for tube nuts can see

Wow your a good teacher

grazie, mi è stato utile per smontare la mia forcella. 👍

without drilling out or adding extra holes for free flow of the fork oil the cartridge emulators are worse than useless. The whole point of the emulators is to allow for adjustment of the oil flow rate which is what dampens the suspension. The factory drilled holes are designed to restrict the oil flow as best needed for factory springs, oil weight and the average load. Cartridge emulators are wonderful things along with progressive springs and a willingness to fiddle around with preload and spacers and air gaps, I have them in my forks but they cannot do their job without drilling out and adding to the factory holes. it's way cheaper and easier to change your fork oil weight and volume. you have to open the forks to adjust the dang things after installation anyway.

I reckon you could have used the “tool” to help push the damper rod in when you were about to put the 8mm Allen bolt in the bottom of the fork. Was that not an option?

Great video. The only way this works ,without drilling additional damping rod holes, is to decrease the viscosity of the fork oil. Cogent DDS design only recommends about 5 wt oil, compared to 15wt . The 5 wt allows for increased flow through the stock damping rod holes. Not sure how much...I will stick with drilling holes and using the Emulators.

Good job, great tutorial, I would of spilled oil all over the place.

Hey Mark I'm curious if the Emulators were worth it in your opinion ? Thanks

Please loosen top triple clamp before undoing nut on top of fork. It’s a pinch clamp.

When undoing nuts bolts etc always use the ring end of the spanner when and where you can also undo those top pinch bolts on the triple clamp will make it easier undoing the fork cap

Hey mark a cheapo toothbrush is a ripper tool for cleaning little "crevasses"........ another pro tip for next time 😁👍👍👍

What this guy doesn't say is that the racetech gold valves only control the compression damping and not the rebound damping. The rebound damping is far more important.

I had a crash not to long ago on my dr, and the wheel points slightly to the left. What should I check/ do to fix it? Any suggestions/tips?

So what's the function of that is it just a moveable spacer?

Mark, I wish you would address the issue of drilling holes. Both the Racetech and Procycle people say 6 x 8mm holes are required. You mention briefly in passing that Vince Strang Motorcycles say you don't. It is a crucial point in the whole exercise, to drill or not to drill. What is the evidence for this?

I'm looking forward to your next video about what you think of those gold valves. I'm considering doing the same upgrade to my DR soon.

Spray some WD40 on the staunchions so they slip out easier and usually without leaving wiggle marks: also loosen the bottom cap head while the forks are loaded up, it usually undoes without having to shove things down the tube to hold the dampening rod.

Mark please get yourself a breaka bar you are making your life so bloody hard for no go reason. Kind regards a fellow Victorian. Levage is your friend!

Great Job Mark, you make it look easy, but I bet I could F%*k it up somewhere along the line. Cheers Johnno

You need to drill (much) bigger holes on the original damping rods. Otherwise now you have 2 damping systems working at the same time!

🤙

According to the Race Tech website, the emulators will not function as intended unless you drill out the original holes on your damper rods. I didn't see you drill anything or even mention it.

i find it very interesting to watch you doing average jobs with inferior tools and almost zero knowledge. youre doing well btw. so painful to watch someone using t-allens though. reminds me of when i was first learning, youre breaking way less stuff though. good on you.

How did you cut the spacers .?

I just checked Race Tech's installation guide on their website and this guy totally did these forks wrong.....the damper rods require drilling when using these valves, Race Tech #4301. Too bad he screwed the pooch.

👍👍👍😎

you should have drilled or enlarged the damper oil holes, without drilling the emulators are pretty much useless with minimal to no impact.

Turn on CC and skip to 33:20.

He didn't drill or braze the dampener rods.....hmm.

I’ll pay you to do mine lol

...... and the screams when something punctures your skin! Ahhhhh .... Quiet gentle suburbia ... >8^)

So.....You have to dismantle your forks everytime you want to make an adjustment? No thanks!