As the title suggests, about 8 hours start to finish, including 2 different trips to Lowe's for an impact wrench & proper PVC pipe.

Bike: 2009 FLHX ABS


List of materials:
2 Fork Seals
2 6mm copper allen screw w/ copper washers
2 Quad ring seals
2' length of 1.5" Sched 40 PVC pipe
Harley Chrome Front end kit for Touring models w/ ABS
2 16oz bottles of Screamin' Eagle heavy fork oil

Tools used:
36mm axle wrench (found in toolkit) used on fork caps
6mm long allen socket
Rubber mallet
Air impact wrench


First things first - need to remove brake calipers & abs sensor, front wheel, fender, outer fairing, turn signal mounts, ignition switch and fairing cap. All very straightforward per the manual.

I recommend not turning your forks to the lock position when removing the switch, just be conscious not to engage the fork lock by turning the forks to the left stop while the switch is removed, but its easy enough to drop the switch back in to get them unlocked again. If you do.

Once the bike is stripped, get out your drain pan, drop it below the forks and either pull your drain screw or just remove the 6mm bolts. The slider will want to rotate while you do this, and after an hour of trying to get the bolts out, I settled on using an air impact wrench (manual suggests this) and it took about 2 seconds. I already had a compressor so I just picked up a $30 1/2" drive Kobalt from Lowe's and it worked great.

With the bolts out, the fluid will drain - I advise you let it drain for about 15 minutes unless you want to clean up a mess. Slide the lowers down from the cowbells, and use a flatblade screwdriver to remove the seal retaining clip. With the clip removed, use the lower like a slide hammer and give it a few hard pulls and it will come down, probably taking the damper rod stop with it, but the bushings and washer will still be on the fork.

With the lowers off, use the axle wrench found in your toolkit to remove the fork caps. Loosen the pinch bolts and slide the fork tubes out. Then slide the old fork seal up over the top of the tube and off, and slide a new fork seal on.

With the forks off, go ahead and swap out your cowbells - easy enough.

Now, place the stop back on the bottom of the damper rod, and slide the assembly into your chrome lower, and thread the new 6mm copper bolt & washer in, torque to spec. I found it easier to do with the fork upside down, using a screwdriver through the mounting hole for the caliper to hold the slider still while torquing in the 6mm bolts. Don't forget to install your drain plugs and new washers - hopefully your kit came with allen head drain plugs, mine did.

Flip the fork back over, get your 1.5" PVC pipe - you'll have to cut the pvc along the length to allow it to spread open just enough to fit it over the fork tube. Make sure your pvc is clean, I also recommend coating it with some of your old fork oil to help slide it over and down the tube - its a tight fit.

Using your mallet, drive the PVC and fork seal down into the slider until it bottoms out, and then replace the clip. With the completed forks and your cowbells installed, put the fork back in the tree and tighten the pinch bolt to spec. Poor in your 10.7 oz of fork oil, thread a new quad ring seal onto the fork cap, and then thread the fork cap and snug it up with the axle wrench.

That's it! Put your bike back together and admire your work! It's really simple!

Follow the manual when reinstalling the ignition switch, I just tried to stick it back in and wound up turning on the ignition and couldn't get the switch to go in - I spent a half hour and finally got the tumblers lined back up and got the switch reinstalled.

My Hogpro wheels are supposed to arrive Thursday - I'll post pics once they are on.

 

So you didn't have to remove the inner fairing & stuff, then - just the outer & switch cap cover?

Cannon

 

Great write up. Thanks. It shouldn't be too much different for my RG. Think I'll start collecting parts now and do it this next winter.

Can I PM you if I need advice?

Steve

 

any pix?

 

For anyone thinkin’ about doing this job, get or borrow an air impact wrench and a quality 6MM Extra Long HEX socket driver. I bought the Snap-On FAML6E, used a 3/8-inch to ½ -inch adapter and ½-inch air impact.

I could see trying to use a pull bar could risk damaging the lower slider bolt head and if that happened then the job just got a whole lot tougher and whole lot longer. Spend the money on the proper tools and keep your sanity is my suggestion

As Drew posted, immediately the bolt comes out. I also noticed that the original bolts had silicone on them. The manual didn’t say to use any but I did anyway…sparingly. I believe the sealer that the manufacturer uses has a lot to do with the difficulty of removing them without an impact wrench.

 

Yes - feel free to PM away. I really can't stress how straight forward everything is. The only "challenging" part is the ignition switch.


You have to remove the outer because you'll want to unplug the turn signals, and the lower fairing mount below the headlight - which all attach using the same screws. Don't have to mess with the radio or anything else - just the cap.


I didn't take pics during - I'll snap a few when my wheels arrive and I mount them up too.

 

saving this thread, thanks.

 

Got 2 questions arising from reading the service manual :

Do you know why they use a fork oil level gauge? I don't understand why its needed since we precisely measure anyway the amount of oil we put in the fork tube.

Would the fork holder tool have facilitated the job? Before reading what you've done, I thought we had to remove the fork tube and lower from the bike, clamp it in the holder and do the job.

I do not want to spend $$ on tooling that are nice to have but not totally necessary

Thanx in advance.

 

thanks for sharing . very helpful. there is another excellent right up on the ignitionswitch and cap somewhere on the forum for more details on that with a home made tool to get down in the switch
thanks

 

I did not use a holder or level gauge. I actually wrapped the forks in some foam wrap that came with my replacement springs and clamped in a bench vise. I tighten it just enough to loosen the nut. As far as how much oil, I measured out the approximate amount in a graduated plastic container I got from Home depot. I dont remember how much, but it was right out of my manual.