Ohkay,

Race Tech springs and gold valves in hand. I purchased the gold valve kit off ebay and the kit # is old .... #FAGV 01. I called race tech and the confirmed its the same as the updated gold valve #FMGV2001. Phewww ....

Anyhow, Im planning on doing this job tomorrow morning. This will be my first time rebuilding forks. My mechanical knowledge is slim but Ive done every other mod to my klx so fuhk it, why not try this. Im not embarrassed to ask for help with this because I enjoy learning.

Below is a photo of the Gold Valves. Im sharing because Id like some confirmation that these are the same as what other riders have in their KLX. (hoping dude on ebay didnt play me)


What you see is what the kit came with. That and a lot of stickers.

Now I've watched tons of videos of dudes online rebuilding their KYB forks. All with race tech parts. Andd a lot of them look to have different gold valves. I feel confident dissembling and resembling the forks. I don't feel so confident stacking the shims and installing the gold valves. This is where id love some help from the wonderful KLX community

Below is a photo of all the shims my kit came with. And below that is the DVS setting shot to me by race techs website.












So, what the heck do I do next?

 

There are some instruction sheets on RT's website... I'll see if I can find a link.

Do you have a manual or know how to disassemble the forks?

You are going to disassemble the shim stack and rebuild it according to stack they gave you. This will be detailed in the instructions. The kit you bought replaces the valve body at the bottom of the fork, so you can always go back to stock, and you shouldn't have to file the peening off the top nut. Your instructions say you don't have to drill the body. That's a plus.

You should have also gotten a chart with the kit... it will have a bunch of stacks listed. You can find the stack they gave you on the chart and then move up or down in stiffness after you do some test rides on what they gave you. Easier than it sounds.

Let me go find the instructions...

 

Here is the link that explains the shim stack = IP FMGV POST TYPE

Here is the link specifically for the 2001 kit = http://www.racetech.com/download/Ins...GV%202001w.pdf


Racetech also has a youtube channel.. the vids aren't specific to your forks, but they help give you an idea of where you are going...

Also.. youtube MrDuhfactor and his KLX351 build... he install GV's on his forks and shock... not in super detail, but you get the general idea.

 

 

Don,

Ok, to make sure I'm using the right terms... the 'Compression Gold Valve' is the the actual gold colored part, and the 'Compression Body' is the entire assembly you remove from the fork that holds the valve and shims.

My kit just had the Gold Valves, your kit has the entire assembly.

On some of the installations, you have to drill a hole in the Gold Valve as a bleeder hole or bypass hole to augment the flow through the valve (at least that is how I understand it).

On your setup sheet... there are lines for 'Compression bleed' and 'Rebound bleed', that say '(drill if not pre-drilled)'. I don't have my setup sheet handy, but am pretty sure mine gave me the size of hole to drill, and yours says that drilling is N/A or not applicable.

I would interpret that as you do not need to drill anything on your kit.

If you have a question, you might consider calling Racetech to confirm. Everyone says they have always been helpful when it comes to tech support.


Be advised, after riding a bit, I changed my stack... so you may not like their recommendations, but they make a good starting point. In my kit, I had a chart that had shim stacks listed from soft to firm for high-speed and low-speed compression. I ended up dropping down a couple notches on the chart to make my forks a little softer, but I ride a lot of single track at a novice pace (feels plenty fast to me, but younger riders smoke me pretty good). Riding on the road, you might even opt for a firmer low-speed compression stack.


Also, if you did not buy Racetech's oil... the oil that you use DOES make a difference as the valving on the chart is based on a certain oil.

Here is a chart comparing the characteristics of fork oil = https://www.peterverdone.com/wiki/in...spension_Fluid

The column you are interested in is the cSt @40C... you can ignore the 5wt, 10wt, 15wt as those numbers are all but useless.

I think I used Maxima 85/150 but that was about a year ago, so I may be thinking of something else.


Hope that helps.

 

Abrams Gunner,

You're the man. Thank you so much for replying on a Saturday. Your guidance and support helped out in those sticky situations.

Dissembling the forks wasn't an issue. All the videos I had seen prepped me well. When we got to the shims, I stacked em according to the custom DVS setup provided by racetech. We didn't drill into the damper. So we reassembled and added the oil. Now I didn't have a fork oil measuring tool. We took a piece of thin steel and measured 4 inches. Stuck that down into the fork without the spring and poured til we hit our mark. Threw the spring in and bolted up.

First ride I can already feel the difference in the spring rate. It does feel a bit stiff but still plush when im riding over speed bumps and dips. I can feel more control when splitting lanes. All in all very happy with results.

If I want to soften up my ride in the future, I'm assuming I can pull out the emulator from the bottom and re-stack the shims to my liking? If doing so, does oil spill out?

 

Yes, you can pull the fork legs, turn them over and remove the valve body without losing any oil.

I'd run it for awhile and let it settle some. Then find a loop you've ridden a bunch and start testing. You have a fair amount of adjustment with the clickers... run a loop, adjust the clickers and try it again... you'll find the sweet spot. If you run out of adjustment, you can pull the valves and adjust the stack.

I've never ridden 'good' suspension so I don't know if mine are optimal, but I like my current settings. The biggest benefit is you don't get the spike on large hits... the GV's flow enough oil to soak it up.. the stock valves lock out on a sharp hit.

 

Rad. Thanks!

How do you like the 6.6 rear spring?

 

I'm 235 soaking wet.. so I need the extra 'lift'.

I started off with .46/6.2 which was not bad, but as I got faster I felt the need to add more spring. I jumped up to .48/6.6 and have been very happy with it. Still maybe a hair under-sprung for aggressive trail riding at my weight, but works well for what I do.

The real answer is I need to drop about 25 lbs off the rider.. then I'd be spot on, but I'm finding that difficult as I approach my 51st birthday...LOL