Tips for fork seal replacement

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Dekon
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Tips for fork seal replacement

Post by Dekon »

Anyone have any tips for doing the fork seals on an E series?
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Tips for fork seal replacement

Post by david »

Nothing special. Typical standard forks. It helps if you have a parts washer and air tools. A 3/8 impact on the lower bolt that holds it all together makes easy work of it.
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gsa102
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Tips for fork seal replacement

Post by gsa102 »

USE WITH CAUTION!

A trick I learned for conventional forks is to remove the seal retainer clip, then put compressed air into the fork through the bleeder hole to push the seal out. Then you don't have to disassemble them. If the seals stick then pour hot water over the seals to soften the rubber and try again.

Hold a rag over the seal so oil does not go flying when they come out.

I was going to replace the fork seals on an 81 MX 100, but could not disassemble them and they wouldn't come out with air pressure. So I used a thin plastic seal cleaner tool to clean the seals, and filled with fresh oil. No more leaks. I was amazed!
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Dekon
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Re: Tips for fork seal replacement

Post by Dekon »

Great tip. You mean the bleeder on the top of the fork tube and not the drain on the bottom, correct?
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Tips for fork seal replacement

Post by KDXGarage »

It is 10mm or 14mm on the base valve (compression adjuster assembly).
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Tips for fork seal replacement

Post by david »

If that is all you want to do is replace the seals and not clean them out, I have used two of those very sharp sheet rock screws. Tap them into the seal with a hammer then screw them in a little. Use some side cutters or pliers to grip the screw and lift the seal out of its seat.
'81 KDX 175
'90 KDX 200
'07 Vulcan 2000 Classic LT (totaled 4/25/15)
'82 Honda GL500 (sold)
'96 ZXi 1100 JetSki
'98 STX 1100 JetSki
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Tips for fork seal replacement

Post by Dekon »

Yup, all I want to do is replace the fork seals and oil.
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Tips for fork seal replacement

Post by KDXGarage »

You won't be able to clean out all the gunk and residue if you don't separate the tubes.
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Tips for fork seal replacement

Post by Dekon »

Jason wrote:You won't be able to clean out all the gunk and residue if you don't separate the tubes.
Crap!
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Re: Tips for fork seal replacement

Post by david »

It's not that hard.
'81 KDX 175
'90 KDX 200
'07 Vulcan 2000 Classic LT (totaled 4/25/15)
'82 Honda GL500 (sold)
'96 ZXi 1100 JetSki
'98 STX 1100 JetSki
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Tips for fork seal replacement

Post by RailwayRog »

gsa102 wrote:USE WITH CAUTION!

A trick I learned for conventional forks is to remove the seal retainer clip, then put compressed air into the fork through the bleeder hole to push the seal out. Then you don't have to disassemble them. If the seals stick then pour hot water over the seals to soften the rubber and try again.

Okay I did this and it worked, great.
But now how do I get the correct amount of oil back in the fork tube?
I lost oil from the leaking seal and using this method.
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Re: Tips for fork seal replacement

Post by mud99 »

Remove top cap, dump out oil by cycling the shock upside down over a bucket, remove spring.

Use air impact tool to loosen bolt on bottom of shock using short high speed bursts.

Remove dust seal from fork body. Remove circlip. Hammer fork tubes from fork body by forcefully extending shocks with a slide hammer type of motion.

Everything should be obvious at that point.
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Re: Tips for fork seal replacement

Post by mud99 »

As far as the oil, you need a fork oil tool.
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Re: Tips for fork seal replacement

Post by Steve_K »

A good tip when taking seals out. Is to heat the outer tubes up so the seals come out easier.
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Re: Tips for fork seal replacement

Post by scheckaet »

mud99 wrote:As far as the oil, you need a fork oil tool.
no you don't.
need a syringe, some tubing and a straw...
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