Replacing fork seals

Fossil · Post by **Fossil** » 25 Jan 2007, 17:15

About to undertake replacing fork seals on Mk2.

Never worked on forks before and wondered what sort of job it is to do.

I have a diagram of the forks but no instructions on how to strip them.
Any advice welcome.
Cheers
Fossil

Post by **Gwyn** » 25 Jan 2007, 19:17

Sorry Fossil, i've no idea. But i had mine rebuilt with new seals, dustcovers and a full set of bushes for £120 including labour

.

John crm · Post by **John crm** » 25 Jan 2007, 20:24

Fossil wrote:About to undertake replacing fork seals on Mk2.
Never worked on forks before and wondered what sort of job it is to do.
I have a diagram of the forks but no instructions on how to strip them.
Any advice welcome.
Cheers
Fossil

Hi Fossil, I have just done mine, if you want to give me your phone number I can talk you through it. I also took photos of mine as I stripped them (oh no, I'm turning into my dad !!)to help me, that you could have. Its not a bad job, a couple of minutes instructions will save you time and effort. Seals cost me £23, plus two bottles of oil.
I could try to explain on here, but you know what its like trying to write it all down. Let me know if you need help.. John

Fossil · Post by **Fossil** » 25 Jan 2007, 21:31

Cheers John. I am aprehensive having never done the job before.
Will PM you . don't want to block site up with banter.
Cheers
Fossil

Chippy · Post by **Chippy** » 26 Jan 2007, 14:04

Hi

This is a job that I have to do soon, was wondering what the seals on fleabay were like says approx £7 for the pair !
There use to be a write up somewhere on here of how to strip and replace
fork seals cannot seem to find it at the moment

http://motors.search.ebay.co.uk/honda-c ... sacatZ9800

John crm · Post by **John crm** » 26 Jan 2007, 17:41

Chippy wrote:Hi

This is a job that I have to do soon, was wondering what the seals on fleabay were like says approx £7 for the pair !
There use to be a write up somewhere on here of how to strip and replace
fork seals cannot seem to find it at the moment

http://motors.search.ebay.co.uk/honda-c ... sacatZ9800

Not sure what quality or size the e bay ones are, mine were for an AR and are 45mm dia. Its not the sort of job you what to do twice in one day !

Post by **Jonorow** » 26 Jan 2007, 18:30

The longest part of changing oil seals on the forks is alowing the oil to drain out properly. if you are doing it quickly and putting the same oil in then each leg (once out of the yokes) can be done in about 5 mins. it does help to have the proper driver for the seals but these arent that expensive, i think i paid about £45 inc p&p from race spec. this investment makes more sense that going to a shop to get them done.
I can do a step by step if anybody wants me to or a brief outline also. jon

slider · Post by **slider** » 26 Jan 2007, 18:58

i brought a set of ebay,struggled to get them on to the stanchions and when i did they both p****d out,wasted my time and money.ended up getting a set off leisure trail with new dust seals,expensive but went together like a dream and sealed up with no probs.i may have been unlucky but i wouldnt buy em off ebay again

shudna · Post by **shudna** » 26 Jan 2007, 20:36

Leisure Trail only sell Honda original seals(c/w dust seals) for a reason....that is that so many patterns fail especially USD's,it ain't worth the risk.
Pattern parts do work out cheaper but not always in the long run,I use patterns the same as anybody but not in this case......

P.S yes I've just done mine

Post by **madmanreevo** » 26 Jan 2007, 21:12

have done conventional forks ...hardest thing is removing bottom bolts, have to be done under compression.

if someone could post instructions on how to do it, it would be very helpful

mikey11000 · Post by **mikey11000** » 26 Jan 2007, 23:05

Yer a full write up would be good

slider · Post by **slider** » 27 Jan 2007, 22:26

ahh cr*p,this is gonna take ages
1:with the forks off the bike,undo the top cap
2:you should be able to see the damper rod nut(the top cap should still be connected to the damper rod)using a spanner on the damper rod nut,remove the top cap from the damper rod
3:tip the forks upside down into a container and then go have a brew and a fag for 20 minutes(avoid going into the house as you'll probably get stiffed into doin the washing up/hoovering etc)

4:after avoiding hosehold chores,remove the dust seal from the bottom of the fork outer tube.behind the dust seal you'll see the fork seal & its retaining clip,gently lever the clip out of its locating ring in the seal housing
5:look underneath the damper rod nut and you should see a bevelled washer that has a slot cut out of it.you should be able to pull this washer out without removing the damper rod nut
6:with the washer out of the way,tip the forks upside down.the spring spacing tube,spring spacing cup and spring should slide out.may require a bit of a violent shaking

7:when this is done your ready to seperate the inner & outer tubes.using the inner like a slide hammer,yank it away from the outer.you'll probably have to do this a few times to dislodge the fork seal but they will seperate eventually
8:with the two tubes seperated look at the inner and you should see the dust seal,retaining clip,forkseal,bottom bush washer,bottom bush and the top bush still in its recess on the inner fork tube.
9:remove the top bush from the fork leg by inserting a screwdriver into the slot in the bush and twisting till the bush comes out of its recess and slides off
10:slide the bottom bush, washer and fork seal off aswell
11:using a socket or similar of matching size tap the bottom bush back into the bottom of the fork outer tube
12:put your outer fork tube into a workmate or vice with the bottom of the seal housing(larger silver part at the bottom of the outer fork tube) facing up wards and butted up against the jaws of the vice/wormate.if your using a vice take steps to make sure the seal housing does not get damaged.
the reason for using the workmate/vice is that when you tap the seal in place,the housing has a nasty habbit of sliding up the fork leg and if your like me and its the first time you've come across this type of setup on usd forks,it just might stop your world fallin out of your a**e

13:put the bottom bush washer in place & using a socket or something of the same diameter tap the new fork seal back into place
14:re install the seal retaining clip
15:with the dust seal in place on the inner fork tube and the top bush not fitted,slide the inner into the outer tube,taking great care not to damage the new seal
16:tap the dust seal into place then push the inner & outer together completely,remove from the workmate/vice and turn the assembly the right way up,now take the outer bush and slide it over the top of the inner fork tube,using two small flat blade screwdrivers push the bush down til it slips into its recess on the inner fork tube
17:with the fork vertical pour in your fork oil (600ml-mk2or 650-mk3 'these are not the actual required amounts as it is easier to fill the forks than remove oil to get the correct oil height!!), remember the forks must be fully together i.e fork bottom in contact with the dust seal.adjust the amount of fork oil till you reach the measurement from the top of the fork outer tube(mk2-108mm,mk3-90mm)pump the damper rod up and down a dozen or so times and re check the oil height
18:with the oil level set install the fork spring,spacer cup and spacer tube,best doing this at a slight angle so the damper rod doesn't slide back into the fork leg,reinstall the bevelled washer between the spring spacer and the damper rod nut,refit the fork top to the damper rod and lock into place
19:slide the outer tube up and tighten the fork top into it
20:job done,have a fag and a brew,then repeat on the remaining fork :cry

this is how i did my seals it may or may not be the approved method so i don't want any earache about it,it worked for me and thats that.
i dont want aggro for encouraging smoking or avoiding chores either:lol:

and if any of you try this and get stuck feel free to p.m me and i'll try to help

Post by **Gwyn** » 27 Jan 2007, 23:04

Thanks for that Slider 8) . Now i gotta get more ink for my printer

Washing up/hoovering, shake violently, world falling out of your a***hole.
Fekin ell Slider, sounds like a nightmare

.
No serious mate, well done

slider · Post by **slider** » 27 Jan 2007, 23:24

gwyn hope you get better soon your spending far too much time in front of your computer

had a bit of a computy glitchy thing goin on then,it wouldn't send the rest of the thread(its probably bored like my typing finger)
what i was trying to say was thats the way i did it and it worked and i dont want any gbh of the earholes(s'pose eyes in this case) if people think i've done it wrong.like wise dont want any aggro for promoting smoking or chore avoidance

but seriously if any of you get stuck feel free to p.m me and i'll try not to hinder your progress by lending a hand

mikey11000 · Post by **mikey11000** » 28 Jan 2007, 00:47

What took longer ? the forks or the write up ? No seriously thanks for that it will come in handy.