I seem to have been mislead about how to adjust the height of the fork on my 88 k75c. I am putting 75c handlebars back onto my bike since the original owner had S bars on it. I noticed that the forks were not even with each other as well as being 3 inches on the left side and 1"3/4 inches on the right above the triple tree. I was directed to take out the allen blots and the with a barrier between the forks and a hammer to then beat the hell out of it till it was even with the triple tree. I am finding this to be difficult. I have the left side down to about 2 inches. I have stopped before I destroy something. I am trying to get my " New to Me" bike safe to ride with my veterans group. Can someone give a brother some direction? Thanks

The metal of the fork tube should be level with the top of the top yoke. You will need to loosen the bolts on both upper and lower clamps. The forks should turn easily in the yokes with the bolts loose. Do one side at a time it is much easier.
If you need to hammer them then there is something wrong like bent forks or twisted yokes.

With the four pinch bolts on the yokes loosened, the tubes should slide right down like Rick G indicated. Maybe some penetrating oil around the tubes at each brace might help. Have you verified that the fairing isn't causing the tubes to bind?

I even have it jacked up.

If you haven't done it already, take the wheel off and disassemble the front end, mudguard, brakes, etc. so you can remove the fork legs individually. Loosen the upper and lower pinch bolts and the legs should slide right out under their own weight.

If the legs won't come out after you loosen all the pinch bolts, the clamps may be twisted. In that case you need to loosen the nuts at the top of the steering head. Then you can wiggle things around until the legs slide out of the clamps.

I would be curious to see the legs next to each other to confirm that they're both the same length.

I would advise against trying to avoid disassembling the front end.

The fact that you can't easily adjust the height of the legs tells me that your front end is out of whack and needs to be straightened out to eliminate the stiction that will make the ride very harsh and the handling crap.

rushtk wrote:I seem to have been mislead about how to adjust the height of the fork on my 88 k75c...

...I was directed to take out the allen bolts and the with a barrier between the forks and a hammer to then beat the hell out of it till it was even with the triple tree. I am finding this to be difficult. I have the left side down to about 2 inches. I have stopped before I destroy something. I am trying to get my " New to Me" bike safe to ride

Damn right you were misled.  At all costs, avoid future contact with the knucklehead who told you to do that.  Beating the hell out of the forks IS NOT the way to make your bike safe to ride.

I'm with .75 on this one! Just to be clear though I would not recommend that you take the head stock or forks apart unless you research the proper way and have the proper tools. 

I suggest you check the headstock bearings, change fork oil (I like to flush them out with WD-40), front wheel bearings, and "seat" forks, brace, triple trees, and axle assembly. Once torqued up the forks should run smooth and true through the full stroke without binding or sticking or wheel deflection. Put on a fresh tire and your moto will feel like a magic carpet ride (:  

Also after getting the forks in the stock position of triple trees and installing new bars you may need to change front brake line, clutch, throttle, and or "choke" cables so you have no stretching, pulling, or binding stop to stop as well.

Tons of info here on the forum and the net to help.

The ribbed dust covers are not allowing the forks to slide.

The gaiters don't have anything to do with the fork tubes in the triple clamps.  I have them on all my bikes and my fork tubes drop right out when I loosen the pinch bolts just a little.  

I see you have what looks like some sort of a fork brace between the fork legs that doesn't look like it belongs there.  You need to remove it and the front wheel as well to even have a fighting chance at getting the legs out and getting the front end aligned.  You really need to take the time to get this right.

The fit between the fork tubes and the triple clamps is so tight that the slightest misalignment will make the tubes bind.  The more you try to force them, the more they'll bind.  If you keep on beating on them, you're going to bend or break the triple clamps.  

Where you're at right now you need to have the legs totally independent of each other.

I wouldn't be surprised if the forks were bent in an accident, and someone went the cheap way and straightened them a bit.

Point-Seven-five wrote:The gaiters don't have anything to do with the fork tubes in the triple clamps.  I have them on all my bikes and my fork tubes drop right out when I loosen the pinch bolts just a little.  

I see you have what looks like some sort of a fork brace between the fork legs that doesn't look like it belongs there.  You need to remove it and the front wheel as well to even have a fighting chance at getting the legs out and getting the front end aligned.  You really need to take the time to get this right.

The fit between the fork tubes and the triple clamps is so tight that the slightest misalignment will make the tubes bind.  The more you try to force them, the more they'll bind.  If you keep on beating on them, you're going to bend or break the triple clamps.  

Where you're at right now you need to have the legs totally independent of each other.

Thank you for your directions, 1st time ever doing this. Thought I got lucky with this one. Trying to get used to riding it so I can join a veterans ride.

Is the green arrow pointing to something attached to the fork tube above the lower fork brace?
Where's that pizza stone (red arrow) between the fork boots attached?

Laitch wrote:Is the green arrow pointing to something attached to the fork tube above the lower fork brace?
Where's that pizza stone (red arrow) between the fork boots attached?

The green arrow is a light but what it is attached to I can't tell

I'll guess the purpose of the pizza plate is to hide a busted up fork brace (or replace it) from an accident.

I asked a bike mechanic to come out tomorrow after his son races. I am under the impression from comments that these forks are toast. I will start looking for new ones. Thank you all for the help!

Remove the front wheel and fender then remove the brace between the forks, that way the forks are independent of each other. Loosen the pinch bolts on the lower and upper yokes and the forks should turn freely, if not then the tubes are bent or the yokes are twisted. If the tubes are out of true by even 0.25mm then the forks are shagged and need attention from a specialist to straighten them depending how they are bent.

RicK G wrote:Remove the front wheel and fender then remove the brace between the forks, that way the forks are independent of each other. Loosen the pinch bolts on the lower and upper yokes and the forks should turn freely, if not then the tubes are bent or the yokes are twisted. If the tubes are out of true by even 0.25mm then the forks are shagged and need attention from a specialist to straighten them depending how they are bent.

I just spoke with the 1st owner and he said it was fine when he had it. I sent him pics and he said his grandfather (the 1st owner) told him nothing had ever happened to it. Me thinks his grandfather might have fibbed.

Don't look for new forks yet!!!  Take the damn wheel off and remove the fender and the fork brace.  All that stuff hanging there can be holding the legs just far enough out of whack to jam them in the triple clamps.  

To get the wheel off, take the screw out of the left end of the axle.  Then loosen the pinch bolts on the back side of the bottom of the fork legs.  

Then take out the four screws that hold the calipers to the fork legs.  When the calipers are unscrewed from the fork legs grab the caliper and rock it on the brake rotor to push the pads in a little so the rotors can slide out of the calipers when the wheel comes out.

Now take a Phillips screwdriver and put it in the hole in the right end of the axle and pull the axle out.  Now you can wiggle the wheel out while sliding the calipers off the rotors.

Now that the wheel is out, DON't touch the front brake lever!  

With the wheel out of the way, remove the four screws that hold the mudguard and the yellow reflectors to the fork legs.  

The photos look like you have a two piece mudguard.  There is a black fork brace between the front and rear parts of the mudguard.  At the back side of the fork brace there is a plastic cover that snaps out when you pry it at the top with a small screwdriver.  Then you can remove the screw that holds the front half of the mudguard.

With the mudguard off you can now remove the four screws that attach the fork brace to the fork legs.  With the brace off, you can wiggle the fork legs in the triple clamps, and I would bet that your forks will then easily slide down in the clamps. They may slide so easy that you might want to put one of the pinch bolts in the triple clamp so only one leg will slide out when you have things lined up.

I realize that these instructions sound awfully complicated if you've never had the forks apart before, but I am confident that you can have all that stuff apart in less than 45 minutes, maybe in only a half hour.  Take your time and a few photos as you go.  Post them and maybe we can spot what is causing your problem.

On the left side, were the pinch bolts a bit on the loose side?

daveyson wrote:On the left side, were the pinch bolts a bit on the loose side?

There were no bolts in either side. Right now I have no brakes or handlebars. Putting the 75c bars back on it. It had 75S bars...which if anyone wants just pay shipping...

rushtk wrote:Right now I have no brakes . . .

Maybe you've got no brake hand lever or front master cylinder, but you've got brake calipers. Pry them off the rotors and hang them out of the way somewhere.

Hmm... Someone's taken the pInch bolts out, they don't fall out by themselves. You need to be rough as guts to remove them without replacing them, and then sell it on to someone else (let alone say there's nothing wrong with them)

Looking at your pictures it appears that maybe someone was going for a odd setup on front end. The  bar backs offset the bars back enough that the fork legs can clear the bars and allow them to be so high above the top clamp (this would lower the front so much changing trail/rake and ground clearance; IMO would make very poor handling) But with no pinch bolts in the trees maybe the forks just slid up unintentionally. But a K75 "basic" I do not believe would have come from the factory with "S" bars. This is a mystery that may never be solved.

Lets get back to making the bike safe. Being that you do not have experience working on BMWs (Bike Made Weird) nor had the pleasure of piloting such a fine machine my I suggest you PM me your address and I will send you a copy (I have acquired several) of the Clymers BMW K-series service, repair, and maintenance  manual along with a set of pinch bolts you will be needing. I offer this because some may say I (as well as many on this forum) have a unhealthy passion for these fine machines and would not like to see it fall to the enemy (a ham fisted, non torque wrench owning, wire cutting, and splicing hack) rendering what appears to be a nice example into a basket case. Taking the time to go though it and getting to know all about it will reward you with a stead that you can go anywhere, anytime, in dam near any weather. After all they are "Flying Bricks"

I took it to a bike mech today who has knowledge of some BMW's but his Uncle has a couple of k Bikes and was able to tell him what to look for and it was as you guys had suggested. They were not put in correctly. He had to lube and wiggle them out after he removed the tire and brakes. He verified that they were not bent and even measured the springs which were off. The right side was turned down a lot more than the left. By myself and the grandson riding it without the pinch bolts in it that did not help matters. He has them back on with fresh oil and my fork seals are good. I have to wait for Thom to send me the proper brake line to reconnect to the new correct "C" handlebars. I am asking the mech to show me how to do the spline lubes and will pay him extra for my stupid questions! I know Thom Hellebrekers has been hooking me up with parts! This is my 1st K bike, I hope to have more and am grateful for members like you to help us noobs out! In my 21 yrs of military I did not work on bikes, my family asked me not to ride till the last child was in college. I waited till he made it through a semester and bout the 75. I hope to meet you all on the road!  ESSAYONS!

Good to hear you got it on the run. Would be good to see you down the road!

Thank you sir!

That's great news! I hope he put the pinch bolts back in.

Besides the spline lube, you need to do a flush of the brake lines with fresh fluid and make very sure the clutch is adjusted properly. Neither job is very difficult, but neglect can result in the need for expensive repairs, especially with regard to the clutch.

Just so you know, the pinch bolts are a last resort. I have only just seen this thread but had same issues on a K1100 and that has a similar type of arrangement using the bridge. It arose trying to get the forks out of the way to replace the ignition. Glad to see all is good.

After you have tightened the forks up and put the wheel back on, one does the axle up to finger tight and drop the bike on to the wheels and bounce it to make sure all is correctly aligned. Then the axle is to be torqued up to spec and after that the pinch bolts are to be tightened. Of themselves the pinch bolts only serve as a back up in the event of the axle bolt becoming loose.

Olaf, I was referring to the pinch bolts in the triple clamps. I think the bike came without them.

The cinch bolts came in a box the guy gave me, he said that his grandfather told him the box was extra stuff. Like extra stuff to save your life🤬

Point-Seven-five wrote:Olaf, I was referring to the pinch bolts in the triple clamps.  I think the bike came without them.

Oh s**t.

You might want to take a few minutes to remove the triple clamp pinch bolts one at a time and put copper anti- seize on the threads. It will save some grief some time in the future when you need to loosen them again. It would be a good idea to do that to every bolt on the bike. It will make sure that you will be able to get them apart, as well as checking to make sure they are all tight.