Uneven dirtbike front suspension?

[Black_Moons]

Be sure and get all the old oil out by inverting the fork and pumping it till empty. I usually flush mine with diesel or paint thinner before refilling.

I took them totally apart and washed em out with my garden hose as there was tons of old sludge and crap in there. they no doubt need new seals anyway.

[oxford]

Like some of the others said, I wouldn't worry about it. Once they are tied together and moving as a set they are averaging each other out. It was mentioned already but some modern mx bikes only have a spring in one leg, the other has rebound and dampening adjustments. You can also mix spring rates from one leg to the other to get rate you need.

[A.K. Boomer]

Totally disagree - bikes like that have to be designed for it,,, extra ridged fork braces and axle stability and things like that are crucial --- if he's thinking he's got a bike that's built from two different bikes then he needs to do a little research and or testing of his own...

My MT. bikes front suspension is immune to this kind of thing as it's a headshok and has totally ridged front forks and just one shock in the middle of the headset that controls both spring rate (*air) and dampening/return

you can always count on your front wheel tracking true over rough stuff as there is no give on one side and stiffness on the other,,, what's really crazy is the lock-out designs on twin teliscoping tubes that just lock-out one fork blade,,, you can literally lock the front end out, push on the front end whilst holding the front brake and watch the top of the front wheel arc over to one side --- nice,,,,,,, NOT....

[topct]

Considering that the bike in question is 34 years old, and it was a kids trail/dirt (not a motocross) bike that smacked into countless trees and rocks, driven by overweight dads and big brothers trying to demonstrate their prowess or of lack thereof I consider the fact that the forks still actually move at all a bonus. I would actually be more concerned about the engine/trans than anything else. If it still runs and shifts at all would be a real surprise These poor little things by there very nature and 99% of the people that bought them have more often than not been through hell and back.

[A.K. Boomer]

some of those little 80's were fun to abuse alright, then they came out with the little water cooled ones and hopped them up even more,,, amazing balls for such a little engine, would make you think twice about turning one of those over to your kid....

[Black_Moons]

Update for you all, Got new seals, filled with oil, put them on, put shocks on bike, pushed forward and...... Nothing. No rebound. Seized up good. Odd since they worked decently on the bench except for end of travel of one.

Replaced the one most prone to seizing and.. still too much sag (half the suspension travel) and very high friction.
Oh well, there goes $15.

Put the old, more rusted shocks on that where on it when I got it, filled them with oil as I can't swap the seals due to a different design that looks harder to replace anyway and... amazing, very little leakage and good dampening/rebound, it no longer tries to wobble around going down my driveway.. and the front end just floats up and lands softly while doing wheelies with no clunks or thuds at all.

I think the previous owner didn't tighten the pinch bolts or axle or something properly either.. the front wheel could be turned a few degrees to either side if you forced it and would sort of stay that way (movement in the forks?) but now its rather rigid and returns to its original position.