Critics will notice that there should be more photos. I was alone during this project and apologize for their absence.

Why? I'm not going to bother with addressing this here. Ask any suspension tuner and they will tell you unequivocally that getting your spring rate correct is paramount to getting a proper sag and ride height. And there is little point in tweaking ***** until you do. They will also be unanimous in the opinion that you cannot get a decent set up with a progressive spring. Guess what? Honda stuckone in the 05/06 forks.

This shows the stock spring at the bottom and the Ohlins replacement on top.



Unfortunately, this is one of those instances where us DIY/McGiver types are better off acquiring a factory spring installer don't ask how I know[:@]

There are no photos of removing the fork caps, but here is a description.

Begin by unloading the front forks. Lift the wheel off the ground. I have a lift thatraises the bike centraly leaving the wheels dangling freely. You may need to sling it from a rafter or use a jack and swingarm stand to accomplish this.
1. Remove the circlip that resides in the fork caps central protrusion (preload/damper).
2. Remove the black nut-capand lift it past the slotted screw and off the preload adjuster.
3. Remove the 14 mm nut that you just uncovered.
4. Remove anodized fork cap bolt. The damper rod is now free to hyper extend beyond the fork tubes.
5. You may need to press down and twist to fully remove the cap bolt. The damper rod preload adjuster is capturedbya threaded washer underneath.

Now is where you need the factory tools. More in the next post.

 

Here is what I refered to as a black nut cover


Once you have removed the fork cap (blue in the photo), you can remove the PVC spacers and extract the springs. I used a magnet.

This photo is actually an assembly shot, but shows the spacers


If you are changing the fork oil, you should have removed the cartridge from the fork to begin with. If, like me, you are simply changing the springs, let the oil drain completely off before removing them from the tubes.

You can now drop in the new springs.

Installing the spacers will reveal why you need a spring compressor. I wasted a couple of hours of precious time making my own compression tool and finally wound up borrowing the factory tools from the shop. You may be able to at least rent them from a local shop too.

It may be neccessary to lift the front wheel enough to grab the damper rod for this next step. Just drop the spacers over the new spring and hold onto the rod while you thread on the tool shaft.

This image shows one of the three pieces of the factory spring compressor. It threads onto the top shaft of the damping rod with internal threads.



These are the other two parts in position



Turning the wheel compresses the spring and spacers below the fork tube.
You may then grab the exposed nut below the damping rod with a wrench and unthread the tool.



More later.