A nice clunk on theway home tonight

[Class—]

Evening Folks,
So I was enjoying a spirited ride home tonight and then had the front "clonk" under heavy braking. I use ear plugs so it was more the feel rather than the sound. Now its 1am in the evening and I'm not looking at the bike now but I will tommorow, any suggestions to what I should look at? When I was back in the streets I tried heavy braking and it felt like the headstock maybe(?) How do I check that?
It wasnt a nice feeling at all when it first happened as I thought something had smacked my headers.

Thanks guys

[GSXKING]

To check the headstock put bike on centre stand and anchor rear wheel to the ground.
Grab the bottom of fork legs and apply pressure in both directions.
I'd also check calliper bolts.

[Class—]

Cheers Chris, how do you guys ground the  rear? My only way is getting wife to sit on the back of the seat whilst on the centre stand :D

[Hooli]

I put axle stands under the front frame tubes as my 14's centre stand was removed years ago.

I'd go with headstock bearings as the first check too, I've got the same check to do on a mate's 14 when she's got time to bring it over as she noticed a clonk on braking last weekend.

[GSXKING]

Cheers Chris, how do you guys ground the  rear? My only way is getting wife to sit on the back of the seat whilst on the centre stand :D

    if you think your wife will suffice do that or a jack under the sump area will suffice
My wife just slapped me and said don't go there 🙀🙀🙀

[Dwain Dibley]

So you had the guts to ask the missus to weigh the bike down    Legend !!   

D.D.

[Jeykey]

Cheers Chris, how do you guys ground the  rear? My only way is getting wife to sit on the back of the seat whilst on the centre stand :D

I just put in on the centre stand, push down on the rear and ask someone to put 2 blocks of wood at the front, beneath the frame next to engine. My missus too light

[Hooli]

I've got a pic somewhere of a Pan Euro with two breeze blocks on the pillion seat. Worked fine with a strap over them to change the steering bearings in that & once you get the wheel out most bikes sit with the front up anyway.

[Class—]

Haha guys, as long as the top box is off she can sit far back enough and it just works.

Well on to the clunk. Turns out my forks are bottoming out. I'm guessing there is no oil left in them ☹️ the old boy I bought the bike from had "just" fitted genuine stanchions and seals. I'm guessing something has gone wrong ☹️ I also guess that could be the cause of my bottoming out round the bends earlier.

Now here's where I ask questions that might be stupid to you guys but hey ho...
I measured the distance from the bottom fork clamp to the slight grease line of where the forks had reached up the stanchions. On the offside stanchion it was 50mm and on the near side it was 54mm. What is "normal" for this distance?

I have also finally put the forks down so they are flush with the top clamp, but, the offside is flush whilst the near side seems to be 2mm above the clamp. Is this a sign of anything?

Thanks

[Hooli]

Just shove the other one down a bit till they match.

[Eric GSX1400K3]

There should also not be a 'slight grease line' if the seals are fitted correctly.  Then there's also the correct oil fill and distance to the top of the internal cartridge of the top nut.

Have a search on here, plenty of data on how to rebuild the forks.  Unless you've got oil leaking out the bottom, or past the seals, they do not simply 'run' out of oil. Either underfilled (reason for the clunk in my view) or blown seals, in which case there'd be a crapload of oil around the front of the bike.

[Mick_J]

Both forks are the same length and so should travel the same distance 4mm out is not correct.  Measure the distance between your triple clamps. both should be the same.  Fork tops should be the same distance above the top clamp.  First job is to check the fork oil.  Support the front of the bike and slacken off the wheel spindle, bottom fork clamps, top fork clamps and give everything a bit of a wiggle to stabilise things and then starting from the top clamps tighten them so they are the same both sides, then tighten the bottom clamps ensuring the distance between clamps both sides is the same.  Then set the wheel down and give the suspension a good few pumps and tighten up the front wheel. 
Forgot to add, while the forks are out you might as well check and regrease your head bearings.

[grog]

Class, just take it to a suspension expert, get it fixed/ sorted, you can then enjoy the bike.That would be my way, obviously youre not confident on suspension and you need to be, its your life at risk.   

[Class—]

So a quick update on my clunk. I took it to the local dealer to have a look at as I have zero time to do anything myself atm. He told me that both forks were 15mm too low of oil and that the previous owner must have filled with the air gap of the pre 2005 forks. He topped them to correct air gap, said my seals were good and then smiled as the cash till made lots of noises and my wallet made empty noises.

Thanks for the input guys, I will always ask stupid questions as I want to learn from you all 

[Eric GSX1400K3]

At least an empty wallet doesn't clunk...