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I thought I was going to learn about suspension lol

What I like to do to straighten my forks is to tighten the clamping bolts down just until you feel a little resistance, then spin the front wheel and hit the front brake, then carefully without twisting the forks tighten and torque the clamps. The force of the front wheel stopping abruptly straightens them out perfectly.

agree don't use a hammer. but don't tighten it. install your brake caliper leave finer tight. push down on the front end to "line" everything back up and torque to spec.

Agree with ya on using a rubber mallet, one of my most used tools! The title is a little off though as I think a properly set up suspension, by an expert, is one of the best mods people can have done to their bikes. However, if ya don't know how to disassemble the front end, it probably won't make much of a difference, lol!

People get offended very fast These days. Just because of a Little clickbait. The given Information in the actual Video helped me to learn something new about how to treat my bike, so it was worth every Minute of it. I am goin to adjust this on my bike in the next few days. Thank you very much!

If you leave the pinch bolts just a little loose (like a half turn or so from completely tight) and CAREFULLY roll around and lightly tap the front brake it will help align the front end. Then tighten the pinch bolts the rest of the way.

Great video, I was shocked at how many didn't know this. There is one thing I seen you do differently then I. It's always been known to me a setting the axle. How you wiggle it into place, we pull the bike off the stand and roll the bike forward and lock up the front brake. This makes the wheel run true. Do the same thing as you do, but before the "wiggle" tighten up your pinch bolts (just finger tight and the axle can barely move). Then hit the front brake "on the ground with forward momentum ". First time I've seen this little trick done before on KZfaq. Thanks for posting

Very good tip, man, thanks! I've noticed my front suspension being somewhat 'bindy', ever since the motorcycle shop took it apart. I will check the forks tomorrow! However, your title is a bit misleading. I do understand what you are trying to say. Better to have basic suspension set up right, than a crooked öhlins. Adam Riemann said to look out for overly tight bolts on the triple trees, for the same reason. Ride on man!

We all have our different way of doing things. Here is my way with experience as a road and race bike mechanic. Mount the wheel with out calipers. Tighten the pinch bolts on the opposite site of your nut or bolt. Tighten your nut or bolt to spec. Release pinch bolts again. Compress the fork "give it a good couple of pushes on the bars to compress it" to align the axle in the fork. Tighten the pinch bolts to spec. Mount the calipers and tighten to spec. Pump up the brakes and you're ready to go. Why i prefer to release the pinch bolts and then center the axle is because you then have all the preload on the bearings, spacer and internal spacer in your wheel and a low risk of the axle being misaligned in the fork mount. And installing the caliper at the end makes the pads mount up the the position of the disc and not the disc and wheel to the position of the pads.

I'll stick to the way I do it. Text book style! Read the manual. Follow the directions. I've worked on Yamaha dirt bikes for 25 years

i'll keep this in mind next time I work on my bike. I've always used metal hammers to take the axle out of the front and rear wheels for years. Never knew it made a problem like this. It's not huge but it's enough to cause a little extra wear and tear.

You are correct. The front axle has spaces and if you pound it in due to rust or age, it will damage the fitting. I noticed this when I purchased a 20 year old bike. Luckily, I went on eBay and found a spare part. Sanding or removing all the oxidation helps but I noticed the most important facet is to keep the rust off and lube it often. If you cannot keep the rust off, make sure the lubing part is regular. Once it is damaged, the front disc brakes will begin to wobble or become damaged under heavy braking. However, rebuilding the shocks have minimal effect on the real problem. IT IS A SHAME HOW PEOPLE ABUSE SUCH GOOD MACHINES.

You should grease the end you sanded , most grease the axel shaft , it's called a floating fork and compressing the front and a few times helps to set the floating fork in position, before tightening everything down. 👍

You are so right. Just because you paid a dealership doesn't mean it is done right.

I always apply a thin coat of lithium grease to the rods when replacing my tyres.

Maybe use a torque wrench too mate.

Good advice about not hammering the axle but the title is click baity

Cool. Lol, now I know why the manual said to grease the axle before install, I thought they meant it would just make the install easier (ha ha) , it didn't dawn on me that it needs to be able to move freely in the yoke so as not to bind up the entire set-up.

Great explanation. Even rear wheel alignment contributes a proper rolling and suspension action. Many dont understand these basics and as they are mostly educated by the experts or amateur experts who generally have their own concepts. Your vdo should be helpful

you should never ever ever ever have to hammer in an axle. a little grease goes along way on the axle. and if you feel you need to hammer it through something is wrong and miss aligned!

Good point not to damage your axle shaft, but everything else about pulling the fork out of alignment is mute. The bearing spacers won't allow the fork to pull in further than spacers allow. Now, if you loose a bearing spacer or put the wrong one, then it will either pull, or expand, the fork out of alignment; depending on the lack, or the extra thickness.

Great advice and vid. Just with the sand paper it is best used while lubricated with water or WD. You get a better finish with less effort.

My KTM manual agrees with you. Tighten axle nut first then activate font brake and push down on suspension several times to align front fork, then tighten pinch bolts. My mountain bike fork asks me to tighten the axle, then the left pinch bolts, then press down on suspension several times, then tighten the right pinch bolts. Best to read manual. I always thought tightening the pinch bolts first was the best way to keep from pinching forks. I was wrong.

you tightened the pinch bolts on one side and then tightened the axle up on the other which completely defeats the purpose of what you just said. Once you tighten the pinch bolts then the axle can no longer move so when you tighten the axle up it just pulls the forks in anyway lmfao. You should have used the Allen key slot that is provided for that purpose on the other side.

Helps if you spin the wheel and slam the brake on, that helps the axle and wheel settle in the right spot before you tighten the pinch bolts.

FJR Yamahas often have the axle bolt finger tight, and the steering collar not torqued correctly (head-set bearings loose). Good point on that style of hammer - should never touch a motorcycle !! My local shop went up in price . . . $90.00 to change a front tire, mount & balance, valve stem& shop towels - that's with me bringing in the tire. I do it myself now.

Lol nice framing hammer! I try to follow the manufacturer recommend install. I agree with the rubber mallet but you should not need that if the axel/ rod slides threw the lower fork. I also like to torque every thing I touch. that's just me. good video.

You should bounce the forks and brake test before tightening the clamping bolts on the right side of the bike.

I’ve heard of mechanics getting fired for using the wrong hammer. That’s a copper-hide jobby, or a rubber mallet. Ideally you won’t use a hammer on a wheel axle at all though. Properly cleaned and greased it should slide through with just a wiggle.

2:18 This is the part I had to go back through to figure out the problem he/you were having, perfectly clear now. I also like the humor about; ''being worked on by a 16 year old'', haha, yeah, I remember my mentality at 16, nothing wrong with being a kid, but at that age your brain is definitely not fully developed. lol.

Just be sure the disc pad, rotor are aligned and centered. Then lock it all down. The forks should center on the shaft bolt at that point... Be sure to grease the shaft with bearing grease that is water proof. We used Bel-Ray bearing grease to make sure the shaft does not seize in the hub...If it does seize. Then find the right size bolt head to fit the allen head end, double nut it. Then turn back and forth till it comes unstuck...

That's some great information. My project bike doesn't have this arrangement so my best shot is to measure everything precisely and machine it even better!

factory specifies don't tighting it in. always check torque wrench.

I usually leave the pinch bolts on the sliding side of the axle loose and just bounce the front suspension a few times then snug the bolts and torque em. never had an issue

The forks will never pull together and become misaligned when the axle is tightened because the dropouts on the forks will pull up on to the two spacers/dustcaps on each side of the hub, as long as the distance from the face of one spacer to the other is the same as the distance between centres on the lower triple clamp, it will be exactly the same every time and thr suspension will never bind.. the problem you may have if the axle doesn't pull all the way through is that as the bike is ridden, over jumps and through ruts and bumps and all, the axle may eventually work it's way all the way through the dropouts and the axle nut won't be tight on the dropout so you could potentially lose your axle nut. even so, as long as your pinch bolts are torqued..the axle will never fall out

Unbelievable, what an expert, allen key and a torque wrench for the axle, then torque the pinch locks bolts up, my cruiser the axle is torqued to 65 nm and the pinch bolts at 27nm, if you just tighten by hand, you will have loose wheels and or strip over time bolts, what an expert. and to be sure always put a dab of lock tight on bolts

Hi, first nut by hand, then bolts, then nut with tool (light), with other side loose shake front, brake or press. Then other side bolts...

It's an axle, not "the rod" and ditch the rubber mallet (...just put it back in your tool box) and get a urethane dead blow hammer... Now here I might be wrong, but all my friends who ride dirt bikes do all their own work...so for fun I ask how many guys actually work on their own bike vs taking it to a shop?

Nice work. Seriously, this is the best video I've seen on this subject.

the nut on your through axle should have 2 torque specifications, the first one should be around 20ftlb. use a torque wrench, then tighten the pinch bolts on your fork then finish tightening the nut to the second torque specification usually around 65ftlb.

Went to look at the description and just saw a shit ton of links. Very helpful Yeah, still doesn't explain why you don't need to "waste money on good suspension". Correctly setup suspension is a very good upgrade and will greatly improve traction and feel of the bike.

Nice vid man and a good point... you mostly do the same as what I do except at the end I undo the the first pinch bolts you tightened, bounce the forks with no brake, then retighten the pinch bolts. You are also correct that torque wrenches shouldn't be used on some things but I do like using them on wheel nuts.

Another thing I hate about rookie mechanics is the use of wrong-sized spanners. Now all my bolts are ruined! So sad indeed.

Mostly very good advice. Don't know where you ride but in soggy England I'd use a bit of copper grease on the axle and threads.

Excellent advice, thanks for making a video about this.

Well lol, funny you say "don't waste your money on suspension" the previous owner of my bike had it taken to a suspension shop to have it setup for a AA rider, nice for him bad for me, I took it to its first event and it was fun but it felt like it was trying to eject my spine... So now I have to go back to GTR suspension and spend more money to have them play with the PDS rear and the dreaded 4cs forks

You are incorrect in tightening the right axle clamp and then tightening the axle bolt on the left. You should use an axle key in the right hand end of the axle. Torque the axle. Align the forks by pushing down a couple of times on the steering stem nut. Then torque the axle clamps.

I needed to know this. Thank you for getting my attention with a great title and thumbnail.

Hey! I used your video to replace my seals. When I reassembled my forks, the suspensions was awful. Very stiff, dangerously so. So I disassembled everything and retorqued but I know my axle was not that free. I will try this tomorrow! Hope it solves and thank you!!

Great vid. I learned a lot, and I'm a seasoned rider. Title misled me, but the content was excellent.

well shit... now I gotta go out and redo mine.

Good advice, but the visuals were not good. For instance he was using a box wrench that didn’t fit properly and he didn’t tighten the axle or pinch bolts to spec with a torque wrench.

You installed the wheel incorrectly. You're supposed to torque the axle nut to manufacture recommended torque spec before doing the same with the pinch bolts. That's why the axle has a hex key hole on the end you sanded--so you can use a hex key (almost always either 17, 19, 22, or 24mm...there's a special combo tool for all of these on one 3/8 socket) to torque it first & properly align the front end. If you only get the axle nut hand tight, your forks will have camber instead of caster (reverse of the problem you described). Additionally, the title makes absolutely no sense for the purpose of the video. If you were trying to be clever, maybe change it to "Don't waste money on suspension if you can't properly install a wheel". If you're trying to be sensible, maybe change it to "How an improperly installed wheel can affect suspension". I usually like your videos but this one is just replacing terrible advice with bad advice with a misleading title.

I am going through older videos that you posted and I am very happy that I do. Excellent video and advice

Anybody who knows what they are doing knows that if you need to use a hammer putting the front axle back in you are doing it WRONG.

Use a tiny bit of blue locltite on the axle nut and tighten with a torque wrench to spec.

Good tip , and I agree people in shop are not perfect! Thank you!

The 16 year old’s who put your shock together with a hammer 🔨 gave you a 👎

You must tight the bolt on the proper kg/nm as the service manual says.

Your supposed to put grease on the axle shaft before you put it back together. Also why not replace that worn out front tire before you put it back together? Owner's manual is a true MX riders best friend. " Two bikes chrome pipes that's how I roll "

I learnt something very useful that I was not expecting.

very good down to earth vid thanks, always good to learn a new tip for fork alignment

3:39 Bike Trader Listing: ''Wifes bike, never off road, mostly parking lot use, about 4 hours total on bike, like new in every way.'' 😅😅✔✔🏍🏍

I appreciate what this gentleman id trying to show, but there are spacers in the wheel hub, bearings, and between the bearings and fork legs that align the fork tubes. What he is talking about is not possible. Yes a hammer can damage the axle tube and cause it not to enter the clamp area, but then the nut opposite just stops less "threaded on" on the opposite side of the tube. You cannot misalign fork tubes unless you don't put your spacers in or don't put them in the right place. Nevertheless, don't hammer your axle tubes.

Did anyone notice his rod is bent more than it should be,I'm surprised he did not see it.

now i see, i think it's the reason why my oil seals are wearing and leaking. thanks

There's a fork alignment tool you can get.

I'm not a tech by any means so this is a great help. thanks

I have never seen anyone using a waffle hammer for that but a regular hammer yes I have good advice

man,you're so right !!! about the wheel positiong AND ESPECIALLY ABOUT THE 16 YEAR OLD BRATT IN THE GARRAGE THAT DOESN'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT YOUR BIKE and does the job :)))))) and it's like that everywhere ....

wow! point to be noted! very informative bro. thanx!

Sounds like Luigi down at the pizza shop. "Mama miya!"

Title is a little mis leading lol. You should spend the money to get your forks serviced regularly. And your suspension should get set up to your weight, height, and riding conditions. Well worth the money. Other then tires the suspension is one of the most important factors on those bikes. Over about 60% of pro riders chose suspension as their one up grade to a stock bike. (Trans world motocross interview)

Video should be called, "don't waste your money on a torque wrench"

Few people too rough. Great vid.

i like it. fork seals are a pain in the ass to do pop

you know that most bikes have axle/wheel spacers, so you physically can't tighten the axle nut to the point where it pulls the forks together?as for the video title, spending money on suspension for your bike is probably THE best money you could ever spend on a bike. buying after market parts or having OEM parts set up for you is really important. get your sag set with your gear on, get your forks revolved, resprung and play with oil volumes, and same with your rear shock.

well # 1 if ur using any kind of hammer to put the axle back in something is wrong.! it should slid in with ease

Good basic instruction video. I think it will help many riders who are new to doing their own work. May I share this with some groups I follow?

You should find a great independent shop that you trust to work on your bike. I have a OCD German BMW & Mercedes Benz GWagen factory expert trained mechanic in Santa Fe, NM. He does excellent work, have taken 4 bikes to him, am totally happy. When I need to pay for work, I get what I pay for...

3:03 Thats what she says to me every night

metal on metal with no greese hmm sounds like good advice

Good advice. Thank you.

I don't understand why anyone would hammer the axle in when it's meant to be threaded in.

Great video mate

Thanks for the tip(s) bro!

Kiitos paljon hyvistä neuvoista.

honda cr125r and crf450r forks have a different set up when installing the wheel and axle

My rod is for fun my axle is for my wheel. Your hammering is from crash rash. Just look at the rest of the fork bottom.

That YZ/WF has had a hard life....He's right of course, but I was expecting a bit more.....

Excellent video and advice, thanks

The magic tool. The hammer😖😵😂😂😂😂

Good and correct advice but you should really use a torque wrench

This helped me soo mutch!! Thank u👍🏽

I know this is an older video, but Vegas, you know better! This is partially incorrect! Only the non brake side floats free before pinching the bolts. The way you are showing it to pinch the non brake side, then tighten the axle nut is wrong! you are doing exact thing you just told us not to do? The correct way is to tighten the axle nut by pinching the non brake side, tighten nut, pinch brake side, THEN RELEASE the non brake side pinch bolts, bounce the forks up and down (or whichever method you prefer) to let the non brake side find it's center and finally pinch the non brake side bolts. Am I wrong? Change my mind!

nice and a pretty decent video bro thank u for such a good video loved it

Great video, I haven't thought this before this deeply..

This is the reason l do my own servicing…..

if I close my eyes I feel as though I am getting advice off the bear on Family Guy love the accent