Butter coated forks...

[hocrat]

Hi folks.

I've read through a few of the threads I have found on the poor quality stanchions that Honda have so cheaply provided us with and, as mine are buggered, I have a few questions!

Background - 2014 DCT. Never had leaking fork seals or pitted forks before so when my seals started leaking I got them replaced last August (2020), and when the seal started leaking again last month I took it back to the dealer and they mentioned the pits and how that was probably the cause. Wish they'd have told me that BEFORE I got the seals done last year, but hey ho.

Quote to replace the stanchions was £672.49 BEFORE labour (which added another £200). This pisses me off - that Honda should end up making extra profit because they used a sub-standard item. Not to mention that the replacement will also be crap.

Questions....

1. Why is the right side £185.01 + VAT and the left side 300.04 + VAT?! What am I missing that makes one nearly double the price? I was thinking it's only the tube itself that is replaced, but they would be identical (?) so the price implies that it's not just the tube - presumably the calliper/axle mount at the bottom of the fork? But even then they look fairly similar to me, certainly nothing to justify the price difference.

2. On other threads I've seen mention of JWP replacements (although I can't find any in stock) and an ebay Poland place. These are just the tubes, as I was expecting... so If I were to buy these and hand them to my dealer to use, presumably they'd have all they needed, seals notwithstanding?

3. I am not a mechanic, but I'm also not a numpty so have done small jobs in the past (brake hoses, chain/sprockets, brake pads obviously, clutch cable) - I am thinking that replacing the stanchions is significantly more complicated than those minor things and not something I could/should attempt myself?

Any advice to bring the cost down is appreciated! I would love to get it done ASAP as I have a lot of holidays left to take from work and the West Coast of Scotland is calling! 

Cheers.

[andyrob]

This is a reputable mob, maybe worth considering this route?

https://www.brooksuspension.co.uk/motorcycle-suspension-tuning/pitted-forks-fork-stanchion-repair/

[thetrecker]

Looking at the exploded diagram, it appears the chrome tube is connected ( swaged into)to the bottom cast mount, it lists a different part number for left and right. nothing else obvious different that justifies a big price difference.
Is it strange that this seems to be a problem only in England? different salt used in wintertime?, riding the bike through winter time? I say this because here in Ireland we import a lot of 2nd hand cars from England and generally underneath they suffer from excessive rust compared to (from new) Irish cars. Same weather generally and we salt roads in snow/heavy frost conditions. Just a theory!
Tom

[bazza950]

maybe your roads are differently maintained -certainly cannot be worse than our pot holed tracks - but the thickness of chrome ( about 0.5 micron apparently) is the real problem in a exposed position - hence me spending £50 on the dull nora batty type stockings !

[thetrecker]

I am pretty sure we hold the crown for potholed roads, maybe the salt hides in our ruts and does'nt splash up! English roads feel fur lined when we go there!

[hocrat]

Hi.

Thanks for the all the replies folks, much appreciated.

I don't currently have the knowledge (and maybe even tools) to disassemble the forks myself so the Brooks Suspension thing would cost £380 (plus postage) as I'd have to get their fork rebuild service + the rechroming. That's still £500 less than getting my dealer to replace the forks with new Honda parts so definitely a contender.

Not sure about the English roads as my bike has done its miles in Scotland! But a definite mixture of absolutely awesome roads down do WTFShouldHaveOffroadTyresOnThis.

Yeah, the Honda parts cost is truly baffling - I just can't even make up an imaginary reason for the difference in my head! 

The Polish stanchions that people have talked about in other threads don't ship to the UK anymore - I'm guessing due to brexit. So if I were to go the new stanchions/dealer replace route I would have to get the JMP ones (£338.90) and then pay the dealer to do the work (roughly £200.)

The rebuild/rechrome option is cheapest but is that better than brand new stanchions, do you think? It would also involve me taking the forks off which I haven't done before but it seems well within my limited level of skill. Having no garage means I have no roof beams to tie things to but a couple of bags of sand on the back of the bike and/or scissor jack should be fine it seems, from reading other threads.

Just need to make a decision I guess... cheers for the help so far. 

[hocrat]

Balls!

Reply from Brook Suspension -

We've had these forks in before and had issues with them so I'm afraid that the only thing that we would be able to offer you would be replacement fork stanchions, with the caliper brackets attached as one piece.

The problem with USD forks is that the stanchions and the fork lowers are just not designed to be split. With any fork, there's a risk attached to the process of splitting them and the risk is that the threads on the inside edge of the fork lower 'pick up' which then basically writes the forks off. We've done plenty of USD forks over the years which have not caused us any issues but we're not willing to take the risk with these particular forks as our previous experiences with them have not been good!

If you wanted to send us your complete forks and go with the replacement parts, we would charge £179.99 for our standard fork service, plus the cost of any dust seals and bushes, if they are required.

I would need your VIN number to confirm the cost of parts but it looks like the LHS would be £406.74 and the RHS would be £222.94 - both including VAT. Although they're certainly not cheap, it could have been worse as they're quite often £700-800 each.

So basically all they can do is the same as my dealer and replace with Honda parts. 

So what he is saying is that the risk is knackering the calliper/axle mount bit (or "fork lower" as he referred to it) when they try and remove the stanchions? I'm sure I have read in threads here that people have bought new stanchions - the Polish ones, and the JMP ones... so they must have removed the fork lower to do this. Now I'm just confused again!

[hocrat]

Brook suspension clarified to me that it's not an impossible job, just that they have decided to move away from forks where they've had issues in the past.

I have messaged TW Suspension Tech, as another member mentioned them replacing the stanchions in another thread... will see what they say.