what to replace when doing fork seals?

[Cursed94FZR600]

I've noticed leaking around my fork oil seals, enough so that I decided it's time for new seals. what all do i need to replace? what all should i replace?

so far i have :
Oil Seal
Dust Cover
Spring

Thanks for the help
David M.

[sweekster]

Besides new fork oil that's it. I'd add in the 3ft x 5/8 threaded and 6 nuts as well. You'll need that to hold the damper steady while you loosen the allen head bolt inside the bottom of the fork lower. Also a 1.75 inch (if memory serves) ID pvc tube makes a great fork seal driver.

[Cursed94FZR600]

well i have gotten a quote for doing the seals of $367 for the labor from a local shop, Chesterfield Valley Power Sports. Is it worth it to have them do the work? how hard on a scale of 1 - 10 is it? 1 = changing a light bulb 10 = engine tear down and rebuild. i am mechanically inclined so i'm sure i could figure it out. the main reason i was gonna have someone else do it is b/c i've heard the bolt in the bottom of the fork needs an impact wrench to break it free. true/false?

[sweekster]

well i have gotten a quote for doing the seals of $367 for the labor from a local shop, Chesterfield Valley Power Sports. Is it worth it to have them do the work? how hard on a scale of 1 - 10 is it? 1 = changing a light bulb 10 = engine tear down and rebuild. i am mechanically inclined so i'm sure i could figure it out. the main reason i was gonna have someone else do it is b/c i've heard the bolt in the bottom of the fork needs an impact wrench to break it free. true/false?

Took me about an hour to do the seals on my old 600 and that was because I took my time and cleaned up pieces as I went along. From start to finish it took about 2 hours and that included pulling the forks off the bike and putting them back on. It's probably about a 3 on a scale of 1-10. I did not use an impact wrench at all either. Not surprising that it would cost that much for a shop to do them but that seems high nonetheless. It cost me 40 bucks and 2 hours of my time. But in the end I was that much more familiar with my bike and was able to setup the front end to suit my needs a bit more.

Click here to see the write up we have on it. You'll see it's not that hard.

[Cursed94FZR600]

i've been studying that writeup looking for little things i don't understand for a few weeks now and I'm sure i could figure it all out. the only little unclear part was the long threaded rod. the part about that is a little unclear to me. can you enlighten me?

[sweekster]

i've been studying that writeup looking for little things i don't understand for a few weeks now and I'm sure i could figure it all out. the only little unclear part was the long threaded rod. the part about that is a little unclear to me. can you enlighten me?

I'll try to be as enlightening as I can. The bolt in the bottom of the fork is what holds the dampening rod in place. If you were to just try and loosen it the dampening rod would also turn as well-which will work against you and pretty much prevent you from actually loosening and getting the bolt out. You need some way of preventing the dampening rod from turning when you try and turn the bottom bolt and this where the long threaded rod comes into play. Remember me say you also needed 6 nuts to go with that threaded rod? Well 4 of them make up a handle and the other 2 are at the end of the rod and you insert that into the fork and on top of the dampening rod inside it. This will help keep the dampening rod from spinning when you try to loosen the bottom bolt.

Seen Here:


In the write up that person actually welded a 5/8 nut on to the end of a solid rod stock he had laying around. I didn't have that so I went the threaded rod and nut route.

Here's what my fork tools consist of:


Hope that helps

[Cursed94FZR600]

what is it in the bottom of the fork tube? is there a nut you attach to that tool or is there a section at the bottom that keeps it from rotating once that rod is in, like the fork tube is a socket.

[yamaha_george]

i've been studying that writeup looking for little things i don't understand for a few weeks now and I'm sure i could figure it all out. the only little unclear part was the long threaded rod. the part about that is a little unclear to me. can you enlighten me?

C,
Take a look at:-

http://www.saltmine.org.uk/fzr/fork.html

That will show you how to make the tools and show you the way to do it properly IE NOT putting the fork leg in the vice and screwing the finish on it !!!!

I thought that WIKI article had been edited some time ago to remove that glaring mis-use of a vice ?

who ever ping me and I will do my best to edit the page to show the less dangerous method .......

[sweekster]

This is in the bottom of the fork tube. The Dampening Rod.

It, along with the allen head bolt in bottom, is what is essentially holding the upper and lower halves of the fork together. The top of it is keyed like a socket would be and the homemade tool sits in the keyed area. You apply pressure to keep it from turning while you loosen the bolt.

[Cursed94FZR600]

ok now it all has come together. i think i got it.

what was the biggest PITA part of the project and what is the biggest tip you can give me?

[sweekster]

Getting that thing unbolted was the hardest part for me. Biggest tip is take your time and make sure the spring side of oil seal is facing down.

[ghettomedic505]

i just did mine on sunday and i was afraid to do it but turned out to be damn easy. i had to get some help to hold the rod when i turned the allen wrench but other than that it was pretty simple. maybe it was just me but i made a big mess so be prepared for old fork oil every where if you not careful.also i used a 20 weight fork oil and its way better than the 10 weight that was in.

[Cursed94FZR600]

better how?

[reelrazor]

The alternative to making the threaded rod tool is to remove the fork caps, drain the oil, then put the cap and preload spacer back in on top of the spring.

The spring under pressure acts as the tool by holding the damper rod.

It's also not a bad idea to closely inspect the bushings-especially on forks that have been leaking for a while..they are part # 2YK-23125-00-00 and they run $14 per. Saves scoring up the inner legs and eliminates any play.

[shredex]

well i have gotten a quote for doing the seals of $367 for the labor from a local shop, Chesterfield Valley Power Sports. Is it worth it to have them do the work?

if you were going to pay someone that much to do that, then you might as well get R1 forks or something!
look on youtube for videos on replacing fork seals, they show and explain everything great...
make sure they are doing it on vertical forks like we have...not inverted ones like the r1 forks iv got...