I have to do this to mine this winter also

 

Did my front end nuts on top of tree are not under pressure. I then took forks at to my mechanic to replace springs and seals. Use heavy weight fork oil.Saved some money and peace for mind that it was done rigth.

 

Does anyone know off the top of their head what size socket to use for the fork tube caps? Springs are at home waiting for me to put in after work today.

 

They are not that tight and you want to protect the chrome on the caps.

I have always used a large crescent wrench and put a piece of electrical tape on the jaws of the wrench

 

I've looked at pictures of these plugs...I'm thinking I could use some sort of socket to remove them?

 

An open end works well. if your talking about the plugs in your picture. I don't believe a socket will work since it only has two flats.

 

Thay arnt that tight, a good quality cresent or an open end works

 

HAPPY HAPPY, JOY JOY!
Installed the lowering springs tonight! My thanks to everyone who offered their assistance. Job went pretty well. I ended up having to remove each fork from the triple tree, so I did them one at a time. Just to confirm, the slider caps are NOT spring loaded or under any pressure! Taking off the fork tube plugs was easier than I thought it would be. Just clamped the fork in a vise and used a pair of vise grips on the plug ends. The spring pressure wasn't as bad as I anticipated. I know that people recommended using the heavy duty fork oil. I asked one of the mechs at the dealership what they normally do. They use the type E fork oil. Said that the heavy duty would give a much stiffer/firmer ride. For now, I'll try it out, and if I don't like how it feels/handles, I can always drain it and go heavier. So, I have the rear lowering kit on the shocks, and I have the progressive lowering springs on the front end, and the Arlen Ness 1" lowered kickstand. Overall, I am very happy with the end results. Being vertically challenged, 5' 5", I can now place both my feet firmly on the ground! Again, my thanks to everyone. This forum is a valuable resource for the D.I.Y.!

 

Show us some pics when you get a chance, how low did ya go?. Congrats..

 

I will take some pictures and upload them....I dropped the front, I guess, 2"?...I used a 3" spacer that progressive recommends....for the rear, the bolts say up to 2" lower, so I'm not sure. I can tell you this though. I can no longer slide my craftsman motorcycle/atv lift under my frame now :-(
Need to figure out a way to compensate for that?