Fork valve install experience round 2. I decided to add some more pre load to the springs, after further considering the SAG numbers at 2.1. What I have gathered on the forum is the HAWK front suspension travel is about 6 inches and therefore the SAG should be roughly 30 percent of that or 1.8 inch. As I was at 2.1 inch I want to reduce that SAG to around 1.5 to 1.75 inch. I had ordered some of that 23 mm OD by 19 ID mm aluminum tubing and cut that using a hack saw and miter box. Good ole hack saw, man they work good and never go out of usefulness. I had cut the previous 24 mm tubing with a Miter cut off saw and a carbide blade, but eventually it started to chip the tubing and was not clean and had a tendency to grab it at the end and toss it. I straightened it up using Megadan’s suggested use of glass with sanding paper, 100 grit to get it straight and finished with 400 grit. If one was not inclined to do the fab work to get the valve adapter to more directly align in the tube, I think this 23 mm OD by 19 mm ID could work for both an adapter and spacers. Pix shows valve inserted into 23 mm OD tube.
There is a metal flange or adapter in the bottom of the fork that the damper rod fits into, it is loose in the tube, slides around, and must be aligned correctly in the bottom of the fork with the damper rod or the bolt will not reach the threads. Wiggle it around, slide this way that, to get it to fall into place and line up. When aligned properly the bolt sticks out about ¼ inch from the fork bottom ready to be threaded.
Having heard tale of using broom sticks to tighten the damper rod I came up with the idea to use a piece of 5/16 inch threaded rod to make a tool for tightening. The end has a bolt from a metal bike shipping frame head size 14 mm, a 8 mm nut threaded onto a 5/16 inch rod with 5/16 nut to tighten up and on the back end two 5/16 inch nuts. A piece of PVC was used to protect the inside of the fork tube. It appeared to work well but was not needed as the damper rod tightened and torqued with no spinning. A vise is very helpful here but you could use a table top.
The question is how much fork oil? I thought I would go low side and put in what the HAWK generally comes with or 160 ml. Looking at data on line, these valves need to be submerged in oil, I presume so there is no air space in the hydraulic action. After adding 160 ml of 10wt I fully extended the fork tube and the valve was visible, and after pumping the fork it looked like the oil level was around 1 ½ inch below the valve. I added 20 ml and it brought it up to just flush with the valve opening. I added 20 ml and the fork valve disappeared but the adjusting nut stem was visible so I added another 20 ml for a total of 220 ml which covered the valve completely. Another way to measure fork oil is to measure down from the fork top to the oil with the fork completed depressed without the spring. The 220 ml measures 9 inches or 228 mm from the fork top.
A picture of the aluminum stock gasket and a copper one I took off after torqueing to 17.46 NM or about 13 ft lbs. I had forgot the damper rod spring goes on the damper rod so I had to take it all apart again to fix it. That is a very light torque load and not necessarily the recommended assembly torque. The pix is meant to show how the washer seals by compression and why you need new washer gasket and 6 mm allen for bolts.
Spacer in fork tube atop the spring sticks out roughly 9-10 mm
Looking forward to ride testing!