Front end loud click cr125

[Manther]

Bought an old used 1990 cr125 for my buddies to ride. Had bent handle bars. Put some Tag handle bars on it. Went out riding to test it out. When I land big jumps I heard a semi loud click coming from the front end. At first I though I just didn't tighten the handle bar clamp enough, and the handle bar was just inching it's way down. Got home it was loose. tightened the crap out of it. Brother in law took it out and said same thing on landing big jumps he hears a loud click. Any ideas what it could be? He though it sounded like something was getting caught. Thanks.

[AV8R]

Maybe your forks are bottoming out. Add more compression.
I had a bike that made a sort of crick/click sound in the front and it turned out to be the forks in the tripple clamps twisting a little.
I took them out and cleaned the clamps with 220 grit sand paper and cleaned the forks where the clamp grips in the same manner and then the noise went away. I didn't get crazy with the sand paper just cleaned them not removing enough metal to make any difference.

[Manther]

Thanks for the advise. What tipped you off that the front shocks were slowly twisting? Did you notice it was out of alignment? I haven't noticed it out. But I'll inspect it closer when I get home.

[MXtras]

Loose steering stem? Usually that is like a clunk rather than a click, but it's something else to consider.

Check your spokes, too.

Scott

[AV8R]

My front end would get out of alignment easily and I noticed the sound just loading the bike in the truck sometimes.

[crfjedi393]

You're saying you hear it. Do you feel it as well? Check your brake line. It could have a spot that is catching on the guide.

[Manther]

I can't remember, but the other guy says yeah he could feel it a little bit too.

[Manther]

Took the bikes out again today. We eventually stopped jumping the cr125 because it's definately bottoming out or something. Does fine on the trails but landing jumps results in this nasty sounding clack. So it's an old bike. (1990) I probably need to change some seals and replace some oil or add air or something. (I realy have no clue). Where do I start? Is there a good instructional somewhere on the web? ( it's got showa forks).

[AV8R]

You need to get a Clymer Manual it will walk you through the process. I guess you could do a search for fork servicing and see what comes up. Are you sure those are Showa forks. With a bike that old I would think Kyoba. Even the 2000 CR125 I had it still had the Kyobas.

[Manther]

Yeah pretty sure. They each have a bil ol' sticker that says showa on them. With a little number that says kz4-771. I was hoping I wasn't gonna have to spend $30 on a service manual.

[Manther]

I'm found in some forum that I should do the following:
on the 1990, 21.4 oz for the capacity

130mm or 5.1 inches in oil level

The reccomended fork oil in my clymer is honda ss 7m

Wich agrees with the little sticker on the forks telling me what oil to use. But I'm not sure if this is the measurment from the top with the forks completely compressed...

[AV8R]

Sorry I should say Kayaba not kyoba forks. I don't know what 1990 came with but here is an article desribing the procedure for a Kayaba fork.
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

And here is an article showing service for a CRF450 Showa fork. Different oil levels than your probably but similar procedure.
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

Best bet if you want to keep this bike for a while is to get a manual. Here is one on e-bay,
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

[Manther]

AV8R thanks for the helpful links :^)
Called honda today. They charge $75 to service my forks. But with parts they say it's going to cost around $300. (That option is out). So I looked in the yellow pages and there is an add for a company call "Stroker Suspension" here in Dalls Tx. This is a guy who does suspension as a side job. He said he charges $100. That gets you new dust seals and oil seals, and fresh oil all installed. Called cycle gear and they had my dust seals in stock for $24. I saw dust seals on ebay for my bike for $10 plus $2.00 shipping. So I'm thinking about buying the manual, buying the fork seals and the oil and doing it myself. But... is that all the parts i'll need? Do I need a lock nut wrench? A hexagonal slug? A split-collar seal and bushing driver. A seal-bullet? Do I need oil seals? How bout sliders, or something like that. Sorry for all the questions. I know the manual will tell me all this, but i'm trying to determine the most cost efficient route before I commit. Thanks -J

[darrenauld]

could your headstock bearings be shot and letting your clamps move a bit giving you a click. or what happened with me was my fromt brake disk- the rivots were loosening and this created a click when braking as the disc was moving within the rivots anyways maybe some of this will help

[Manther]

One thing I can say is the click is getting louder, more violent sounding.

[AV8R]

Hard to say what all you will need until you get it apart, but assuming that all is well otherwise on the fork you will need some way to drive the fork seal back in If you plan on replacing it.
If you replace the oil seals then replace the dust seals as well. These become scratched or cracked and do not remove dust well as they age. Are the current seals leaking? If not then you can leave them alone. I use a piece of appropriatly sized piece of PVC pipe cut in two lengthwise then clamped back together with a hose clamp and a rubber mallet to drive my fork seals in.
I would guess that you need to at least service the oil in the forks to get an accurate level of oil in the forks. Adding more oil increases bottoming resistance.
You may also need the 50 mm (at least on my 2000 CR250) locknut wrench that fits the top nut on the forks.

The "sliders" you mention I think are the bushings. Usually referred to as inner and outer bushings. Honda calls them the slider bushing and the guide bushing. To see if these need replacing you can grasp the bottom of the fork (slider)and try to move it forward and back and side to side if there is excessive play relative to the fork tube (upper part) then these need replacing. The oil seals will not last long if there is a lot of play here. Not to mention that damage to the slider and tube will be the long term results of bad bushings.

I don't know what a "seal-bullet" may be but my guess is that you will not need it.

Doing the maintenance yourself will always pay in the short term and long run as well. Just follow the manual carefully, don't force anything that does not want to loosen because you probably doing something wrong, and take your time.
You'll have the satisfaction of knowing your bike better and not need to put-off or stress about things as simple as fork servicing in the future.

[Manther]

Wow thanks av8r great info. Here's a little update on my development. I've decided I'm gonna do the shocks myself. It's like you said if I learn now then I can do this to both my bikes whenever I need to. There is a shop that has my "fork seal" not dust seals, clymer manual and fork oil all in stock. I'm gonna go buy those today and get started. I've been asking around. A few people told me to do the pvc trick for getting the "fork seals" or sometimes called "oil seals" back in to place. Also I have heard to take your old seals and cut them in half, then take that semi circle and ues it to hammer the new ones into place. As far as that top nut I've heard if you hace a big enough socket or cresent wrench you can use those too... We'll see. I should mention no local places have my "dust seals" in stock. I was thinking of ordering new dust seals and riding this weekend with my old dust seals and then putting the new dust seals on as soon as they come in. Oh btw is that honda ss 7m 5 weight oil?

[AV8R]

I would not use a cresent wrench it is the greatest nut rounding tool of all time.

Clean up the old dust seals real good and they may be fine. But to replace them you need to disassemble the fork agin.

When in a pinch in the past I have taken that little spring on the dust seal off and unsrcrewed (one end screws into the other making the continous loop) the ends then clipped 1/4 inch off the large end of the spring and then screwed them back together. This increases the pressure exerted on the slider by the rubber part and helps to wipe more of the dirt off.

Use 5 wt oil unless you want to make the fork stiffer through it's entire travel then use 7 wt. Like I mentioned for more bottoming resistance just use more oil. Not sure what the Honda ss is but the bottle should say what wt the oil is. If not sure then ask the maintenance dept. people they will know.

Hadn't heard of the old seal to put in the new seal idea but sounds like it would work.

[darrenauld]

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
here man this should help! good luck

[Manther]

Thanks darrenauld nice link. Well I started the job last night and it went pretty well. I'm about 3/4 done. I have one fork broke down cleaned and put back together. I have the other fork broke down. The clymer manual was awesome. I've heard alot of debate on these forums about whether the Clymer is better or if the factory manual is better. For my two cents the Clymer is perfectly fine. Mine only covers a few years and two models. Easy to understand with plenty pictures. Anyway. I have really only made two mistakes so far. First mistake I made was: In the manual they tell you to put some tape over the end of the tube when your slipping the new oil seal on, but they don't tell you why. Well I was having trouble getting the new seal to slip over the tape so I took it off. Then after coming into work this morning and reading the walk through in darrenauld's post I realised the tape was to protect the seal against those tiny little ridges on the tube... Oh well I hope it didn't damage the seal. The other mistake I made was taking the little rubber band like spring off of the dust seal. I did this to both of my dust seals while cleaning them. Well they both stretched a bit and are useless now. I looked for the thing where one end screws into the other end of the sping... Didn't see it, but it was late and I was getting tired. I'll look again today. Also I do have the springs left over from my old oil seals. The oil that came out of my forks looked pretty nasty and didn't look like enough. Hopefully this will fix it. -J