Finally have all my parts back from powder. I had the trees coated along with a bunch of other stuff by Joe. Anyway, get the new trees on and the fork tubes do NOT fit through the trees with the RSD preload adjusters. The pinch bolts aren't even installed yet. For a sanity check I grabbed my take off stock fork caps and they fit through the trees with quite a bit of room. I'm baffled. Why would RSD design the caps to have a larger diameter than OEM? Has anyone else run into this?

At this point the only option I see is removing the caps, sliding the tubes in, and then somehow re-installing the caps. .but don't see that happening. FYI I did not have the RSD adjusters installed before tearing down for powder. I don't think at this time powdercoating has anything to do with it as the stock fork caps fit easily. I tried 'persuading' the fork tubes with RSD caps in and scuffed up one of the caps in doing so.

Matt

 

Mine didn't fit either. I installed them after sliding them in the trees and slightly tightened the lower pinch bolt to hold the tube in place. And yea the caps scuff pretty easily. I don't know their reason for making them bigger. I tightened mine by hand to avoid scuffing them. I would think that's fine since they're o-ring sealed and the top pinch bolt locks them in.

How far down is your spacer? If you run the adjusters all the way out and the spacer is sitting low enough in the tube then they are pretty easy to thread on, even in the trees

 

Well I hope my Speed Merchant adjusters fit. I will check before assembly.

 

sliding the tubes thru the trees first sound like its going to be your only option

 

Yes the RSDs don't fit through the tree. Slide the tubes up then screw them on, they're only supposed to be handtight, so it's no problem.


Just make sure you screw the adjusters all the way out, so you won't have to compress the forksprings while installing.


Also make sure Your trees are clean so you don't get any dirt in Your forktubes while installing.


PS! Even though it's not a big problem, I would say this is a major f"¤kup by RSD...

 

Well I wish I would have known this before buying them. It's a slight relief that I'm not alone.

I just can't believe they did this. Especially with how much they cost. I don't pull my forks often but still. . Now when I do I'm going to have to be careful not to spill fluid moving them around? Ridiculous.

 

Matt,
I have no problem with mine, they slip right in with out any issues..........

I wonder why those do not, the only difference is they are Black !!!!!!!!!

Live Free = Ride Free..............

 

Matt,
I have no problem with mine, they slip right in with out any issues.......... Chrome Style.........

I wonder why those do not, the only difference is they are Black !!!!!!!!!

Live Free = Ride Free..............

 

Oh well, got them on there now. I didn't want to do it because the one fork tubes threads and the RSD for that tube are starting to strip. Got it going with the right technique and some time.

For the fork cap height measurement, the book calls for 0.45"-0.50" from top of tree to top of stock cap. The picture shows the measurement taken at the flat surface of the cap, not the top of the nut. So I measured this area of the stock cap and it's 0.1" which tells me I need 0.4" of fork tube exposed above the triple tree. Does that sound right? Here's where it's at with that measurement:



Seems a bit high to me but that's how the measurements add up.

Edit:

Nevermind, it looks like they screwed up in the 2010 manual by showing the measurement taken to the flat spot of cap, not the nut. The 2009 manual I have shows it correctly taken to the top of the nut of the stock cap.

 

Matt,
After all the measurement's I took with the stock cap on, I figure the dimension from the top of the fork tube to the top fo the tree to be 3/16".
Yours look to be a little to high.........

Live Free = Ride Free.........