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While trying to reassemble my front wheel on my newly acquired 72 /5 after greasing and brake inspection I found that the left fork is sitting lower than the right which is making axle installation difficult. Right now the fender fork brace is off and I can put the axle without the wheel in easily by pushing up on the left fork,getting the axle to line up while installing the wheel assembly is almost impossible.As it sits now--fork oil has been drained,and fender/fork brace are off.This is my 1st time with telescopic forks and even after reading the link on Duane's site I'm still not sure what the problem is. any suggestions?

The bumpers inside your fork tubes have disintegrated, one side more so than the other. It's rebuild time!

That's exactly what I was hoping to not hear.As usual this started out with servicing and inspecting a new bike before I got it on the road and hoping to do major work over the winter.I'll have to tackle this now since not being able to put the front wheel on isn't exactly something that can be put off;) Are you speaking of bumpers inside of the fork tubes or bumpers inside of the sliders? Taking the sliders off shouldn't be that big of a deal.And does anyone know of rebuild kits being available? I'll have to order them 1st thing tomorrow morning to get them by the holiday weekend.

The one in the bottom cap of the slider is only for when the forks bottom out, the opposite of what you are experiencing. Hucky sells them: http://www.bmwhucky.com/007531.html

You will be done before you know it, and be happily riding again.
It happened to me on my R65, just like you described, and the solution was just like Tim described.

I recommend a second bike for riding when the /5 is down. A CBR250R is cheap and a blast!

I bought my /5 to be my second bike while I rebuilt my /2 VW conversion(again)! First thing in the morning I'm going to remove the snap ring and see exactly what is going on in there. I'm debating whether I should get a rebuild kit that has parts that I dont need since my seals show no signs of leaking or just by the bumpers themselves.I'm trying to take advantage of the four day weekend coming up to knock out my punch list for the /5. If I order the bumpers and anything else from BobsBMW which is only 2hrs from me I'll have them by Wednesday,the rebuild kit from Huckys would cost a lot more money in shipping to get it by then.I'll just have to see what happens in the morning.

I would ride it over the holiday week, if it were me. Just don't go street racing.

To get the axle in with everything assembled, just push up on the lower side, perhaps with a floor jack.

Be careful.

woodpile wrote:I bought my /5 to be my second bike while I rebuilt my /2 VW conversion(again)!

OK, now ya done it. Tell us about the /2 VW! No /5 questions will be answered until you spill!

The person before you got the axle in, so it can go in again. It is at least 80% that you have a wobble and may not know it now. Those forks will bind up.

I have no idea what is in a rebuild kit. You should only need bumpers and fork oil to do the replacement. I highly doubt that that simple procedure will fix it properly.

Duane Ausherman wrote: I have no idea what is in a rebuild kit. You should only need bumpers and fork oil to do the replacement. I highly doubt that that simple procedure will fix it properly.

How about replacing the bumpers and oil, and then aligning the forks with the method described on your website?

Except the link on your website does not work for me here at the office.

Try this one (same article): http://aatherton06.home.insightbb.com/U ... TITLE.html