can't remove forks SECA 750

ok i have the pinch-bolts loose but the forks still won't budge. is that pesky air valve the problem?

 

If there a bit rusty try turning them in triple clamps. And you have upper and lower everything loose? Lots of friction between clamps and rubber rings around air valve ports

 

thanks,,,, i got the left fork out but now the hex-nut on the bottom won't budge and i'm afraid that it will strip..

 

Ok before you strip it have you access to air tools? And don't take top cap off yet

 

i don't have an impact wrench

 

The damper rod retaining bolt is held in place with threadlocking compound.

Put the fork back into the clamps and tighten them back down.

Get a brand new allen wrench for the bolts.

Get a length of pipe, or a long box-end wrench to use as a cheater (alternatively get a set of allen wrench sockets and use a breaker bar).

Warm the head of the bolt, but only a little (too hot and you'll damage seals).

Put the wrench in the fastener, put the cheater on the wrnch, and apply even pressure to break the threadlocking compound free.

OR but an inexpensive impact wrench. Harbor Freight sells a decent electric one that is suitable for non-professional use (pawn shops are another option).

Be sure to use threadlocking compound on the bolt when you reinstall it. Medium strength.

 

So nobody you know has one ?
Leaving fork spring and cap in place will help prevent damper rod from turning when you remove bottom bolt.
A tire shop or service shop nearby can do this for you in seconds.

 

ok, thanks..... i have the tube in my vice so i'll heat that hex nut up a bit. i have an adjustable wrench on the allen wrench to which i will add a bar for torque.

 

so you mean heat that hexnut that's sunken into the fork end?

 

Take the fork out of the vice. It's very easy to permanantly damage a fork tube when using a bench vice that was not built for fork tubes, particularly when you are removing a stubborn bolt.

Your motorcycle has a perfect set of fork tube clamps built right in. Use them.

DO NOT use an adjustable wrench. the jaws WILL spread under load and you will risk damaging the allen wrench, the bolt head, or even yourself. Adjustable wrenches have their place, but this ain't it.

 

Yes. That is the damper rod retaining bolt.

 

ok, thanks....

 

Actually, on the 750 Seca forks you're supposed to remove the anti-dive assembly from the lower fork tube (oil spill alert!) and then jam a screwdriver or allen wrench (etc.) into the round hole in the damper rod and seize it in that manner.........

An air tool (impact wrench) can be easier though.

 

That is the procedure, but I've always worried about damaging the oil lock during disassembly (the factory threadlocking compound is tough). You absolutely have to hold the oil lock in place when reassembling though.

 

you can cut an allen wrench and put it in a socket and use a breaker bar

 

Oooh, that's a good tip...

 

ok, i was waiting on my drunken neighbor to lend me his pneumatic impact wrench and he FINALLY brought it over today. so i made a tool to attach the hex wrench i cut but it was too weak and immediately broke. soooo, -after a few curses- and worried that i was going to strip that hex bolt, i came upon this idea that worked really well. i inserted my hex wrench that i cut the "L" off of, and turned it with a pipe-fitting channel-lock wrench that held it very well. i then applied constant moderate force while continually tapping the end of the hex wrench with my 3lb sledge. it eventually just let go and came right out. this worked surprisingly well. here's what i used. btw, i had to put it in the vice to do this. it works well if you hold the fork by the caliper mount.

ok, so now the tube is stuck at what is probably a snap-ring under the top fork seal, right?

 

Yes snap ring under dust seal. And is top cap out yet? Pushed down and removed the clip holding it in. after snap ring is removed separating the rest if the fork requires a bit of force.
Clamp the lower fork in a vice by the caliper mount and with a hard pull on the inner tube ( this may require may hard slams like a slide hammer) it will pop out.

 

I like your ingenuity and tenacity. Good work.

 

not yet.... it's stuck in there well. i tried digging it out with a small screw driver but failed.

 

thanks, this method worked very well. however, there's a hurricane coming so i have to prepare. the computer models show it now going into my house. on the up-side, these models are generally wrong.

 

My parents have a place in Florida. Good luck!

 

Just grab that Sledge, put a cape on and your underwear and run at it screamin' "I'm Thor biatch!"

Seriously - hope you and loved ones (and everyone down there) is doing the duck and cover, I think the creek is a gonna rise.

And Twinky - that "tool"? Welcome to the hacker club!

 

You have to press down on the plug about a 1/4" so that ring will pop out

 

In Marvel comics, Thor is a female now, but not exactly twinky! Lolz

 

this is getting serious.... the storm track is right up the West coast of florida. if it's accurate my city will take a direct hit. weird. i have the hurricane shutters up and that was a chore. i tried to cinch everything down but my lawn tractor shed is still vulnerable because i lost the damned specialized bolts that go into the anchors. if the stores are open in the morning maybe i can find some.

http://www.myfoxhurricane.com/custom/storms/storm1_track.html

 

Just start driving north, right now. This is a big, mean, deadly storm. It is not worth trying to wait-out. I know she's weakened, but she's flattened concrete buildings, and the damage to infrastructure is going to be broad.
If your situation demands that you shelter in place, do what you did for the last one, and keep your backside in cover and your supplies close to you.

 

My fears about this hurricane will be loss of life and terrible damage.
On a less serious note how many treasured xj's will perish.

 

rig up something like this for that top snapring

 

heat the fork seal with hair drier or heat gun it will come out easier
the snap ring is a round wire use the loop on a bobby pin to capture the end.

 

ok, i'm back..... Irma was quite a gal. she gave the entire state of florida a blow-job. she had lost some strength by the time she passed about 30 miles to my East but was still strong. the winds were coming wrapping around from the north which is the back-side of my home. it was very apocalyptic because the day before all the homes in the area had their hurricane shutters bolted-on an everything was at a standstill. the next day (sunday a week ago) i made last minute preparations, cinching my shed as best i could (i lost the slotted bolts for the arbor anchors) . took a last ride around the area on my 89, Z50r, Mini-Trail and then hunkered. it started to blow strong gusts then strong sustained winds with higher gusts. with the shutters up it was hard to see how much light i had so i went outside and the raccoons were scrounging on the front lawn so i threw them some dog food. tough animals.... the wind was very strong but since it was hitting the back of they house, i decided to sit outside on the porch, drink a beer and call some friends. it was surreal and i was actually enjoying the moment. my power stayed on almost the entire time but it mattered not since i had my phone and fully charged computer with which i could get satellite updates. Irma was going straight north toward Archadia and i'm South West of that City. BTW: the radio was more of an annoyance than help. the local NPR (National Propaganda Radio) station in Tampa was AT FIRST giving us a blow-by-blow accounting of the hurricane BUT THEN got a guest on so that they can push GLOBAL WARMING. it was like they were saying: "see, y'all are going to DIE now because you didn't care about global warming".... i was GD mad. but they weren't over. they then had another guest on who survived 7 hurricanes. oh, boy was that interesting. we have a monster hurricane that locally made landfall and NPR is talking about everything but. so i shut that idiocy OFF and just used the internet which was better. I'd keep reloading the National Weather Service radar which showed me the precise track. it got to Archadia and i knew that we were in-the-clear so i went to bed. ..... the next day i surveyed the non-damage. my lanai screens were still up and all that stuff that i couldn't teather was in-place. wow! weird.... but i was getting sick so i just slept for the next two days and then slowly got everything back to abnormal. we didn't get a deluge of rain but enough to overflow a nearby creek which crested three days later. fortunately i was far enough away to avoid flooding. there are lots of really nice homes though that weren't so lucky. their streets stayed flooded for a while and some are STILL flooded...... so then today i started back on my forks...

i got the dust-seal out but how do i get the inner tube out? do i have to take out that top clip?

 

Glad your ok @twinky
Yes the snap ring has to come out and then a hard shot like a slide hammer to pull the inner tube . It made take a couple of good ones, as it will be pulling the inner bushing out with it.

 

thanks! i was never really worried about survival but damage to my home. they build the homes here to withstand such an onslaught though. reinforced concrete block and the roofs are secured. if however the hurricane spawns a tornado -which this on did- all bets are off. the tornadoes were delivered to the East coast and moved at 70mph!

ok, the ring is out but i'm trying to "slide hammer" it out and it won't budge. heat the tube you say? here's how i got that ring out.

 

Glad you kept safe!

Damper rod bolt in the bottom of the fork should be removed. I made the mistake of not doing this first on one of the tubes. It isn't going to come apart if your damper rod is still threaded on the bolt.
Remove Dust Seal. Gently warming the top of the lower tube to soften the rubber seal may help. Pry it out with a flat blade screwdriver or similar. Just tap a screwdriver into the rubber and pry it out without scratching the fork tube.
Remove the retaining clip under the dust seal and then remove the large washer. The actual oil seal should now be visible.
Gently push the inner upper tube in (just don't slam it in), then sharply pull it out to ram against the oil seal. Again, gently warming the upper tube/and seal to soften the rubber seal may help. Repeat pushing in and sharply pulling the inner tube out until the oil seal is pushed out. It may take 5-6 times or more.

If you haven't already, make note of the inner springs and the orientation. One side the coils are tighter. They will go toward the top.

 

damper bolt is off. ..... i've rebuilt forks before but these are a real PITA. i appreciate all the help.

just thinking.... will 86 radian forks fit my 750 SECA? i have a pair with low miles.

 

Any will fit, it's a matter of how much you have to modify to fit. But it looks like all th xj's and radian have same size fork tube. But not sure about brakes and axles etc.

 

ok, that oil seal was totally hard and i had to dig it out in pieces. i installed the new seal but the bushing won't go past it to reinstall the damper. there are two bushings a bigger one still in the tube just below the oil seal and the other attached to the end of the damper.

 

assemble the upper and lower parts first without the seal. then put the seal on the top of the upper tube, slide it down and tap into place.

 

that's what i thought but i didn't want to have to remove that seal. ..... thanks...

 

once you get everything on in the right order, use a length of PVC pipe to drive the seal in so there is no danger of nicks in the upper fork tube

 

ok, one problem i had is that i thought that the orig seal was all rubber. the metal ring was still stuck in the tube. i had to really destroy it to get it out. but now that larger bushing is stuck inside the fork tube and i can't just slide damper into the tube because the smaller bushing won't pass. so i have to get that bigger bushing OUT then install the bushings THEN slide it in the tube. wow, what a pita this is turning out to be and i'm still have to do the other side. so big bushing is STUCK in the tube just below where the seal goes. i'm considering just leaving it and cutting down the smaller bushing so it will pass.

 

ok, i've had it. that upper bushing was totally stuck and heating the tube failed. i took a sledge to it. had i known what i know now, i'd have just sold the bike and told the new owner to replace the fork seals. wow..... i've one this job before on other bikes and it was nothing like this. now i have to go to ebay an get another fork tube. putting this bike back together and selling asap before i take a sledge to the rest of it. thanks for the help.....

 

Sometimes when frustration rears its ugly head you should stop and walk away... before you screw things up.


I only say this because I have done similar things (luckily not on my XJ).

 

true, but this bike has been apart in my garage since before the hurricane. when that bushing got stuck in the tubes, that was it.... but, on the up-side, i bought some forks off of ebay for $75.00 shipped and they aren't pitted with rust as were my forks so i'll just drain the oil and refill them and see how it goes. it will look a lot better, i know that and will raise the value of the bike so no loss. thanks again for all the help...

 

ok, the "new" forks arrived and they are very clean. i'm debating taking them apart but i'll probably just drain the oil and refill and install and see how it goes. hopefully someone did the job already. but on the UP SIDE. i got my 86, WS6, Trans Am running. i parked it in the garage running very very well and two years later tried to start it and it would not start. screwed around and cursed for a long time. i finally just bought a complete distributor and dropped it in and it fired right up. must have been the pickup coil. how it can go bad from sitting is anyone's guess.. so tomorrow i'll get some 20w and install the forks. they sure do look a lot better than my rusted tubes. is that a factory sticker? it's now illegible. what did it say?

 

rebuild me while i'm off the bike

 

yeah, but i don't want a repeat of my last fork rebuild. lol....

 

2nd time you do a job is usually easier. You've got experience on your side.

 

You can practice on the remaining fork before you start on this new set.