If you want to remove the damper rods from your forks, you'll need either a special tool from Suzuki, or you can make your own for very cheap. The tool slides down into the for tubes and engages the top of the damping rods so you can keep them from turning while you remove the bolts from the bottom of the forks.



You will need a bolt with a head about 24mm. I took my calipers with me to Lowe's and found a non-metric bolt just shy of 24mm.  If I remember correctly, it was a 5/8" bolt.

A couple of aisles over I found some steel tubing. The ID was the same as the OD of the bolt. In other words, the bolt slipped perfectly into the tubing.

I cut a few inches of tube to use as a T-handle. I cut a V-notch in one end of the long tube.

I went to my buddy's shop and welded the T to the V-notch end and the bolt to the other end. Presto.

If you don't have access to a welder, you can epoxy the bolt into the tube. Let it cure a few days. Then clamp vise grips onto the other end to use as a handle.  Flattening that end might help. The tool won't be doing the hard part of the work. It will just be holding the damper rods while the 7mm Allen wrench does most of the work.

-- The version of this tool Ryca sends with their fork shortening kit takes a slightly different approach. They weld a 24mm wide nut to the end of a piece of pipe. That would work too.

-- Another solution is to take a bolt like mine and hammer it into an old deep socket. You could weld it, epoxy it or just leave it if the fit is snug enough. Then snap it onto a couple of long ratchet extensions and a wrench.

I'm all for what works.

I suppose somewhere in the broomstick whittling process, you could jam it down against the damper rod so you get an impression on the end of the stick showing you how much you need to trim off.

That close-enough 5/8" bolt that MotoBuddha used can also be found in the plumbing section, in the form of a brass endcap. Actual distance between flats = 1 1/8"  Does not fit the Savage forks.



The brass cap threads nicely onto a piece of 3/4" iron pipe: Too big.  Somebody try the 1/2" pipe.



..which you can of course grab with a pipewrench  

Just another alternative for those without access to a welder.

About 20 inches.

Dammit, wrong bike.  Sorry about that.  I will go back and edit my post.  Thanks for the info.

Did yall see this thing sillydilly came up with?  No welding required AND it's the right size  

Here's another option. Make sure to tighten the two nuts against eachother with as much force you got. I used the blue tool in the pic to hold it in the other end.

daltmyer920 wrote on 11/04/14 at 01:22:56:


Brake the allen bolt loose 1st before taking the fork outta the tree.

The tool should just have to hold the dampers in place.
But sometimes they get heavy handed with the Loctite.