Topic: 1974 Honda CB550k front shocks

[sitrinh87]

Hi guys I'm in need of your expertise. Today I tried to remove the 2 front shocks on my cb550k and to my limited knowledge, I went and unbolt the nut on top of each shocks and the spring pops out. Is there a way that I can compress the spring down enough so I can screw the nut back in or have I busted both shocks??

[jamesw]

Did you have the front end off the ground ie. supported by a jack stand etc? Once you do that you shouldn't have any problems.

[Bankerdanny]

Just to help with future questions, the rear has shocks, the front has forks each with a pair of legs. 

What were you actually trying to do when you removed the top nut? Are you planning to replace the seals? If so, you need to remove the top nut and spring anyway, so don't worry about putting it back on right away.

The legs themselves come off by loosening the two nuts on each leg's side of the triple trees and sliding the tubes out. If you aren't using a motorcycle jack you will have to remove the front wheel, fender, and disk brake caliper to get both legs out.

[Duanob]

Are you planning to rebuild the forks? Just take the fender off and brake caliper, loosen the triple tree and pull them out. Make a note of which order the headlight ears and foam bushings are in. Did you unscrew the allen bolts from the bottom of the forks first? If you plan a fork rebuild that's first step and is easier with the caps on. Screwing the caps back on isn't impossible, it's just a beyotch. It might make it easier with the forks off the bike if you can support the fork tube with a tube holder in a vise. Then you can use a ratchet and a 23mm(?) socket, push the cap on and tighten at the same time, the threads will catch.

Maybe an owner's manual is in order?

[Deltarider]

Hi guys I'm in need of your expertise. Today I tried to remove the 2 front shocks on my cb550k and to my limited knowledge, I went and unbolt the nut on top of each shocks and the spring pops out. Is there a way that I can compress the spring down enough so I can screw the nut back in or have I busted both shocks??

Just raise the frontwheel of the bike from the ground. Place the top nuts over the springs, slip a lever (I use the flat back side (grip?) of a adjustable (Bahco?) wrench over it and whilst pushing the nuts down, using the underside of the handlebars you can screw them in with another wrench. It's a bit of trick but if I can do it, you can too. Important is to really push the nuts down by exercising quite some force on the lever to get the nuts down enough so they can reach the thread.