Hey, who here has Gold Valves in their forks? I tried calling both Race Tech and Moto-Pro and nobody is answering the phone. I just want to know -- where inside the fork do these things live?

I just got a set of used forks with upgraded springs and Gold Valves, and I'm wondering if they're visible inside. I opened them up to switch to stiffer springs and fresh oil, but I don't see anything different inside from my own forks. I'm wondering if these really had Gold Valves in there, or if they live beneath the damper rod out of sight?

Edit: Some notes...

Each fork had 16 oz of fluid in it. That worked out to 82mm (RaceTech says to use 90mm, which would be less fluid by an ounce or two). The left fork (the brake-side) fluid looked pretty good; the other side was very milky. And there were little silver metal particles in both. The springs have a p/n 192845 (if I remember correctly) and the number 46 below it. The springs were supposedly 0.44's... does this mean they're 0.46's?

Thanks.

Rob

 

They live in the basement.

 

They live in the basement. Don't worry so much about total volume, but instead measure how far from top of fork the oil is.

 

Translation: The valves are in the bottom of the legs.

This might help some:
http://racetech.com/download/IP%20FMGV%203420.pdf

 

Thank you. I'm done working for the week and felt a bit of a wise guy.

 

Thanks guys!!

Forks are refilled, new springs in, and on the bike. It's all back together. All that's left is to figure out how to seat the top triple onto the nut the holds the top bearing in place. I have everything up there loosened up, but it's not going on. I'll deal with it more later, or tomorrow. It's raining for the next 4-5 days so I don't see taking it out for a ride anytime soon.

Rob

 

Have the lower triples loose on the legs, top triple barely snug on the legs. Once the steering bearings are adjusted properly finish height adjusting the fork legs and torqueing the pinch bolts.

 

Got it! I looked at the service manual after making that post, and saw I was mistaken. Went back out with a flashlight, and things were fine. So I re-checked everything, then tightened it all down. Everything seems good now.

The only thing left is to dig my short 6mm Allen out of my other tool bag to finish tightening up the handlebars. I do think my bars are bent, but VERY slightly. Not enough to worry about. I'll wait til I bend 'em more before I replace them. Next time I'm going with Fat bars.

Rob

 

Gold Valve installation with pictures:

Hop-Ups - Race Tech Gold Valves

Ride on
Brewster

 

Well, duh!...Brewster, I don't guess I ever saw that Planet KLX tutorial. That's a nice resource. When I bought the fork and shock RT kit for mine, it had a nice video and written instruction pack, so I guess I didn't dig into online sources. That's good info there. Thanks

Edit: I notice that article mentions a 120mm fork oil level. On my '06 I finally went with 100mm with .44 RT springs. This is an area of tuning latitude that can be somewhat subjective or dependent on rider weight, riding style, terrain, etc. Also, I wasn't clear if this is an '06/'07 model or '09 and later. I basically followed most of the parts and tuning info on the KLX300, as the '06/'07 models are basically the same with the same amount of travel.