Stuck / disintegrating fork dust seals

First, I'd like to say that this is a great forum. Been lurking for a while after buying my first XJ last spring. Finally have a problem I can't find posted already.

So I'm trying to replace the fork oil seals, and I have the forks off the bike. That much went swimmingly. However, I'm having a serious problem removing the dust seals. They're jammed in there so tightly that my attempts at removing them have only yielded fragments, and there's a lot of rubber still attached to the lower leg where I've managed to remove anything. I'm using a thin screwdriver, and tried running a utility knife around the outside of the bead, but that didn't help.

For all I know, the seals are original. The bike was clean and superficially appeared well-maintained when I bought it, but as I'm working I'm finding more and more neglected maintenance. Sigh. Guess I'll go repack the wheel bearings while I'm trying to figure out what to do with those seals.

 

Bike and yr please.

 

That was stupid.

82 XJ750 J

 

Here is my opinion, and there is a price to pay, but it worked like a chram for me. You need to use heat. Now, I stripped the clear coat from my forks, so the heat made no difference, but if you apply the amount of required heat to soften the stuck seal, you will yellow the clear coat.

However, fire up a propane torch, and heat the outside of the forks "sort of" in the middle of the grooves - don't blow the torch down the throat or inside -- you need to get them pretty hot - like too hot to touch, but certainly not "red" hot. I might guess you need to get them like 400 degrees or more.

Then use a thin piece of wood like thin ply wood to rest your screw driver on one edge and reach down and under the seal (on the other side) to pry it out -- BUT let the heat do the work -- If it doesn't pry out relatively easily -- add more heat.

Note that the seals have a metal-ring interior so that you can "pick clean" the rubber from the top side -- forget that -- use Heat and plywood and get "under" the seal and heat it enough so it takes little effort to pop-out.

Use same method to install new ones because they are real tight -- the heat expands the ALU rapidly and the cold seal will drop in and seat as the ALU cools.

Hope this helps, perform at your own risk, Thanks

p.s. really try not to buggar up the aluminum surfaces under the seal -- they must have integrity for the new seal to work.

 

I was considering heat, but was worried about the clearcoat and more importantly, just melting the damn seal on there. If it worked for you, I'll give it a shot. Thanks.

 

Seal won't melt unless you get it "red" hot -- BUT you're gonna yellow that clear coat -- The conclusion might be - "hey good time to strip that clear anyway..." if so? Use a chem-stripper like aircraft or a brush-on gel stuff and you'll find the clear comes off the forks in big sheet-like chunks -- goes quickly.

Keep us posted.

 

The seals, both dust and fork, have a metal "frame" in them which is why they're stuck. If you put a long, beefy screwdriver across the top of the opening and get under the seal on the opposite side with the tip, prying down should pop the seal up and out.

Doing this requires "padding" the top of the fork so you don't tear it up, along with not engaging the tip of the screwdriver so "deep" as to gouge up the inside of the fork tube.

Kind of like this (except this is a wheel bearing dust seal)

 

That method won't work, because the seal has to be removed in order to remove the circlip which holds the oil seal and bush in place, and by extension, the upper fork leg (stanchion). With the stanchion still in place, there's no where to get leverage to force the seal out. Catch-22, I guess. What a PITA.

 

Take the fork apart first. It's not the seals trapping the upper fork leg; there's a bolt into the damper rod (inside the fork) at the bottom.

No wonder you're having problems. You can't successfully "dig" the seals out with the tube still in the leg.

Once it's apart, then the method I described works fine. That's how it's done. You won't be able to get the fork seals, etc., out with the forks still assembled.

 

I knew that the damper bolt was the main thing holding it together, but I'd assumed that the circlip holding the seals in would've made it too difficult to force the stanchion out. The manual I have says to remove the dust seal and circlip and then yank the stanchion out, which will force the seal and bush out. From that, I was picturing a larger bottom on the stanchion which would prevent removal with the circlip in place. From the fact that you think I'm an idiot I'm guessing that's not actually the case.

That's what you get for having a Haynes instead of a real shop manual. (I guess I am an idiot, because it's not the first time I've been burned. Remind me tell you about the time I replaced a half-axle in two days following a Haynes process, and then did the other side in 40 minutes following advice I got online.)

In any case, I just came back in from trying out dmccoach's suggestion. I very gently heated the top of the lower leg for a few minutes and was able to reach in with a pick and pop the seal right out. No signs of damage to the clearcoat, which I'm not sure is luck or skill :? .

Anyway, when I get to the other leg, I'll just disassemble it before removing the seal.

Thanks for the tips.

 

Nobody said you were an idiot; I jumped to the (apparently rash) assumption you'd never done this before, and adjusted my advice accordingly.

Also, please add basic bike info to your sig; some models have different requirements than others. I gave you "general" advice based on the whole series; more specific info never hurts.

Plus, if you put some location info in your profile you might discover another XJ wiz close by that would be willing to help.

The Haynes is OK, if you really want to get deep into it, get a factory book as well. Or as I just recommended in another post, augment the Haynes with a factory OWNERS' manual. You'd be surprised at how much good stuff is in one of those.

 

I know you didn't say I'm an idiot; just my sense of humor. I've been lurking so long that I'm reasonably familiar with several posters, but I forgot that to everyone here, I'm brand spanking new. Thanks for the rest of your suggestions; I'll follow up on them.

 

Five years after you posted this it saved my skin so just wanted to say thanks. Working on a 1998 ZX6R that may have never had its seals changed, the dust caps would not budge after 2 hours of faffing with a screwdriver. Found this post, went and bought myself a propane torch and had the seal off in five minutes with no visible damage to the clearcoat. Thank you so much!