Factory lowering a DR650

[Ed~]

It's obvious that when you try to slide the forks up 1 3/4" the triple's, you can't. The handlebars are in the way. The maximum height to slide up is about 1.5" and when you do that and it don't look none too safe when you step back and look.

I've ridden our little DRZ400S around with that much up the triple but it sports much bigger/longer forks up front and is indeed a lighter bike to begin with.

Granted, the DR probably would not bottom out unless you are jumping the bike but it still doesn't look like it is very confidence inspiring to ride around without some internal stop to prevent the tires from hitting the fenders in a desperate situation... which is the only time you would really need such a necessity, right?

Anyway, a good friend in town who also currently owns a DR650, who has helped me on my own bikes several times, says I am overthinking this problem. He's taken apart the DR forks many times, most recently to install intiminator valves, and assured me the bottom allen bolt will spin out with an impact wrench -sometime just by hand- and really doesn't need to worry that "special tool" to hold the internal baffles for doing the job. I trust his many decades long riding experience, his love of the DR as an all-rounder, and his amazing sensibility when it comes to all things mechanical.

If one were going to ride the DR650 around lowered, it is probably worth spending the time doing it the factory way for safety... and peace of mind.

[ram1000]

Originally Posted by Ed~

It's obvious that when you try to slide the forks up 1 3/4" the triple's, you can't. The handlebars are in the way. The maximum height to slide up is about 1.5" and when you do that and it don't look none too safe when you step back and look.

I've ridden our little DRZ400S around with that much up the triple but it sports much bigger/longer forks up front and is indeed a lighter bike to begin with.

Granted, the DR probably would not bottom out unless you are jumping the bike but it still doesn't look like it is very confidence inspiring to ride around without some internal stop to prevent the tires from hitting the fenders in a desperate situation... which is the only time you would really need such a necessity, right?

Anyway, a good friend in town who also currently owns a DR650, who has helped me on my own bikes several times, says I am overthinking this problem. He's taken apart the DR forks many times, most recently to install intiminator valves, and assured me the bottom allen bolt will spin out with an impact wrench -sometime just by hand- and really doesn't need to worry that "special tool" to hold the internal baffles for doing the job. I trust his many decades long riding experience, his love of the DR as an all-rounder, and his amazing sensibility when it comes to all things mechanical.

If one were going to ride the DR650 around lowered, it is probably worth spending the time doing it the factory way for safety... and peace of mind.

I have rode my wife's DR650 lowered by sliding the forks up about 1 1/4" into the triple clamp and have ridden hard enough to bottom the forks many times. There is not enough traction on the inside of the fender for the front tire to suddenly stop because they made contact. I usually lowered the back by moving the link bolt into the lowered position. That said I have also dissembled many a fork and have not had to have any special tools to get the bottom bolt to come loose. Now that I have an air impact tool it is even easier.

[TUCKERS]

Originally Posted by gplassm

I lowered my DR650 a few months ago. I used the factory method. I used a tapered broomstick to hold the damper rod from spinning, and an electric impact wrench to spin the bolt out. Easy! You just remove the thick steel spacer from the top of the spring, and move it to the top of the top-out spring as mentioned.
In the rear, I would not recommend simply using the upper clevis mounting hole without flipping the lower spring collar over as well. Flipping the lower spring collar over raises the bottom out bumper (the bumper will sit on top of the collar, rather than down in it). If you do no perform this step, you risk having the suspension compress "too far", possibly allowing the tire to contact hard parts under the fender, and also possibly causing much grief with your upper chain roller. The entire "rear" mod can be done with the bike on a stand, and with the shock left in the bike. Simply back the spring preload collars all the way off, lift the spring up, pry the bottom out bumper up a bit, remove the lower spring collar (it is split to allow removal), remove the infamous steel tab that covers the upper mounting hole, flip the collar over, and reinstall everything. The whole process takes maybe 10 minutes.
The fornt end may take up to one hour.
Hint: loosen the upper triple clamp bolts, then loosen the fork caps, before removing the forks from the bike.
Complete fork parts break down can be found at bikebandit.com

Just did the factory lowering with this post help .

Rear took about 20 minutes.

Put jack or milk crate under engine.

Take off right side cover.

Squirt WD40 on threads of rear shock.

Hit top lock nut on shock preload with a punch and hammer.

Spin top nut as far as it will go using fingers.

Hit next nut a few times with punch, until you can turn it by fingers, spin it up to the other nut.

Reach down and push rubber do dad in shock up with a screw driver, it's tight all right...push it!

Wiggle collar out and from under spring.

Turn it over and wiggle it back in.

Get bumper back down, it's pain OK.

Back up to top. Tighten nut on preload with fingers and then punch to desired height. If you are light measure spring at 10", if you are heavier try 9.5".

Tighten lock nut with fingers and then punch.

Done deal.

Front is easy. I made a damper tool from 1/2" iron pipe 22" long with a T I welded across the top. Other end I welded a regular nut that measured 28mm across flats (3/4" thread nut) a nut that measured 31MM across flats would have been better.
The bottom 8mm allens were tight. The first one came out with my Allen socket, but the other the 28MM across flats spun in the damper so I wrapped duct tape on it and stuck it back in, then used an impact driver with an 8mm Allen in it. It came loose enough first hefty clout.

When I assembled the front I forgot to put the fork boots on...duh...

This is supposed to lower the bike 40mm, which is just over one and a half inch. If you leave your preload nuts high the bike will also sag as you sit on it, but if you are heavy you need more pre-load.

I took off the side stand and cut 2" out and welded it back together.

Just waiting for the paint to dry on the side stand. Then I will either yank the fork leg down to get my boots on...OR...thinking about Dirtskins anyway, but I need to know if anyone likes them?

[basketcase]

I've been fine with the OEM fork boots but the dirtskins are popular.

The main thing is to keep rocks from dinging the tubes and dirt from caking up at the seals.

It's probably a toss up on which does best.