Fork bottom allen bolts won't come out!

[Ola]

Thanks guys. I ran out of time and won't be able to work on it until next monday, I'll apply the prescribed violence then. The circlip is out, it was a bitch as every time the pliers slipped I got a squirt of fork oil and rust in my face.

The area around the seal is quite rusty, I should've given it a healthy squirt of WD40 before I left.

[TooManyToys]

PB Blaster, not WD40. WD stands for Water Displacement, it was not formulated as a lubricant or penetrating oil.

[Ola]

PB Blaster isn't sold in Norway, as far as I know. There are other chemicals for rust loosening, but WD40 is what I had at hand. And a 10 minute soak and a proper strap down made easy work of it. It popped right out, but the seal did not pop out with as I had imagined. A heat gun and a seal puller got it out easily enough, but the friction ring was pretty banged up by the slide hammer action. Good thing I've got a spare.

Now the problem is getting the oil lock piece off the damper rod, but that's only needed to clean it out and to get measurement for possible future cartridge emulators. The seal change is easy peasy once the old dirty bits are out!

[Ola]

The oil lock piece was just about figuring out the clips securing out. Man, I love when this happens. You seem hopelessly stuck at something, then leave it for a while and think it through...then try again and everything is suddenly easy. Yay!

[Road_Clam]

I got the head off one of them, then was suddenly concerned that there was also threads in the fork bottom itself. But going by your replies I assume it isn't. Thanks much for the tips!

By the way, is there any particular reason for the thread lock on that? The bolt certainly can't back out as the area below it is full of axle. But can the damper rod unscrew itself upwards?

This might help. The thread lock is to keep the internal piston/valve assembly in place. If that bolt were to come out, if you hit a harsh bump, the abrupt rebound action "could" displace the fork tubes.

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=139760&highlight=fork+seals