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R75/5 SWB front fork rebuild
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R75/5 SWB front fork rebuild
I just drained the oil from the front forks of my recently acquired R75/5. The bike has an indicated 30k miles on the speedo. The forks dived and appeared to have little damping. The fork oil was black and had rubber and other particles suspended in it. I could only drain about 150 cc from the right fork leg. I plan to strip and refurbish the sliders & dampers, and replace the springs. Two questions: 1) am I correct in thinking that I can drop the sliders and dampers off without removing the stanchions from the yokes? 2) I weigh about 150 lbs and will ride mostly solo with minimal luggage; is it worth fitting progressive springs or stick with standard?
Robert
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Re: R75/5 SWB front fork rebuild
You can mark the stanchions and twist them 90 degrees, which means the wear, which mostly occurs during braking at the top rear and bottom front, gets spread more evenly. I used to do it every 50,000 miles.
Charlie.
- schrader7032
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Re: R75/5 SWB front fork rebuild
'78 R100/7 '69 R69S '52 R25/2
Fast. Neat. Average. Friendly. Good. Good.
- drpetemurray
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Re: R75/5 SWB front fork rebuild
Stroudsburg,Pa
73 R75/5 , 1014 RTW, IBA 359
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Re: R75/5 SWB front fork rebuild
- srankin
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Re: R75/5 SWB front fork rebuild
IF they have high mileage on them, it would be best to bite the bullet and replace them regardless. High mileage, say 100,000. If they are notchy acting, forget the miles and change them.
Steering head bearing maintenance along with the transmission input shaft are two things a LOT of airhead owners seem to forget about or don't do on a regular basis. St.
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Re: R75/5 SWB front fork rebuild

- schrader7032
- Posts: 9405
- Joined: Fri Oct 27, 2006 3:00 am
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Re: R75/5 SWB front fork rebuild
'78 R100/7 '69 R69S '52 R25/2
Fast. Neat. Average. Friendly. Good. Good.
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- Posts: 214
- Joined: Thu Jan 20, 2022 5:49 pm
- Been thanked: 30 times
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- Posts: 36
- Joined: Thu Oct 22, 2020 5:33 am
- Location: Scotland
- Has thanked: 22 times
- Been thanked: 2 times
Re: R75/5 SWB front fork rebuild
The dampers are the older type with no extra plate in the base of the stanchion - the parts lists in the knowledge base on this site and https://brook.reams.me/bmw-motorcycle-r ... k-rebuild/ have been invaluable. Some pictures attached FYI.
Suffice to say I have bought top quality fork oil to put in the forks!
I have three questions:
1) Should the white upper buffer be a fairly loose fit on the damper (i.e. buffer ID > damper OD) ? The OD is a snug fit into the stanchion.
2) What are the red plastic washers (see attached picture) that came with my rebuild kit for? (I will ask the supplier, but stupidly the bags for the individual items are labelled with something other than the BMW part number.)
3) I think I read that the extra plate in the base of the stanchion was to reduce noise. I'm guessing it would also prolong the life of the white buffer. Can the parts be retro-fitted or would I need to get new stanchions with longer internal threads at the base (or get mine threaded).