I got new seals and dust covers for my 1975 XS650 forks and the manual I have does not indicate that there is pressure on the Cap NUT.

I don't want it to fly through the roof if I remove the cap so I wonder if anyone can give me some advice.

Theres only light spring pressure on it. just apply a firm pressure with your hand to stop the threads being damaged as they get to the last couple of turns.

I'd be interested to hear if the springs have pushed their way inside the spacers on yours.

Thanks for the information.

I was able to get the forks apart without any damage.(no flying parts). I did have a duce of a time getting the old fork seals to come out. You have to be really careful not to damage the outer fork when using a pry tool. I used an aluminum spacer between the edge of the housing and the big screwdriver that I used to pry with. The final trick was to heat up the fork housing and use some penetrating oil on the seal.

To my surprise someone had replaced the original spacers with 1/2 inch PVC and it seem to work fine.

Probably the pvc pipe was used as the springs had forced up inside the metal spacer letting off the preload on the springs. I had to weld washers on the end of the spacers to stop it happening again.

do you guys have any pics im thinking of doing this to my xs500c and the pics would help