[Gremson]

I finally got some nice clean tubes to replace the pitted mess on my CL350 (that apparently has SL tubes.. hrmph)
I got myself a pair of snap ring pliers and have been reading up on the job, but I'm curious if more experienced folks can offer some pointers. I learned from the gent I bought the tubes from to watch out for the little ball bearings at the bass of the tubes, they tend to fall out.
Does anyone else have any tips to make my day tomorrow as headache free as possible?
Wish me luck!

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[Lefty]

I think he meant the ball bearings in the steering stem. There's no need to remove the stem. Just slide the tubes out of their clamps. No bearings in the tubes.

 

[Gremson]

I think he meant the ball bearings in the steering stem. There's no need to remove the stem. Just slide the tubes out of their clamps. No bearings in the tubes.

They may not be technically ball bearings, but there's small metal balls in the base of the fork tubes that are covered by a metal sleeve inside the bigger part of the leg that connects to the wheel. (Sorry I dont know the proper names of of the parts.) But the seller took one side apart for me to show me what I was up against and theres three small metal pieces in there. Something about vibration dampening.

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[83XLX]

You should probably include the year of your bike, since the forks changed over the years.

 

[Gremson]

You should probably include the year of your bike, since the forks changed over the years.

It's a '73 CL350. But I'm thinking I've already got a front end off something else. From what ive learned so far, the CB and CL series have springs outside of the tubes, and the SL series has springs inside the tubes. Thats what I have.

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[83XLX]

Nope. The early CB and CL had external springs, but the later ones had internal springs.

 

[Gremson]

And it seems there's a couple variations on the internal spring setups.
Pulled mine apart this morning to find my tubes are about three inches shorter than the ones I just bought. They also dont have the ball bearings and little doodads like I mentioned were on the ones I bought.
I left them with my new parts friend. Hopefully he can find the right ones for me in his shop.

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[Gremson]

Sucess! Parts buddy had the tubes I needed and they fit right on!
I paid $350 for a shop to do this job last year. And now that I've done it myself I can say this job was not worth $350.
And... Dayumm! After having ridden the bike for the last few months without any oil in the forks, what a huge difference it is to have it the way it's supposed to be. I've got a whole new bike now!

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