T-120 Next Mods

[atomsplitter]

Got my suspension upgrades today. Another opportunity to hit the frustration limiter. Got the bike on the lift, pulled the left rear shock, fitted the new remote reservoir shock and found the tail tidy that moved the turn indicators back under the frame rails caused the indicators to interfere with the free swing of the shock. So had to sort through a few pounds of left over hardware from other bike projects and found a couple brackets I could modifiy to move the indicators about an inch to the rear, clearing the reservoir. Got that done and moved to the fork springs. I bought a 30mm socket just for the occasion since the top nut is a 30mm. The left side was a snap because there is no damper rod to deal with, simply remove the top nut, remove the spacer, remove the lower washer, remove the second spacer, remove the next washer and the pull the spring up. I used an exhaust wrap zip tie with the tip bent in a hook to pull the deep parts out. I let the oil drain off the springs back into the tube and swapped the O-ring from the top nut to the new preload adjuster nut and installed the new spring, washer, spacer, washer, spacer and when I got to putting the top nut on I had to compress the spring a bit to get it to thread on. No problem. The new top nut is a 35mm hex, now it's a problem. Ended up sorting through my tractor sockets (the ones I used to work on my Farmall and Kubota tractors back in the day). Found one pretty close and then had to find the 1/2 to 3/4 drive adapter to use my 1/2 ratchet. Got it back on and snugged up. Did the same to the right hand fork but it does have a damper rod, so had to fit a 14mm open end wrench on the damper nut to remove the top nut. Got that done and was able to get the old spring, washers, and spacer out without the damper sinking back into the fork leg. Pure luck. Got the right hand side buttoned up and then refitted the handlebars, rolled the bike off the lift and took it around the block to make sure nothing popped off. I'll post up the ride quality results when I get some miles on it, but going around the block the suspenders seemd more tractable. We'll see.