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Fork rebuild underway

Wallowgreen

Wallowgreen

Forum Mentor
Past Site Supporter
Today is the day I do my first fork rebuild, it's on my 1100GL. I have 11-1107 springs from progressive suspension and leak proof seals to fit.

So far the forks are off, been rinsed with kerosene (thanks Mr twr1776) and are hanging inverted to drain as much out as possible before attempting to get the seal out. I wonder how fanatical do I need to be about drying up the kerosene before moving on?

What are my options now, I assumed from reading the rebuild report on BassCliff's site I needed to strip them completely down but is that true if I can get the seal out without trying to undo the allen head bolt at the bottom of the fork? If that's the case, I'd much rather do that but how do I get the seal out without causing any damage? I haven't tried yet but rightly or wrongly I'm expecting a fight, maybe it'll be easy for once! I've read about using air pressure but not sure exactly how to do that. My guess would be to refit the caps and drain screws then use a compressor until the seals pop out.

Can anyone chip in and help a first timer out.

Posted pics so far:
http://s612.photobucket.com/albums/tt209/wallowgreen/Fork Rebuild/?albumview=grid

The old girl does look a bit sad without her legs.
 
I would split the fork tubes and clean it out that way.
Good luck with the compressor trick. I'm interested to see if it works.
If it doesn't and you have a impact wrench put the fork caps back on and hit the bottom allen with the impact. Heat it up a little first to loosen the old loctite.
 
Decided to continue as per the rebuild notes on Basscliff's site so I stripped them right down and clean them out thoroughly. First seal came out really easy, that was obviously the leaky one. The second one was a little more difficult but no match for my wrecking bar in the end. The allen bolts came out ok as well.

The new leak proof seals went in just pushing with fingers after rubbing some general purpose oil around them. Have the new 15w oil measured out with a 50ml syringe into two baby bottles and going to leave those draining into the legs over night. Should be easy now to put it all back together tomorrow.
 
Nice pictures... the only problem I see is that your garage is way too clean :D
 
Sounds like you got it done, I put new fork seals in my 1977 GS750 last August.
 
I found a great way to get the fork oil to the correct level. Especially if you're fitting non-standard springs as level is more important than quantity.

Suspend the fork vertical in a vice with the spring out and the fork compressed.

Find out from your manual the recommended air gap for your forks.

Get a plastic pump spray bottle of the sort that hold cleaning products. Unscrew the top and cut the tube to the required length (air gap) measuring from the underside of the bottle top. Make sure the tube is clean. Pump some fork oil through it to clean and prime it.

Fill your fork with oil to slightly above the right level. Put the base of the bottle top on top of the stanchion where the cap normally is then pump out any excess oil until you get air. Repeat for other fork.
 
As odd a place as it was to find a good bottle with mL graduations on it, I found one at a beauty supply store. Felt 100% out of place standing there in my dirty ass Dickies, looking like a dear in the headlights, but the nice lady asked if she could help, I told what I needed and she showed me some of the plastic bottles for apply hair coloring. $1.28 later I had 2 of exactily what I needed. Weird where you can find tools.
 
When I did my forks I measured out the right cc of oil using a 10cc medicine dosing syringe (like you get for the kids from Wallgreens).

I measured it out into a plastic water bottle on my digital kitchen scale set to grams.
then I filled a 2nd bottle to the same weight.

The disposable water bottles are great.. you just pop em into the fork and let em drain out.. Or hack the top off to use as a funnel.
 
sschering said:
When I did my forks I measured out the right cc of oil using a 10cc medicine dosing syringe (like you get for the kids from Wallgreens).

I measured it out into a plastic water bottle on my digital kitchen scale set to grams.
then I filled a 2nd bottle to the same weight.

The disposable water bottles are great.. you just pop em into the fork and let em drain out.. Or hack the top off to use as a funnel.
Click to expand...

Ya know, i didnt even think about someplace like Walgreens. Good idea, I may need something smaller for later applications.
 
Garage too clean, yeah right, you should have seen behind me!

So she's all back together, went pretty easy in the end but I still took my time. I went to the dollar store and picked up two baby feeding bottles with ml marks on the sides but still measured out the correct amount with a 35ml syringe until I had 245ml in both bottles then let them drain into the fork legs overnight. I didn't measure the height of the oil afterward as I understand when completely stripped and cleaned out, the measured amount method is just as good.

Just taken her round the block in our subdivision... jeez the front end is stiff now. It seems the original springs were knackered. I went with no air and 1" preload which made the spacer quite long but I assume that's ok. In fact they were so long the plastic tube that came with the springs was not long enough to do both legs, yet another trip to Lowe's later I had some equivalent plastic electrical conduit and cut that on my mitre saw so the ends were nice and square.

All is torqued up as it should be and no leaks after the shakedown ride so hopefully it's job done.
 
Hammered said:
As odd a place as it was to find a good bottle with mL graduations on it, I found one at a beauty supply store. Felt 100% out of place standing there in my dirty ass Dickies, looking like a dear in the headlights, but the nice lady asked if she could help, I told what I needed and she showed me some of the plastic bottles for apply hair coloring. $1.28 later I had 2 of exactily what I needed. Weird where you can find tools.
Click to expand...
Funny! :D :lol:
 
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