How to Change Fork Oil

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jafo
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How to Change Fork Oil

Post by jafo »

I was contimplating on changing my fork oil. I did a search but turned up nothing on how to do this. What special tools are needed? I have the oil, just no idea on how to do this. What level or how much oil is recommended on the re-fill?

I'm also going to change the seals myself in the spare forks I have. What besides the seal driver do I need? Is there anyone who has made thier own home made seal driver? What was used?
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m0rie
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Post by m0rie »

Check out the sticky about KYB fork disassembly in the USD forum. It should give you the low down.
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Ryan
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Post by Ryan »

i did make my own seal driver for my honda forks. I used pvc and shaved it down to fit. for my kx forks im just gonna buy so steel of more pvc and do the same thing. all i did was make it long enough so i can bang it with a hammer. :grin:
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jafo
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Post by jafo »

I've been reading through the KYB overhaul instructions. I have a question. Since I'm just changing oil on the forks, what steps are NOT necessary in this process?


I plan on changin the seals myself on the extra forks I have. I have the seals already, so where does the seal driver come in? I don't remember them refering to it in the instructions.
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Post by m0rie »

The absolute minimum would be steps 1-6. I'd take off the compression assembly at the bottom of the fork as well to get out the gunk that tends to build up there.
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Post by jafo »

OK. Sounds good.

How about the seal driver? Where does it come into play? It looked like you slide the dust seal, retainer ring, oil seal, washer and then the bushing over the lower fork. So what is the seal driver for?
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Post by m0rie »

The seal driver is to drive the oil seal into place in the fork. Since its not mentioned anywhere in the article you'll need a 14mm allen wrench or hey key socket to remove the compression assembly. Flip the forks over and compress them. The resulting spring tension will let you remove the compression assembly without having the fork holding tool.
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Post by IdahoCharley »

"....all i did was make it (seal driver) long enough so i can bang it with a hammer. "

You can make a seal driver out of PVC or aluminum or steel and likely a number of other materials - However something is wrong if you have to 'bang it with a hammer' plus the damage that may occur to your fork tube and/or seal.

Driving in the seals is performed by sliding the "seal driver" up and down the fork inner tube by hand. I like to lightly tap the seal (with the seal driver) to get it started into the outer tube then progressively increase the sharpness of the tap until the seal is full seated. Maybe 4-6 taps of which 2-3 may be considered sharp taps with the seal driver.
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Post by jafo »

That kind of clarifys it alitle more to me. So the oil seal itself is actualy driven into the large er upper fork towards the top then? I was getting cofused looking at the pics in the instructions. I'll have to go back and look alittle closer at the pic. Thanks.
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