fork seal change,with tube in situ,

I thought I'd post this just in case it may help someone,
I just changed a leaky fork seal whilst leaving the fork tube still clamped on the bike. I've not seen anyone post that this is possible before, and all the photos and you tube videos, all show changing the seal, with the complete leg off the machine.
this may help anyone who, like me, has clip on bars and headlight brackets ,clamped onto the fork tubes.
making removing the tube, more difficult ,like so----

first I lifted the bike up onto blocks ,by leaning the bike from side to side, and slipping the blocks under the centre stand, 3" should be enough.

then I made a crude frame out of angle iron, with a wooden cross piece to lift the front wheel off the floor enough to remove the fork lower leg

next remove the front wheel and mudguard and any braces. its a good idea to replace the axle and any spacers and speedo drive ,back onto the wheel, so you know which way they go back on.

next remove the small drain plug on the side of the fork, and place a container under to catch the oil

then we need to remove the top fork plug and spring, be carefull undoing the plug as its under spring pressure, so place a large rag over the top whilst undoing it

then remove the cap and spring

next you need to place a homemade tool down into the fork tube to stop the damper rod turning whilst undoing the alen cap bolt in the bottom of the fork leg
I use a long bold with a 19mm head on it to locate with the top of the damper rod, but you can use a long extention bar with a sparkplug socket inverted over on the end

so whilst holding the long bolt at the top , undo the alen cap bolt in the bottom of the fork leg.
"more oil will pour out"
now prise up the dust seal and remove the spring circlip from on top of the oil seal in the top of the fork feg


now using the bottom fork leg as a slide hammer ,sharply slide the bottom fork leg downwards a few times, and thus hamering out the seal and the top leg bush

next , using a flat blade screwdriver twist open the bottom fork bush and slide it off the bottom of the leg

also remove the top bush , washer and seal ,off the bottom of the leg

now we're ready to install the new seal, but don't just push the new one onto the bottom of the leg, as it may get damaged on the grooves.
instead cut a strip of plastic from an old milk bottle,and wrap it around the bottom of the fork leg and slide the new seal over the plastic strip



then replace the washer , top bush and bottom bush
continued below
stu

 

now we have to find a way to drive the top bush and seal into position, seeing as a driving tube cannot be placed over the top of the fork tube, to hammer the bush and seal in .
I saw this method used on a you tube video posted by "dellboys garage" although he used it on a fork leg that was off the bike, it works just as well with the leg in situ.

I used two pieces of plastic waste pipe, about 1 1/2" diameter 3"long, and 2 exhaust pipe clamps.

slit the plastic pipe along their length


then clip them around the fork tube, about 3" above where the lower leg would rest.
replace the lower leg and tighten the lower bolt into the bottom of the leg, whilst holding the damper rod, with the home made tool as before.
clip the inner plastic pipe about 1/2" below the outer plastic pipe, and clamp up using the two exhaust clamps

don't tighten the clamps too much, as there could be a danger of denting the tube ,just tighten enough to prevent the plastic pipe slipping op the tube, whilst driving the bush in.
now whack the fork leg upwards sharply to hit the bush with the inner plastic pipe.
note.. the new fork seal is pushed up to the top of the fork tube, out of the way ,whilst driving the bush home
next remove the exhaust clamps and plastic pipe pieces, and then slide the new seal down to about 3" above the bottom leg
replace the plastic pipe pieces but stagger them the opposite way i.e. drop the outer pipe about 1/2" lower than inner one, then clamp back up with the exhaust clamps
now whack the lower leg upwards sharply ,to drive the seal into position, it may take a few wacks, the seal will be fully home when you can clearly see the circlip groove above the seal
replace the circlip, slide the dust seal back down into position, replace the drain screw, and fill with fresh fork oil to specified amount.
replace fork spring and fork cap nut.
and that's it for the fork.
replace front wheel and mudguard e.t.c.
pump forks up and down, and check for leaks

that's it , it may sound complicated but it isn't.
I got the idea from you tube videos from "dellboys garage" he has quite a few videos on there, showing how to do various things on bikes,
if you're confused by the above explination then look it up on you tube
hope it helps someone
cheers
stu

 

If you happen to not have anything to make a front stand with, you can strap about 125 pounds of weight to the back of the seat to keep the front wheel in the air and then place blocking under the frame to provide stability.

 

that is truly thinking outside the box. nice work. personally I would have taken one leg out at a time. that bike is looking sweet!

FU

 

I guess I don't get the point..... Remove 2 pinch bolts and you can take the whole fork to a bench to work on it.

 

Well....he said he has other stuff clamped to the tubes. BUT....I guess I'm not seeing the point in doing all the extra work to avoid pulling the tubes, when a few extra minutes to loosen a few extra bolts would allow for a fork to slide out. Do one at a time, and then you don't have to loosen the triple tree.

But whatever floats your boat...............

Dave F

 

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I just did the fork on my 550.

I put two chunks of concrete on the mufflers to keep the wheel raised and took the fork legs out after removing the top caps. No complexity in either assembly or disassembly at all. Each leg has two pinch bolts.

I would have pulled the clipons - I did that on my FJ1200. Not sure what the light brackets add to this mix, though.

 

er,, well ,,yeh,, ok,
that was how I first did it on the rebuild, but the point was disturbing all the stuff I'd just rebuilt, the clip-ons were a nightmare to align to the bike and to each other, as they are adjustable in all directions, by just using the one large alen bolt to clamp and align.
the headlight brackets clamp on using plastic spacers, of different sizes, which would have to be removed.
as I stated in the first post, these problems don't arise for conventional machines.
as I said in my first post ,it may help someone in a similar situation
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I put two chunks of concrete on the mufflers
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the stainless steel ,custom made exhaust system cost me £400----?

 

I prefer to not disturb my conventional bars for much the same reason. I generally spend several hours in the saddle each day during the summer, and really don't like having to set the bars back up to be comfortable once I get them that way.

 

Ah, that makes more sense. My FJ clipons had locator bolts, and all of my headlights are either stock or mounted to stock brackets.

My mufflers ain't that fancy, but I do keep old clothes and blankets in the garage for these purposes. Also, they aren't ragged chunks,they are neat cylinders made for some landscaping purpose. They came with the house.

 

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My mufflers ain't that fancy, but I do keep old clothes and blankets in the garage for these purposes. Also, they aren't ragged chunks,they are neat cylinders made for some landscaping purpose. They came with the house.
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ah, I see, sorry. your post just conjoured up visions of ragged pieces of building rubble, balancing on the bike
stu

 

Mad Maxing it all the way. And I'm not even Australian...