It was bound to happen sooner or later... I am completely stumped here trying to separate my fork tubes from my lower sliders. I've got the Service Manual and it says verbatim to Compress retaining ring(11) and remove the clip from the internal groove at the top of slider (12). I've got dental picks and all kinds of stuff to at this retaining ring with, but that's not the problem... The issue I'm having is that I DONT SEE NO STINKING RETAINING RING! When I look down between my fork tube and my lower fork slider all I'm seeing is the fork seal. The service manual and parts manual both show this retaining ring located in an internal groove on the top of the lower fork slider. I'm seeing nothing of the sort; just the fork seal. This is on an '07 FLSTF. Anyone gotta clue here? I really don't want to walk up to the dealer with two fork legs in hand. I posted this in the softail forums too. Hope it's cool to post it here also.

 

It doesn't look like a standard retaining ring that I normally see on cars. It's made of round wire, not completly circular. It has some bends in it.

If you look at this picture from the J&P catalog, ithe the two incomplete rings at the bottom of the line up.

http://www.jpcycles.com/productgroup...1-0E4A8B09716F

 

the clip ring is under the seal. if i remember correctley you have to remove the big allen at the bottom of the forks and you can pull the upper and lower apart to pop out the seal to gain access to the clip ring.

 

The retaining ring I'm referring to prevents them from separating. I removed the 6MM Hex, pulled out the dampening tube, springs, etc... I didn't need to separate the tubes from the sliders just to lower the front end anyway. I just wanted to figure that $hit out. I'm just gonna do front end chrome sometime down the road, and at one time. The drop is sweeet 'nough right now.