I want to remove and disassemble the sliders & covers on a 2013 Slim for powdercoat. I'm fairly competent with a wrench but I don't want to bite off more than I can chew here either. I do have the Service Manual...

Removing the fender, caliper, wheel, lights and shrouds are all no-brainers, but after that it gets a little tricky.

Is this something I ought to leave to the pros, or can a shade-tree mechanic do this job? One dealer I spoke to wants $500 to do it, and that's just the dis-assembly and reassembly with new seals, oil and drain screws. Another dealer said closer to $200.
The powdercoat is still on me. So, one of these guys is wrong.

I could do most of the work I suppose, and just remove the entire tube assemblies and take those in, which should cut down considerably on the labor costs - but I'm wondering if I should even attempt that. I don't want to mess this up...

Any suggestions, gotchas?

 

I disassembled mine last winter. It's an 05, but should be pretty much the same. I'm not a mechanic, but handy with tools and had never done this job before, so I was in the same boat as you.

Complete dis-assembly is really pretty simple, here are the basic steps (after wheel removal etc):

1. remove top nut (fill nut) from top tree
2. drain fork oil
3. remove damper bolt from bottom of tube (this will require an impact gun and the proper size long allen socket) It is easiest to do with the fork still pinched by the bottom tree as the whole assembly will want to spin.
4. loosen pinch bolt and remove fork from trees
5. remove top nut from forks. there will be slight pressure from the springs, use caution so it doesn't go flying across the garage.
6. remove dust boots from fork lower
7. remove retaining clip (it's under the dust boot)
8. use fork tube as a slide hammer to pound out the seals
9. remove all springs and make a mental note of the reassembly order

If you're only looking to remove the lowers, it's even easier:

1. remove fork top cap
2. drain oil
3. remove bottom damper bolt (see above)
4. remove dust cap and seal retaining clip
5. use tube as a slide hammer to pound out the seal

When installing new seals, I used a piece of PVC pipe that fit over the tube to evenly seat the new seal.

It's a lot easier than it sounds, and nothing is complex about the setup. You will want to replace the seals, damper bolts and crush washers, drain screws and crush washers, and obviously new oil. Also, when you get the lowers back from powder, CLEAN THEM OUT THOROUGHLY! The left over blast media can scar the **** out of the tube bushings! While you've got them apart, it's a great time to install a lowering kit too.

Do a search on youtube also, quite a few good vids on the subject.

 

this might help ya.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=UdEB76xsxWk
.

 

I just installed chrome lowers on my Deluxe, should be the same as pretty much all standard forks are the same or similar. It took more time to take the forks off then to swap the lowers. It is pretty simple to do and definitely something you should be able to pull off.

A few tips that I learned is to undo the bolt on the bottom of the forks before you take the spring out and when putting the top cap back on to use a wrench against your leg to hold the cap steady then push with one hand to compress the spring and spin the fork tube to install the caps. That was the hardest part I think

 

Good Info...!

Thanks!

 

Now that the holidays are over, today I decided to tackle the job.
Thanks to you guys it went smooth as silk, and those videos were great.
Nothing to it when you have a better idea what you're doing, and the right tools.

It's off to the powdercoat shop on Monday... and it sure beats paying the dealer $500+, not including parts just to take them apart and reassemble - and I'd still have to pay for the powdercoat separately!