[Ldn]

You need a fork spring compressor, and a good one. The specialty tool listed in the manual is garbage.

Get the one from Race Tech, it will run you just over $200.
FORK SPRING COMPRESSOR (portable) TFSC01

Other than that, you can do everything else with a metric socket and wrench set. Don't use a crescent on the fork caps, they can be on there pretty tight. Loosen the fork caps with the forks still in the triple tree. 1/4 turn from tight will do until you're ready to take them apart.

Fork seal bullets help a lot. If you don't have them, you can use the plastic that the fork seals came in to create a smooth surface for the fork seals to slide over.

All said and done, you're going to spend about $300 in specialty tools to do the fork job. If you take the forks off the bike yourself, which only requires a triple tree stand and a standard rear stand and basic tools, most shops will do a fork seal replacement for you at around $140, and especially since you've never even seen one done, I would recommend this.

Oh, and check your toolkit. There's a good chance your fork cap wrench is in there. I don't remember off the top of my head, but a lot of bikes did that.

 

[Ldn]

Do not skip any steps by removing the bottom bolt. Your compression is set by the amount of air you have in your forks, as oil, by definition, is not compressible. By not disassembling the fork internals, and removing the compression needle, you are not able to change the oil in those chambers. That means that the oil in the outer chamber will be more viscous than the oil on the inner chambers since the oil on the inner chambers will have been contaminated by a period of riding. The end result will be varying levels fluid, of unknown viscosity, which will lead to fork settings that are nearly impossible to match. They will also fluctuate as the two fluids mix.

I can honestly say there is not ever a time I would suggest skipping steps with suspension.

 

[Ldn]

Just so you know what's relevant, here are the basic steps you need to take:
1. Loosen fork cap.
2. Remove Front wheel, fender, and loosen lower then upper triple clamps. Be sure to take note of the small stopper ring and put in a safe place. They like to grow legs.
3. Slide each fork from the triple clamps and set in a safe place.
4. Remove fork cap and slide outer fork tube down.
5. Pour out as much fork oil as possible.
6. Slide down spring collar (little black rubber thing on white spacers)
7. Expose the collar holes and place fork in fork spring compressor.
8. Compress spring until two small bolts are accessible.
9. Loosen bolts. No need to remove these, just loosen (they act as lock nuts) and then spin off the fork cap by hand.
10. Pull straight up to remove Compression rod/needle and fork cap. Place aside.
11. Remove Spring Seat Stopper, Spring Collar and Rubber seal, and spring.
12. Invert and pump compression rod to remove the rest of the fork oil
13. Use a small flat-head screwdriver to remove dust seal, and stopper ring.
14. Slide Outer and Inner fork tube apart with force to separate
15. Remove fork tube bushing, slider bushing, backup ring, oil seal, stopper ring, and dust seal (in that order)
16. Clean and dry all components thoroughly.

Disassembly is complete.
1. Place seal bullet on top of fork tube.
2. Install Dust seal
2. Install Stopper ring
3. Install Oil Seal
4. Remove Seal Bullet
5. Install Backup ring
6. Install Slider Bushing
7. Install Fork Tube Bushing
8. Use seal driver to seat Backup ring and Slider bushing
9. Use seal driver to seat Oil seal
10. Install stopper ring
11. Install Dust Seal
12. Pour in fork oil.
13. Bleed air from fork (read the manual)
14. Use an air gap measuring tool to measure 93mm of gap in the top of the fork with the fork fully compressed and with the spring out.
13. Install spring, collar with rubber seal and place fork back in the compression tool.
14. Compress fork and slide compression rod into damper rod. Pump the compression rod until the damper rod raises up. If you did step 13 correctly the rod will raise.
15. Spin fork cap and tighten two locking nuts to 15ftlbs
16. Remove Fork from compression tool.
17. Tighten fork cap.
18. Reinstall stopper ring.
19. Reinstall the forks into the bike and tighten lower triple clamp, then top triple clamp and lastly tighten the handlebar bolts.
20. Torque fork cap to 25ftlbs
21. Reinstall wheel, fender, etc.
22. Set static sag (20-35mm depending on application and rider preference)
23. Set rebound

Notice, no mention of changing any settings prior to or during disassembly.