Fork Seals Junk...What is a good Seal

[Anonymous]

Okay, so now it looks like either my seals got messed up when they were put in, or they were never replaced and the shop is now out of business. So I guess that is in the past now.....

Now I need to know if the OEM seals ar ethe best to go with or is there some other better brand out there? I don't want to be doing this every year. Also, should I just go ahead and do the bushings while I'm in there? Finally, how hard is it to do these forks? My manual says I need a couple special tools which I don't have. I do have lots of your "typical" tools however. Will I be able to do it with those? Finally, I guess the concensus here is go with #15 fork oil, no air, and maybe a progressive spring or PVC spacer?

[arveejay]

You don't need to disassemble the forks to change seals, I just did 2 1100's and an 850 and had no problems. HINT, Before installing new seals take a piece of fine cloth and run it up and down the top part of fork to find small nicks and or gouges and use fine emery cloth to remove them before final assembly.

[Detman101]

You don't need to disassemble the forks to change seals, I just did 2 1100's and an 850 and had no problems. HINT, Before installing new seals take a piece of fine cloth and run it up and down the top part of fork to find small nicks and or gouges and use fine emery cloth to remove them before final assembly.

How do you go about doing the fork seals without taking off the forks??
What you say sounds good but seems impossible.

Please Explain,
Dm of mD

[Anonymous]

If I want to do the bushings, I will need a couple of special wrenches right? Do I really need a busing/seal driver, or can I do it without? The darn things are like $60 a pop. Rather buy another tool I can use more often for that kind of money. Also, as long as I get the same amount of oil in the fork tubes, do I need to check the level? Finally how long of a piece of PVC do I use if I want to go that route for my forl springs?

[arveejay]

You don't need to disassemble the forks to change seals, I just did 2 1100's and an 850 and had no problems. HINT, Before installing new seals take a piece of fine cloth and run it up and down the top part of fork to find small nicks and or gouges and use fine emery cloth to remove them before final assembly.

How do you go about doing the fork seals without taking off the forks??
What you say sounds good but seems impossible.

Please Explain,
Dm of mD

You have to remove the forks from the bike but you don't have to dismantle the forks if all your replacing is the seals.

[Mr. Jiggles]

If I want to do the bushings, I will need a couple of special wrenches right? Do I really need a busing/seal driver, or can I do it without? The darn things are like $60 a pop. Rather buy another tool I can use more often for that kind of money. Also, as long as I get the same amount of oil in the fork tubes, do I need to check the level? Finally how long of a piece of PVC do I use if I want to go that route for my forl springs?

I didn't use a driver when I did mine - a piece of ABS pipe worked nicely. Also, I didn't need special tools for the bushings.

[KGB]

I've been using "never leak" brand.
Mike Dole talked about them a while back, put them in my E and am happy.
They were pretty reasonable, like $25 for the set.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the help!! I really appreciate it. My manual says that I need a couple of long T-handle drivers....I think I can get the damper bolt out with a long extension coudn't I? Also, has anyone needed that wegde shaped driver to hold the damper from spinning when they take the damper bolt out? I just want to make sure I can do this so I can make this a quick one day job so my bike isn't apart now that the good riding season is here. Thanks for the help!

P.S. Has anyone used the "Leak Proof" brand pro-moly seals? They look pretty promising.