Inverted fork seals, with pictures!

czowner · 06-19-2011, 08:49 AM

Everything's in bits awaiting the new seals, no big surprises and no special tool required. Before you remove the forks from the bike slacken the top cap and the bolt at the bottom several turns. With the fork leg off the bike unscrew the top cap, there's no spring pressure to worry about. This is what we see:

We now have to remove the top cap from the damper rod, use a slim 17mm spanner on the flats below the rubber washer.
It's not necessary for changing the seals, but if you want to dismantle the spring and damper rod this collet has to come out. There's not much spring pressure and I managed with my bare hands. The lower end of the damper is screwed to the plug at the bottom of the sliding leg, unscrew the plug (it has flats on) and the damper assembly comes out.

Now our attention turns to the other end, the axle mounting has to come off, this is where I was expecting trouble, after removing the bolt we slackened earlier I waded straight in with a blow torch. After a couple of minutes and a bar through the axle hole I could work it off. After cleaning all the corrosion off it now fits back on with firm hand pressure. If you lived somewhere warm and the bike's not been out in the winter weather you should get away without the heat.

Depending on the size of the screwed in bottom plug you may now be able to pull the sliding leg out of the top. Mine didn't, with the axle mounting off, the leg slides up far enough to expose this split bush, carefully prise it apart and remove. The leg will now come out of the bottom.

With the seal housing exposed remove the wire clip and prise the old seals out.

This seal housing's a bit odd, with the seals out it's possible to knock it up the fork leg, it's retained by a wire clip and the fork seals. I'm 99% sure that you can't fit the seals in the housing and then fit the housing to the fork leg.

The seals are a common size, 41x54x11mm, the same size as CBR 600's and Ducati Monsters.

Jonathan.

Weldangrind · 06-19-2011, 12:37 PM

Excellent post! I'm going to add this to the DS stickies.

SpudRider · 06-20-2011, 02:13 AM

Thanks for taking the time to document your work with photographs.

Spud

dmmcd · 06-20-2011, 10:12 AM

Very nice, thanks for the photos and description.

FastDoc · 06-20-2011, 01:07 PM

Thank you! I've never worked on USD forks before.

06-19-2011, 08:49 AM	#1
czowner Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: North East England Posts: 313	Inverted fork seals, with pictures! Everything's in bits awaiting the new seals, no big surprises and no special tool required. Before you remove the forks from the bike slacken the top cap and the bolt at the bottom several turns. With the fork leg off the bike unscrew the top cap, there's no spring pressure to worry about. This is what we see: We now have to remove the top cap from the damper rod, use a slim 17mm spanner on the flats below the rubber washer. It's not necessary for changing the seals, but if you want to dismantle the spring and damper rod this collet has to come out. There's not much spring pressure and I managed with my bare hands. The lower end of the damper is screwed to the plug at the bottom of the sliding leg, unscrew the plug (it has flats on) and the damper assembly comes out. Now our attention turns to the other end, the axle mounting has to come off, this is where I was expecting trouble, after removing the bolt we slackened earlier I waded straight in with a blow torch. After a couple of minutes and a bar through the axle hole I could work it off. After cleaning all the corrosion off it now fits back on with firm hand pressure. If you lived somewhere warm and the bike's not been out in the winter weather you should get away without the heat. Depending on the size of the screwed in bottom plug you may now be able to pull the sliding leg out of the top. Mine didn't, with the axle mounting off, the leg slides up far enough to expose this split bush, carefully prise it apart and remove. The leg will now come out of the bottom. With the seal housing exposed remove the wire clip and prise the old seals out. This seal housing's a bit odd, with the seals out it's possible to knock it up the fork leg, it's retained by a wire clip and the fork seals. I'm 99% sure that you can't fit the seals in the housing and then fit the housing to the fork leg. The seals are a common size, 41x54x11mm, the same size as CBR 600's and Ducati Monsters. Jonathan.
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06-19-2011, 12:37 PM	#2
Weldangrind Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Sardis, BC, Canada Posts: 25,977	Excellent post! I'm going to add this to the DS stickies. __________________ Weldangrind "I figure I'm well-prepared for coping with a bike that comes from the factory with unresolved issues and that rewards the self-reliant owner." - Buccaneer
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06-20-2011, 02:13 AM	#3
SpudRider Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Idaho Posts: 25,054	Thanks for taking the time to document your work with photographs. Spud __________________ Spud "Never argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level, and beat you with experience." Mark Twain 2015 Zongshen ZS250GY-3 (RX3) 2006 Zongshen ZS200GY-2 (Sierra 200) 2005 Honda XR650L 2004 Honda CRF250X 1998 Kawasaki KDX220 Mods made to my Zongshen ZS200GY-2: http://www.chinariders.net/showthread.php?t=6894
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06-20-2011, 10:12 AM	#4
dmmcd Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Souderton, PA Posts: 367	Very nice, thanks for the photos and description. __________________ 2008 Yamaha WR250x 2006 Honda CRF250R Sold: 2002 Suzuki SV650S, 2009 Qlink XF200
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06-20-2011, 01:07 PM	#5
FastDoc Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Southeastern Washington desert Posts: 14,761	Thank you! I've never worked on USD forks before. __________________ Happy to serve.
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