7.1 Sachs 45mm with Check Valve

    Moto Guzzi California

Before you begin!!!! These forks appear to be very well made but very poorly designed.

UNLESS YOU HAVE TO, DO NOT SPLIT THE FORK TUBES. The inner bushing on most modern forks is about one millimeter larger than the ID of the outer bushing. This allows the forks to be "slide-hammered" apart. This technique pushes out the outer bushing along with the fork seal.

On these forks the inner bushing is only about .15 mm larger than the ID of the outer bushing. If you attempt to slide-hammer the fork apart the inner bushing will wedge into the outer bushing and at very minimum, damage the bushings.

If the fork seals are OK, do not split the forks. All the work on the damping can be done without splitting the forks. After removing the springs and oil, remove the damping rod bolt on the bottom and turn the fork upside down to remove the damping rod.

If you do need to replace the seals, remove the dust seal and seal circlip, fill the fork completely with oil and put it in a hydraulic press. This will push out the seal but not the bushings. Good luck! Call us if you need to.

See also Standard Emulator Installation Instructions.

These forks have a Check Valve built into the Damping Rod Head. It creates excessive Compression Damping and makes these forks very harsh.

The Check Valve is there so the fork refills properly on the rebound stroke. If there were no Check Valve the tiny compression hole would cavitate massively.

We will be removing the Check Valve mechanism and therefore the refill issue is not a problem.

Drill out the peening marks on the plate with a 1/8" or 3mm drill.

Hold the damping rod in TMVJ 065 Vise Jaws by putting a Phillips screwdriver through the existing compression damping holes and holding it in the "V" of the vise jaws.

Use an 8mm Allen socket and unscrew the plate. Remove all the internal parts and discard them.

Drill the existing compression holes out to 8mm (5/16"). Add (2) more sets of holes at 10mm increments above the original holes at 90 degrees to the previous set. Deburr them inside and out.

Finish the installation as normal. Set the Emulator valving, spring rate, spring preload, oil and oil level in accordance with the DVS Setup Sheet.