I thought about that, putting the forks back in the bike, but with my Batwing in place I had a lot less room to work. May be worth a try for the OP.

I did not however try using a plastic mallet to try to impact it off ... used a 2-1/2 lbs. sledge ... didn’t work.

While I was waiting for the Jim’s vice to arrive I even tried draining all the oil and spraying PB Blaster inside and letting it soak on the threads. And using a deep socket to go over the nut and using a sharp blow with a hammer to try and break it free.

I am not trying to scare the OP, I have never heard of anyone having the trouble I did with mine.
Some have found it hard to get apart, but nothing like I went trough. Just trying to let him know what could happen, and I hope it doesn’t.

As I recall that nut should be what, 60 ft-lbs.?
I needed a three foot lever (length of wrench and pipe together) and put all my weight on it.
Even if I only managed to put part of my weight, say 100 lbs., how tight was that son-of-a-bitch?

I was about to just buy new fork tubes if my last effort did not work. Was not sure I could get both vices lined up properly so as not to bend the tubes. Thankfully it worked, no damage to tubes.

.

 

If you can't get a good hold on the tube itself, it only slips and beating won't get you anywhere.. Heat might have helped but no guaranty.

 

I tried a vice, dead blow hammer, wrench, and a pipe wrench trying to get the fork nut off, #9 in the diagram. Didn't work for me. Be careful using this method you may scar the fork slider.
I borrowed a socket that fits the two sided nut and used a impact driver, it came off easily. I believe Jims makes the tool. Motion Pro also may sell one.

 

Don't have a pic of the one for conventional forks nut a good block bored to sucker will pop the sucker loose.


Pic of one for an inverted fork..

 

I received an email back from J&P Cycles today regarding the drop-in lowering kit. Like a couple of the emails on this thread, they confirmed that my forks were stock and not aftermarket. Unlike the emails here however, they said that this new kit would not require me to remove a lot of the items you've mentioned. Take a look at the video link below.


They said that I should still be able to drop the springs in without removing the forks, fender or tire. Tomorrow is Saturday so this will be my main focus this weekend. I guess I'll find out if this is going to be a big pain to do.

 

To the OP:
Yea, looks like your kit does not require you to remove the all the guts, just the springs
(you don’t even need to remove that 6mm hex nut on the bottom)
And being on a Road King you have a lot of space to work with while still on the bike.

Wish you well, and hope you don't have any problems. Let us know how you make out.

bwoltz
No, heat didn’t work either for me, but I was probably a little conservative applying it.
That really looks like the way to go.
Even if you don’t have trouble taking it apart, that is a handy tool to help torque it properly.

In all the threads I read I never saw those tools mentioned. I looked them up, it appears they are:

JIMS Fork Nut Socket - 2043

Motion Pro Socket, 41mm - Socket 08-0305

For the OP and any future readers, can someone confirm those part numbers for the 41mm forks?
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He slipped the forks down far enough down to do that job.. and that will work just fine..

For the space u have to work in with my bike it's easier to pull the wheel and fender. I'm sure a road King has a little more room up top. I can pull my wheel and fender in about 20 mins taking my time and that's worth the space to work with.. more than one way to skin a cat and my experience isn't the only one to take advice from!!

 

Good luck with trying it that way.. I typically find the fork tune fit in the trees tight enough that they can be hard to slip out.. May even require driving a screw driver into the lower pinch gap to spread the lower tree a little. In this case I guess the weight of the front wheel helps to slide the forks down.. Too bad the guy doesn't include reassembly. (I checked his uploads) I suspect that he found out that he couldn't get the forks to slide back up into the trees. Probably had to remove the wheel / fender to reassemble.

I typically find them tight doing them individually and have a 16x1.5 mm bolt that is longer than the stock fork cap to get the tube all the way up.

I would recommend changing fork oil while you are at it.. The oil can get pretty grungy in a short period of time.

 

[QUOTE=
I typically find them tight doing them individually and have a 16x1.5 mm bolt that is longer than the stock fork cap to get the tube all the way up. [/QUOTE]

I'm already having a tough time getting the tubes to drop. Had to use a breaker bar to remove the pinch bolts. The right side will turn some and will go down slightly about 1/2". The left side won't budge yet. Still working on it. The front is jacked up and weight is off the tire. I'll keep trying.

 

Not sure i can explain this clear enough

What i do is after removing the pinch bolt I put a small piece of metal in the gap and put the bolt back in from the thread side as you tighten the bolt against the metal shim you put in ( i usually sacrifice a quarter ) it will open up the clamp enough to pull the tube down with little effort

Clear as mud ?

Dave