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85 XJ700 Fork Seal Replacement Tips and Tricks

Discussion in 'XJ Technical Chat' started by treybaxter, Jul 19, 2009.

  1. treybaxter

    treybaxter Member

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    So after struggling between reading posts, reading my service manual, and even a youtube video or two, I decided to add a few things of my own.

    This is not a technical discussion of the pro's and con's of what components to replace, I'm not qualified to do that, but obiously you'll need at a minimum dust seals and oil seals, and I'd recommend circlips and cap O-rings and Dampener Rod seals. The rest of the parts, you'll need to check when you get them out with the specs in your manual and decide what you need to replace.

    First of all you'll need to get the bike up and secured. I dont have a bike jack, but after putting it up on the center stand and jacking it up under the pipes, I was able to put my two carstands under the crash bar to secure it.

    1) Remove the front wheel, calipers, speedo cable, and fender.

    If you want, drain the oil using the drain plug, but I just let mine pour out the top, and you wont have to worry about stripping the thread or damaging the seal.


    2) You'll need to remove the caps from the top of the tube to expose the cap bolts. Loosen the cap bolts before you remove the tubes from the bike (I used a 10mm bolt and two jam nuts on the other end so that the head of the bolt fits into the hex, then you can use a ratchet on the jam nuts to loosen).

    3) Loosen the pinch bolts (upper and lower). Make sure you hold onto the fork when loosening the final bolt so it doesnt hit the floor. Put your homemade hex tool back into the cap bolt and with the tube upside down and your foot on a ratchet to hold it, start turning the tube to remove the cap bolt. BE CAREFUL! The spring is behind the cap bolt, so you have to put downward pressure on the tube as you turn so that it doesnt go flying up when it's free. I put my fork in a small tub then the ratchet that I stood on, so when it came free, the nasty oil stays captured in the pan. It's probably easier to do this still on the bike, but I was a bit afraid of the spring pressure, which really turned out to not be that bad.

    4) Remove the dust seal by tapping with a screwdriver very lightly. Use a screwdriver to remove the circlip from the tube.

    5) Place the spring, spacer, and cap bolt to the side for cleaning. Now you'll have to get the dampener out. You can use a 13/16 spark plug socket that has the hex on one end. I took an old spark plug and put in it, then I had one of those "no foul" spark plug extenders to screw onto the plug so that I had a hex on that end too. Put a layer of elect tape on it to hold it all together and prevent scratching the tube. With a couple of long extensions you can get it down the tube and hold the dampener. Then you can unscrew the retainer bolt (8mm hex) at the bottom of the tube).

    Backup method (if you cant get it to hold, take a cheap broomstick handle about 7/8" diameter and saw it off about 30" long and hammer the rounded end into the dampener and that will allow you to hold the stick with a vice and unscrew the bolt (I started off with this method and it did work! But once you get it out and can see it, you can improvise your own tool)

    6) You can now remove the dampener, inner tube, seals, and spring from the outer tube. Wash all the parts in a cleaning solution. Use a scotchbrite pad to thoroughly polish the seal surfaces. Check all parts before re-assembly. Be sure to get ALL the dirt and grime from deep down in the bottom of the lower tube.

    7) Re-assembly. Make sure you put the little aluminum taper spindle into the end of the inner tube before inserting back into the outer tube. Best to do upside down and slide the outer tube downward so it doesnt fall out (the big end of the spindle faces down!)

    8) Once the tubes have completely came together, the spindle is trapped, and you can now turn rightside up. Put the washer on, then grease the inner tube and slide the new oil seal down. The smooth side goes up! Slide on another washer, then you can seat this with about a 30" piece of 1 1/2" PVC pipe that is cut squarely on one end. Tap gently with a rubber mallet till the washer is below the circlip groove. Install new circlip.

    9) Install new dust seal. Use a 2" piece of PVC pipe this time to drive the dust seal down.

    10) Place dampener and spring inside tube. Use your improvised tool to place the dampener back all the way down to the bottom of the tube. You'll need to clean and loc-tite the retaining bolt to screw in from the bottom. If the screw doesn't reach the threads, you put something together wrong. Stand on the allen wrench on the floor and torque the dampener to the manual's specification.

    11) Put the tube back in the bike. Torque pinch bolts. Pour 13 ounces of new fork oil into the tube. Work the lower (outer tube) up and down slowly a few times to work the air out). Slide spring down into tube (tightly wound end of spring goes up!) Dont forget the little spring seat that sits on top of the spring. Place spacer into hole next.

    12) Use your homemade hex tool and some downward force to get the cap bolt back screwed into the tube. Torque per the book, of course.

    13) Replace caps onto cap bolts, Front wheel, calipers, speedo cable, fender, etc. Check the manual for all torque specs.

    14) Ride and enjoy the lack of oil that has been spraying your tank!!!!!

    I'm sure I've missed a step along the way, just recollecting from yesterday's ordeal, but I hope there is something in here that will help a few of my fellow wrenchers out next time they need to do this job.
     
    CasingNinja and Dave Johnson like this.
  2. CasingNinja

    CasingNinja Member

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    Thanks for the write up! It helped me do mine on my 85 XJ700X. Only difference being the air assist, shraeder valves for air pressure.
    Appreciate your time and effort!

    Gary
     
  3. tabaka45

    tabaka45 Well-Known Member

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    If I can get around to it I recently did my fork seals and have 57 pictures that I plan to post. I wonder if that many can be posted at one time?
     

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