Fork Spacer Length w/ Intimidators

Looking to get a ballpark measurement for the fork spacer with my new setup. I just threw in some progressives, a set of ricor intimidators, new seals, and oil. I did a 1" drop so according to the progressive chart the spacer length should be 8.37" or something like that. The inimidators are around .55" tall. So, with my rough math skill I'm thinking that would give me a spacer length of around 7-7/8". If I assemble the forks that puts the spacer sticking above the top of the fork tube approximately .66"

Does this sound right to what others have done?

On another note, I didn't have any luck with a standard size, schedule 40 PVC to use as a bushing/seal driver. I have a bunch of different PVC and ABS pipe laying around and none of them fit right. 1.5" schedule 40 was too small to slide over the fork tube. A 1.5" coupling fit over the tube but did not fit inside the leg to drive the bushing/seal, and 2" is even bigger in OD than the 1.5" coupling.

To get it to work I sliced the 1.5" coupling lengthwise and then sliced it again about 1/4" away from the first slice so I basically took a 1/4" sliver out of the coupling. This enabled me to be able to squeeze the coupling together enough to fit it inside the fork leg to drive the bushing and seal.

Once I got it in the fork tube I put a couple wraps of electrical tape around it to hold it snug. Then I took a piece of 2" pvc, put a coupling on the end of it and used it as a slide hammer to drive the 1.5" coupling into the fork leg which in turn drove the bushing in and then to drive the seal in.

The setup worked great, only took a few minutes to fab, and was free since I had it all laying around. I'm not sure what size pipe others have found to do this but nothing I had laying around would fit quite right without some "modification"

I think your spacer sticking above the fork tube sounds about right - mine's a little higher 'cos I left it as it was after adding the Intimators. I like the ride that way - Prog springs, Intimators, 5W oil, no air. It's just working great with me (around 200lbs) on it.

I ended up trying a couple different preloads before I found the one I liked. I dont remember what is was though. But I did buy a bunch of the aluminum tubing for the spacer tubes because I just didnt feel comfortable with the pvc idea. If you want some of that just let me know and I will send you a few length so you can try differnt preloads.

Richard

Thanks for the offer Richard. :worthy: I think I'll be good though. We use all kinds of metal and pvc pipe at work so if I fudge up the stockers I can just grab a piece from there. But thanks!

With the same setup as you (Progressives, 1" drop + indimidators) I just took the recommended height from progressive and whacked off a sliver the thickness of the indimidator.

I don't have enough miles on this setup yet, but it seems pretty good. Not too harsh and feels much more planted.

mike you also use your old seal betweenthe pvc and new seal, yes?

No, I did not use the old seal as a cushion. I never tried that before. I've only done seals a couple times and used PVC as a driver each time but never had any issues in doing so.

Heres my homemade rig

using the old seals is key in my opinion so u can pound on 'em and not worry about fucking up ya konw? nice rig tho bet it worked tits.

I used trial and error on the spacer lenght.

I started out barely able to screw the caps on with a really red face.

Then I rode a set route. Too stiff.

So I cut off a bit where I was a little less red in the face,

same thing

Finally got it where I liked it after about 4 cuts, and barely breaking a sweat screwing on the caps.

Ended up with about 5/8" of spacer sticking above the fork tube. Caps went on fairly easily.

I set my oil level to 4.85 inches (per clymer manual) from the top of the tube, intimidators installed, no fork springs, no washer, no spacer. Sure seemed like a lot of oil in there once I put the rest of the components in there.

What oil level are you guys running with intimidators and lower forks?

I am running the stock oil height (don't remember what that is) and have the same setup as you.

Finally got out for a test ride after putting the rest of the bike together. I put in some solid Venture mounts over the winter, I put in progressive springs, and I put in ricor intiminators that I've had sitting on the shelf for over a year.

My forks are set flush with the top of the trees, 5 wt synthetic fork oil, oil lever per the book (4.85" down or something like that), 1" internal drop spring added, and my preload spacer stuck out above the top of the fork tube about 5/8".

The bike feels totally different. Not in a bad way but it definitely feels weird compared to how it used to. Might take a bit of time to get used to this. It feels MUCH more solid. But, there is still flex in the bike if your speeding thru a turn on a crap road, which is all I have around here. The steering feels very different too. Not sure how to explain it though. Almost like the front end feels heavier now than it used to. I wasn't expecting that. Being that I had the forks raised 1" in the trees I thought the steering would feel the same but for some reason it doesn't. Brake dive is nearly gone. I have 12.5" 440's out back with regular springs not HD springs. The bike still feels a bit harsh over really sharp bumps but handles a whole lot better.

I'm liking the change. Now I just need to ride it a bit to get used it.

I figured I would post here instead of starting another thread on the same basic topic. Last night I removed and disassembled my forks, cleaned them out good and installed my new intiminators. I had the progressive springs already, so it was just a matter of cutting 1/2 inch off of the PVC spacer and reinstalling. My pre-load is light, with the spacer basically sitting flush with the top of the fork tube. Added the 5w Amsoil from Ricor, and checked the oil height at 4.8" from the top, which ended up being 20 oz. Didn't have time for a test spin, and might be a few days before I can due to head bearing adjustment/shift light installation projects.