Forks, Forks, and more Forks

hope that headline got your attention, ahem, the bike i own is in my signature, and one front forkseal is leaking, does anyone have a general idea how much the fork seal will cost, the oil, and how long it will take to change, i would liek to know how much it will cost me becasue im not going to do it myself, but buy a shop, and i want to know if they're going to rape me on prices or not. Also how much is a whole new clutch and how long does it take to change, thanks for any answer you give me.

 

oh ya its only one fork, and one seal i believe

 

lol ok i shouldn't have been so lazy, i found a pai on ebay for 12 buck new, so i guess thast solved, but how long does it take to change? thanks

 

Not sure where it's at, but somewhere on this forum there is a good step by step with pictures How-to. Look under Fork Seal in the search, and I'm sure that you'll be able to find it.

 

Sorry I didn't see that you were going to farm out the forks. The last time that I had mine done, only about 2 months ago, was $150 for the labor, and $18 for the parts. Not to bad, but I wish that I would have seen the how-to post I more than likely would have atempted the job myself. Chacal has clutches, I just picked up one from him for the reasonable price, $55 for the primary friction discs, and $11.50 for the secondary friction disc. I also purchased a clutch drum holder tool for $28.95. Now I just have to roll up my sleeves and do it.

 

Do it yourself and save LOADS of money. It's one of the simplest fixes you can do! Just do a search for fork seals for step by step instructions.

 

did mine on my honda and my yamaha both in one day, if you have no rust issues it will go smooth as silk.

 

Fork seals are nothing. I'd never done them before, and I had pretty much zero trouble with it.

Gamuru's writeup was done on a 650H, so there will be differences in how it's done for your model, but it is doable.

 

don't do one, do them both
use yamaha seals
fork oil must have gold in it
do it yourself and save enough to put tapered roller bearings in the steering neck and still be ahead

 

about them tapered roller bearings, i need to replace my neck bearings, how hard is that. keep in mind the bike is getting exploded and rebuilt this winter.

 

Tapered bearings are simple, the most difficult thing is getting the old races out/off, a chisel or small cut-off tool makes easy work of that task.

Taking the forks off the bike is more difficult that replacing the bearings!

 

anyone have the stupid air valve that go's into the top of an air assisted shock. mine snapped off when i rebuilt them and i have a makeshift setup in there now, would like to put an original style in so i can put back on my fork caps.

 

what do you mean, the fork oil has to have gold in it?

 

man i looked at those instructions, and its just something i cant do, sigh. maybe ill ask some local guys i know, see what they charge per hour and if they know how to do something like that.

 

so those of us with the air adjusted forks, is the needle in shock the same as on on a car tire? My brother has riged some weird two to one thing that does not seem to be working.

 

Schooter:

Instead of giving your hard-earned money to somebody else to get your Fork Seals done ... invest some money in a Yamaha Factory Workshop Manual for your bike.

There's a whole Section devoted to Front Forks and how to rebuild them.
The job isn't all that terribly complicated. It just takes time getting the Front Wheel, Brakes and Speedo Cable undone so you can slide the whole Fork down and off the bike.

Once you get the Fork off the Bike, you just follow the step-by-step procedure for removing the guts, upper tube and seal.

You buy the Factory Manual for 70-Bucks and save 90 -to- 175.00.
Getting the Factory Manual pays for itself and the next time you need to do some work ... the money you save is all gravy!

http://www.yamahapubs.com/html/itemsear ... del=XJ700N

 

Going against the DIY wisdom.. If you are not comfortable trying Simply take it to a decent Shop and pay for a decent repair.. Often discretion is the better part of Valour. You don;t want to learn about rusted clips and frozen damper rod bolts.. in a poorly equipped poorly staffed shop (yours ;-)
Having a potentially difficult frustrating job done competently with no fuss ? Priceless.

 

ya, well i found a guy who will do the jobs , all i have to pay is the cost fo the parts and 40 buck for labor, and once again, does the oil for the shocks really have gold in it?

 

No. I believe Polock was referring to the COST, per liter, of fork oil compared to other oil. Just use a good quality motorcycle fork oil.

 

IMO /experience the V BEST fork oil is Mobil 1 ATF.. Yesss!
It's the real life equivalent of Belray 20w fork oil. .. stc rating (a far more accurate measure than "weight' is Astonishingly good.
Try it .. I did, and continue to be impressed.

 

The various stability, friction, and viscosity additives in motor oils are not usually beneficial for use in a fork....they allow foaming of the oil to occur. And fork oil....which does not encounter large temperature differentials like engine or gear oils need to.....needs to be of a fairly constant viscosity.

Fork oils also tend to contain a much higher relative amount of moly as a lubricant than engine/gear oils do......a good thing for forks, where as much possible "slickness" is a good thing.

 

ive heard transmission fluid works nice in forks, thats what i used when i rebuilt the ones on my bike.