fork seal replacement questions

[Anonymous]

So anyway, I am getting all ready to replace my fork seals sometime here soon, and the book says I need to completely disassemble the fork... but at a quick glance, it looked to me that once I pull the fork off of the bike, I should be able to slide the seals up over the inner tubes without taking anything else apart. Of course, i'm sure they're stuck, but I figured I could thread a screw or something in to help me pull. Or maybe I am trying to be overly lazy :? and I should just take everything apart. If anyone can give me any pointers, I would appreciate it. Please forgive my ignorance since I have never worked on the front suspension before, other than checking the air.

 

[Anonymous]

jack up the front end and just remove the lower fork legs, un bolt the top caps with the front completly off the ground so the bike wont crash and fall, dont ask me how i know this 8O

 

[Anonymous]

The method you have in mind won't work, because the seals are held by clips.
Jack up the front end, take out the wheel and remove the front fender.
The fork legs are only clamped by two bolts. Loosen them and pull the complete fork leg out.
Remove the top cap (be careful! There's a spring behind it!) and the allen head bolt at the bottom of the lower fork leg and voila!, you can take it apart by pulling the upper leg out. Remove the clip, that holds the seal and take the seal out. It's probably stuck, so you will need to use some force. At this point you'll notice that you would never have been able to remove the seal any other way.
Reverse this procedure to put the fork leg back together.
The first one might take some time, but when you did the first one, the second one should take no more than half an hour.

Good luck!

Tip: loosen the top caps, before loosening the clamps. Once the fork legs are out, you won't have much grip on them.

 

[mcconnell]

GS, you have the right idea. If you only want to replace the seals and not disassemble/inspect the rest of the internals, it can be done without taking the fork apart. In a nutshell, like Jojo said, loosen the cap while the fork is still clamped in the triple clamps, then remove the fork leg from the triple clamps. Remove the cap and spring, compress the fork (to protect the chrome the seal slides on), remove the seal retainer, punch a hole in the old seal (may have to use a small drill bit coated with grease), force a long thin screwdriver into the hole, and pop out the old seal. Clean and lubricate the whole tube real well so as not to damage the new seal as you push it down toward its seat. Then using the old seal to cover the new seal, carefully drive it in with a punch. After the new seal is in place, reinstall the retainer, making sure it's seated in its groove.

Also, inspect the chromed area the seal rides on to make sure there aren't any burrs that would damage the new seal.

 

[Anonymous]

That sounds like quite an operation. You would have to do everything I mentioned above, except removing the allen head bolt.
Removing the allen bolt and pulling the upper fork leg out would give easier access to the old seal, I suppose, without any drilling or punching. And these old seals can be hard to remove.

 

[mcconnell]

Jojo, I agree that after removing the allen head bolt, the seal is easier to remove; remove the retainer holding the seal and 'bang' them apart. I couldn't get mine out! So I had to go to plan B.