silly question but here goes

[Billy Ricks]

The problem is digging them out of their recess without scratching anything. A few people have said they used air pressure to pop them out of the recess. They had to use quite a bit of pressure to do it. It's not a big deal to disassemble them completely. Gives you a chance to clean out the innards good. Once you get the bolt out of the bottom of the fork leg just give the upper tube a good yank and the seal pops out. Just for clarity the clip over the washer that's over the seal has to come out. Don't want anyone forgetting that. The bushings should really be replaced along with the seals. Parts 8 and 10 on the schematic.

[gggGary]

As a rule I leave the tubes in the triples, I can't think of a reason to remove them, can you?

[Steve]

Well, as a matter of fact, yes, I can.

On the forks that I have done, there was a LOT of force necessary to get the seal out of place. That would have involved sliding the fork tube DOWN, trying to hammer the seal UP. For the times that it would have resisted, the bike would be doing a dance on the centerstand or jack. On the one time that the seal let go, the bottom of the fork tube would probably have gone bouncing off the concrete floor. I try to avoid both of those by simply removing the forks from the bike.

.

[kparkfan]

my model dont seem to have the bushings that are mentioned above. I have an 80 1100LT. I double checked alpha sports.

[Billy Ricks]

Another good reason is to clean things out as well as possible. Once out of the triple I dump the old oil and fill with kerosene and pump the fork up and down for a minute or two and repeat the process until the solvent comes out clean. Then once I get the forks apart I check everything out for traces of filth.

[Billy Ricks]

Some of the older models didn't have them. For those that do Suzuki recommends replacing them when doing seals.

[kparkfan]

ok. as far as taking the tubes out I have to any way so that I can try and get the broken exhaust bolt out.

[Billy Ricks]

ok. as far as taking the tubes out I have to any way so that I can try and get the broken exhaust bolt out.

Good luck with that bolt. I've only ever had one break on me. I ended up just drilling through the old bolt and tapping the hole. Just use some tape on the bit to mark how deep you need to go. You have to drill as straight as you can but if you can't get the bolt out it's about all you can do short of pulling the head.

[kparkfan]

Yeah I'm really dreading it.

[Turtleface]

Well, as a matter of fact, yes, I can.

On the forks that I have done, there was a LOT of force necessary to get the seal out of place. That would have involved sliding the fork tube DOWN, trying to hammer the seal UP. For the times that it would have resisted, the bike would be doing a dance on the centerstand or jack. On the one time that the seal let go, the bottom of the fork tube would probably have gone bouncing off the concrete floor. I try to avoid both of those by simply removing the forks from the bike.

.

I use the "slide-hammer" method myself, with success. I can't imagine trying it with the fork in the triples. Being able to lay the fork down on a pile of old towels also makes it easier to break the damper rod bolt loose, at least for me.

[chef1366]

Get a cheap electric impact wrench from Harbor Freight. Keep the fork caps on and hit the allen bolts with the impact. This is a very painless way of undoing the forks.
Relax, it's easy.

[Theo]

Get a cheap electric impact wrench from Harbor Freight. Keep the fork caps on and hit the allen bolts with the impact. This is a very painless way of undoing the forks.
Relax, it's easy.

This is basically how I did it. Except I used a impact driver but it worked just the same. Taking the forks apart is actually surprisingly easy.

[Nessism]

Salty_Monk Dan reports success popping out seals using air pressure on fully assembled forks. Never tried but worth mentioning.

Regarding holding that damper rod, Steve's threaded rod trick is slick but you can do the same thing with a spark plug socket, the type with the hex on the outside, with a long socket extension (or two shorter extensions). Trick is to put the extension in backwards. Works great and no cost for those with a stocked tool cabinet.