Quick Question regarding front tubes

[LonnieD]

you can see I have a lot of questions but while the bike is up while I attach my trike kit might as well ask some things. Bike is on center stand and I'm working on this trike kit...yesterday I noted a small amount of liquid under the front tire...I move it straight forward and placed a piece of cardboard under the left side..I noted there was a small leak on the card board but not so close to the tire ...so I'm thinking the left tube (fork) is leaking...is there a gasket on the bottom or what would you suggest I check-out first?

[Mr Jensee]

Not familiar with the 1300 but could be a fork seal gone bad. A lot of forks have a screw at the bottom for draining fork oil. You might check that out to see if it is loose or the washer is missing.

[Me Again]

There is a drain bolt on the bottom of the tube.
Make sure when you tighten it you have an allen wrench that is a tight fit or you will strip it and probably spend the rest of the day swearing at it.
Th is also a small philips head screw on the side ,probably a vent of some type .
Probably have to swear at that also.
I thought your name sounded familiar,but we have a bunch of Lonnie's on the yahoo site.
As long as your on the yahoo site ask Mike to send you a CD. Has both manuals and a whole lot of good info on the 1300 Voyager.

[addonii]

Very few items are quick or simple on this bike when it comes to servicing it!

Make sure the fluid is oil and and not brake fluid - follow the leak upward to find the location that is actually leaking.

The fork oil and the brake fluid smell different and feel different - so once you determine which fluid you have leaking you will know where to look.

Almost everything you need to know is on that DVD I sent you and also refer to this page at KZ1300.com

Referring to the forks:

http://www.kz1300.com/techarticles/zn13 ... nance.html

If you have never pulled the springs from a set of front forks you need to exercise some caution as the spring even with the front wheel off the ground is under compression. Pull the air pressure relief valve on the left side of the bike behind the side cover to release the air pressure in the suspension system. If you pull the screws on the lower outside of the fork legs be ready for a spray/stream of oil blowing out about 3 feet and it will taper off as the forks empty. When I did the front fork oil on my bike I flushed the forks with Mineral Spirits to clean them out let them further drain for about 45 minute as they dribbled and then closed everything up and added my new fork oil.

If you have to get into servicing the forks you need to get all the "O" rings, the fork seals, all the sealing washers and 10W-20 fork oil - I got mine from Repsol who makes this weight.

If you need to tear into the forks to solve the leak problem do everything now so you don't need to do it again in the next couple of years.

Refer to page 2-10 for specifics on the ZN1300 in the ZN1300SMS manual I sent and also refer to page 226 in the KZ1300 Repair Manual 1979-1983.

Your going to find out that you need to refer to the "Base Manual/KZ1300 Repair Manual 1979-1983" for general procedures and to the ZN1300 manual for any specifics/updates covering the ZN1300.

If you do need to get into the forks I'll email you a picture of the tool you can make from a bolt with either a 19mm or 3/4 inch head and some nuts to pull the inner allen head nut underneath the top fork tube cap. This is the item that actually holds the springs in. You service these forks with the front wheel off the ground. This inner allen nut is something your going to need to pull if you want to fill the forks properly after you solve the leak problem.

[addonii]

There is a drain bolt on the bottom of the tube.
Make sure when you tighten it you have an allen wrench that is a tight fit or you will strip it and probably spend the rest of the day swearing at it.
Th is also a small philips head screw on the side ,probably a vent of some type .

The bolt at the bottom of the forks is "NOT" a drain bolt, it holds the inner cylinder inside the fork in place.

The small phillips screws on the lower side near the bottom is/are the drains. These screws are 4mm screws X 8mm long and have a small sealing washer under them.

Do not loosen the bolt at the bottom of the forks unless you want to do a possible complete disassembly to reseat it properly if the cylinder moves while the bolt is removed.

I would suggest checking to see that the bolt is properly tightened and not leaking from its seal and the same for the drain screws.

The tightening torque for the allen bolt at the bottom of the fork is - 27 ft lb.

The tightening torque for the drain screw is 13 in lb.

[LonnieD]

addonii, and here I thought I would come in here and stop taking up so much of your time via email but you help me yet again via here :) thanks as always!!

[Me Again]

The bolt at the bottom of the forks is "NOT" a drain bolt, it holds the inner cylinder inside the fork in place.

The small phillips screws on the lower side near the bottom is/are the drains. These screws are 4mm screws X 8mm long and have a small sealing washer under them.

Do not loosen the bolt at the bottom of the forks unless you want to do a possible complete disassemble to reseat it properly if the cylinder moves while the bolt is removed.

I would suggest checking to see that the bolt is properly tightened and not leaking from its seal and the same for the drain screws.

The tightening torque for the allen bolt at the bottom of the fork is - 27 ft lb.

The tightening torque for the drain screw is 13 in lb.

Some how I thought that's the way it was ,but that itty bitty screw on the side seemed like an awful small drain.Thanks for correcting that.
I do know there are a number of people that have attempted to tighten these and stripped them out to make them almost totally worthless because they used the wrong size tool.

[LonnieD]

Well after closer inspection (A quick one) it appears like it's my front brakes leaking not the fork. I guess I need to take them off and see what's going on...is there any history of certain leakage with these that I should look for? Are the rebuild kits easy to find (are any parts easy to find ) any suggestions

[Mr Jensee]

If the brake pistons are leaking the parts are probably still available from folks like Bike Bandit. The older disk brakes are pretty simple units. I rebuilt 3 sets on a 79 Suzuki years ago without previous experience. The parts were available on Bike Bandit. Either get a service manual or check the internet. I am sure someone has posted a step by step on rebuilding single caliper disks.
Ah, here ya go. Just what you need....
http://www.perthstreetbikes.com/forum/f ... ics-64664/

Keep in mind that although your brake might not look exactly like the ones in the pictures they are pretty much all very similar. Make sure the seals are the same size and the pistons are not pitted. The parts are not that expensive that you cannot afford to replace pistons and seals.

[addonii]

Re: the front brakes

Make sure of where your leaking from, could be the Banjo fittings, the bleeders, the brake lines or the the piston seals. No matter where the leak is, the brakes should be flushed with new brake fluid - I use Castrol GT LMA BRAKE FLUID Dot 4 which compliant with the DOT 4 that was originally required on this bike. I suggest not mixing brake fluids, but any "good" brand of DOT 4 will work.

If your going to rebuild 1 caliper you might as well rebuild both.

Kit here on eBay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Kawasaki ... 1265wt_941 If you go this route get 2 kits. You should also be able to find a master cylinder rebuild kit on eBay and the parts are also still available from Kawasaki.

A company called K&L ( http://www.klsupply.com/ )makes/supplies a lot of kits for rebuilding carbs and brakes - they used to list kits for the ZN1300.

K&L Caliper Kit - 32-1289 (need 1 kit for each caliper)
K&L front master - 32-8061 still available
K&L rear master - 32-8055 NLA but you might be lucky and find it in some ones old stock.


By the way the rear brakes take the same parts for the caliper and the rear Master Cylinder rebuild kits are rare and NLA from Kawasaki.

Kawasaki Part #s are: 43049-1098 PACKING PISTON SEAL (2)

43049-1028 PACKING,PISTON (2)

49006-1094 BOOT,CALIPER (2) you made need depending on condition

49006-1095 BOOT,CALIPER (2) you made need depending on condition

43057-003 Bleeder Caps (2) you made need depending on condition

INCREASE THE PARTS ABOVE FROM 2 TO 3 IF YOU DECIDE TO DO THE REAR CALIPER.

49091-0001 Banjo Bolt washers (4) or (6) if you do the master or if you do all the lines (11)

The 11 doesn't take into account the (4) more you will need if you go on to doing the rear brakes and lines.

All the above parts are still available.

Make sure you clean and re-lube the slider pins with proper brake grease. Bound up sliders will cause your brakes to drag.

So now since your going through the front brakes consider cleaning out the old Front Master cylinder and maybe getting some stainless steel braided brake lines with a plastic coating.

25 year old brake lines are not your friend!

If your going to get into an area you might as well eliminate all the potential trouble spots all at one.

Rebuilding the calipers follows standard caliper rebuilding as does the Master.

Another item to cover is there is a boot on the Front Master that should be replaced if your going to do all the work. The boot is 25 years old and everyone I've ever seen if cracked - Kawasaki part# 49006-1067 BOOT,DUST

Many bikes of this age have the screws holding the Master cylinder Cover stuck - easy fix here is just drill off the heads, remove the cover and the screw stubs should turn out by hand, Kawasaki part#92001-1055 SCREW,COUNTERSUNK HEAD (2).

I know you wanted a simple answer but I figured I try to give you a total picture.

As you know from my previous posts I really hate going back into an area on my bike because I tried to skimp on the repair and save a little money only to cost myself a lot of time redoing.

Final item the banjo bolts get tightened to 18 ft lbs - the caliper mounting bolts to 25 ft lbs. If the banjo bolts leak after getting to the proper torque either use different washers or tighten slightly about 1/8 of a turn. I bring this up because I had several leak when I did my brake lines.

[LonnieD]

Super info my friend thanks... sounds like a nice long week-end job or winter fix-up..great step by step and suggestions worth a bunch!