Author Topic: FORK SEALS?  (Read 1929 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Big Al wi the Vee

  • Member
  • ***
  • Joined: Jun 2011
  • Posts: 401
FORK SEALS?
« on: October 21, 2014, 10:12:29 »
Good morning,

My Left fork seal has started leaking and I can't really afford to pay some monkey to do it in a garage at £60 an hour!

Can anyone tell me if it's an easy job with the basic tools; Big Hammer, Screw Driver, Adjustable Spanner etc?

I have had the forks off before, but never taken them apart.

Or should I bite the bullet and pay for someone else to do it.

I've seen a post on here explaining how to do it but need the Expert advice of those who've done it before.

Many thanks :ty:

Offline mjc506

  • Member
  • ***
  • Joined: Oct 2011
  • Posts: 1923
Re: FORK SEALS?
« Reply #1 on: October 21, 2014, 11:06:28 »
Easy job.

You probably don't even need to replace them - you can clean them with a thin bit of stiff plastic - an off-cut from a film negative is ideal, push it under the seal and move round to pull out any crap.

Even if you do need to replace it's not difficult - Remove front wheel and axle, and mudguard etc. Loosen, but not too far (just crack it loose) the 6mm bolt holding the damper rod at the bottom of the fork, and remove the fork cap with a 24mm socket/wrench (careful, soft threads and a spring underneath) and remove the spring. Remove the fork from the bike (10mm socket for the triple clamps, 10mm allen and 12mm socket for the axle, 4mm allen and 8mm socket for the mudguard, 8mm?? allen for the callipers), and pour out the fork oil (you'll probably want new stuff). Remove the 6mm allen head bolt in the bottom on the fork to release the damper rod. Prise the dust seal up with a screwdriver or similar under the seal lip (carefully), unhook the retainer ring with a small screwdriver, and then 'slid hammer' the oil seal and bushing out. Reassemble the fork, replace the 6mm damper rod bolt, and you can drive the bushing back in with the large washer. Drive the new oil seal in with a seal installer (I have one you can borrow), reinstall the retaining clip, and push the (new?) dust seal back in. Refill the fork with oil, reinstall the spring and refit the top cap. Reinstall the fork leg onto the bike.

It sounds bad, but it's not difficult. I have a fork seal driver you can borrow if needed. The stumbling point is right at the beginning - removing the mudguard is the worst bit imo.
Projects:
DL650 engine rebuild: Complete!
Brighter rear indicators]Complete![/url]
Heated mirrors]Complete![/url]
Cruise control/Speed limiter/V-puter]Pending...[/color]

Offline Babel

  • Member
  • ***
  • Joined: Jan 2012
  • Posts: 33
  • Bike: DL650X K9
  • Location: Sutton, Surrey, UK
Re: FORK SEALS?
« Reply #2 on: October 21, 2014, 11:26:01 »
The following shouldn't be construed as "expert advice", but I replaced a front fork seal on my Wee earlier this year. It was all completed successfully using basic tools like you've listed, albeit taking a few hours longer than I had expected. The extra time was mainly spent driving the new seal into place with a hammer & punch (the technique described in the Haynes manual) because I didn't have access to a seal driver, and I don't have a garage/workshop area so everything was just a bit awkward. Gripping a fork between my legs, trying hard not to hammer a nice dent into chrome of the inner fork tube with the punch, with a bit of residual fork oil thrown in just to make everything a bit slippery wasn't my idea of fun. But I got there in the end, and the only cost to me was the new seal and some new fork oil, so worth it overall.

From memory, getting the new seal seated properly took the best part of an hour, and I promised myself that I would invest the (approx.) £30 for a seal driver if I ever attempted it again.

Good luck :)

Offline bigpie

  • Site Donator
  • Member
  • ***
  • Joined: Jun 2013
  • Posts: 2714
  • Bike: DL650
  • Location: Rotherham
Re: FORK SEALS?
« Reply #3 on: October 21, 2014, 11:30:11 »
Did mine this year, hardest part was the bolt at the bottom of one fork leg was seized. I used a paddock stand at the back, along with 2 axle stands to support the bike without the forks and I ratchet strapped the top yolk to the garage roof rafters for good measure.

I borrowed the driver from mjc, 5k miles and 1 track day later and all is still good so I must have done it properly.

Offline bat-kam

  • Member
  • ***
  • Joined: Feb 2012
  • Posts: 728
Re: FORK SEALS?
« Reply #4 on: October 21, 2014, 11:38:14 »
Check out this vid

Suzuki all the way: '98 Bandit > '99 GSX600F > '09 V Strom DL650 > '09 SV650S > '10 V Strom DL650 > '04 GSX-R 600

Offline Big Al wi the Vee

  • Member
  • ***
  • Joined: Jun 2011
  • Posts: 401
Re: FORK SEALS?
« Reply #5 on: October 23, 2014, 09:51:07 »
Thanks for the comments, hopefully get the seals in the post today and back on the road by Friday.

Offline Jacko

  • Member
  • ***
  • Joined: Sep 2012
  • Posts: 5803
  • Bike: DL650 L2
FORK SEALS?
« Reply #6 on: October 23, 2014, 11:05:36 »
The seal mate looks pretty good, around £7 on eBay.

Offline Big Al wi the Vee

  • Member
  • ***
  • Joined: Jun 2011
  • Posts: 401
Re: FORK SEALS?
« Reply #7 on: October 28, 2014, 19:31:16 »
Well, that was easy ish...... Got the bike up high enough for me to remove the front wheel and forks.
The Mud guard screws decided they were not coming off :angry-tappingfoot:  fecking cheese :angry-tappingfoot:  so did  the job with the mudguard fitted.

One thing I did notice, both forks got filled with a half litre each, although this didn't come all the way to the top of the nut. The Old fork juice when measured, was app 800 mls, this was 200 short of what I was putting in.... does this stuff evaporate with age?

Got myself a proper pipe for doing the slidy hammer thing :clap:
Forgot my universal wheel nut for the front wheel removal task, so used an old rifle barrel :neen:  lol
 :violence-smack:  :violence-smack:

Once again thanks for the comments. :ty: