Hey guys, well since I let my site garthmanracing.com go I forgot I had a fork seal replacement on there and some were looking for it. So I'm going to re-write it here.
OK first off you will need a small variety of tools front and rear stands or what ever you would like to get the front end off the ground. As for fork tools I bought this kit right here Cartridge Fork Tool Kit from Traxxion Dynamics.
Remove the front fender, calipers, and wheel.... then with the bike securely on stand your just about ready to remove the forks (quick tip: loosen the top fork cap while its still in the tripple tree) remove the forks and loosen the fork cap and drain as much oil as you can at this time...
Now time to remove the fork cap, you slide the tool onto the white plastic spacer and thread the tool into the 2 holes
TRICKY PART: getting the shim/spacer plate under the nut under the fork cap is pretty tricky, you can do this by your self but very VERY trick.... much easier with an extra set of hands!!!
Now you can loosen the fork cap off the threaded rod and remove it
Remove spacer
Remove spring
Now you can pull the upper fork tube off of the lower and get ready to remove the seals.... first off with a flat blade you can pry the dust seal off...
Then remove the clip on top of the fork seal
Now you can pry the fork seal out of the fork easiest way I do it has been just to have a large flat head screw driver and gently pry it out of there just be careful not to scrape the inside of the fork
Now that that is removed remove the washer/spacer remembering what way it was facing which is important!
Clean the tube inside and out, simple green mixed 50/50 with water.. a good wash and a blow dry with an air chuck and she will be ready to be put back together.... now its going to be the reversal of assembly.... install the washer and place the new fork seal back into the fork... I actually usually just take the old fork seal and place it on top of the new one and use a rubber mallet to press it back into the fork. this is where there are multiple ways of driving a fork seal. I prefer my method when doing seals it has always been easy for me.
Now that the fork seal is back in make sure you put the clip back in and install the dust seal back in the fork.... ANOTHER TRICKY PART... installing the upper fork tube back onto the lower tube... you DO NOT want to tear the new fork seals so I suggest applying a light coat of fork oil on the lip of the lower fork tube, I usually slide the upper fork tube on on a slight angle and just make sure it doesn't fight you to much, there usually is a small amount of pressure you have to put on the fork for it to pass the seal.
Now with the fork tubes back together you can go ahead and add oil.... you can use a ratio rite to get the volume pretty spot on but the Traxxion tool I will show u later gets it accurate.... fill the fork tubes with oil and grab the fork priming tool/rod tool and install it on the rod... your going to pump the inner rod several times to prime the fork and bleed all the air out....
Now that you have pumped that rod SEVERAL times and made sure shes solid your going to break out the nifty little tool Traxxion give you to measure fork oil height.... this is measured with the fork fully compressed and no spring inside it. Here you can set the stop to the manuals specs
You then will hold the fork perfectly straight and suction out any extra fluid in the fork, if your a little low just fill it up a bit more and get the fork oil height perfect.
The rest from then on is just re-assembling it.... install spring and spacer, put all setting back to spec including the nut that is under the fork cap... remember you should be using the appropriate service manual along with this how to....
wipe the fork down and give her a good few pumps all together and she should be good to go!
Sorry this isn't extremely elaborate but the service manual tells you how to do everything, also I just did this write up off all memory and I did not put the oil height specs or any types of settings on here simply because they will vary from year to year as well as part numbers and user preference.
OK first off you will need a small variety of tools front and rear stands or what ever you would like to get the front end off the ground. As for fork tools I bought this kit right here Cartridge Fork Tool Kit from Traxxion Dynamics.
Remove the front fender, calipers, and wheel.... then with the bike securely on stand your just about ready to remove the forks (quick tip: loosen the top fork cap while its still in the tripple tree) remove the forks and loosen the fork cap and drain as much oil as you can at this time...
Now time to remove the fork cap, you slide the tool onto the white plastic spacer and thread the tool into the 2 holes
TRICKY PART: getting the shim/spacer plate under the nut under the fork cap is pretty tricky, you can do this by your self but very VERY trick.... much easier with an extra set of hands!!!
Now you can loosen the fork cap off the threaded rod and remove it
Remove spacer
Remove spring
Now you can pull the upper fork tube off of the lower and get ready to remove the seals.... first off with a flat blade you can pry the dust seal off...
Then remove the clip on top of the fork seal
Now you can pry the fork seal out of the fork easiest way I do it has been just to have a large flat head screw driver and gently pry it out of there just be careful not to scrape the inside of the fork
Now that that is removed remove the washer/spacer remembering what way it was facing which is important!
Clean the tube inside and out, simple green mixed 50/50 with water.. a good wash and a blow dry with an air chuck and she will be ready to be put back together.... now its going to be the reversal of assembly.... install the washer and place the new fork seal back into the fork... I actually usually just take the old fork seal and place it on top of the new one and use a rubber mallet to press it back into the fork. this is where there are multiple ways of driving a fork seal. I prefer my method when doing seals it has always been easy for me.
Now that the fork seal is back in make sure you put the clip back in and install the dust seal back in the fork.... ANOTHER TRICKY PART... installing the upper fork tube back onto the lower tube... you DO NOT want to tear the new fork seals so I suggest applying a light coat of fork oil on the lip of the lower fork tube, I usually slide the upper fork tube on on a slight angle and just make sure it doesn't fight you to much, there usually is a small amount of pressure you have to put on the fork for it to pass the seal.
Now with the fork tubes back together you can go ahead and add oil.... you can use a ratio rite to get the volume pretty spot on but the Traxxion tool I will show u later gets it accurate.... fill the fork tubes with oil and grab the fork priming tool/rod tool and install it on the rod... your going to pump the inner rod several times to prime the fork and bleed all the air out....
Now that you have pumped that rod SEVERAL times and made sure shes solid your going to break out the nifty little tool Traxxion give you to measure fork oil height.... this is measured with the fork fully compressed and no spring inside it. Here you can set the stop to the manuals specs
You then will hold the fork perfectly straight and suction out any extra fluid in the fork, if your a little low just fill it up a bit more and get the fork oil height perfect.
The rest from then on is just re-assembling it.... install spring and spacer, put all setting back to spec including the nut that is under the fork cap... remember you should be using the appropriate service manual along with this how to....
wipe the fork down and give her a good few pumps all together and she should be good to go!
Sorry this isn't extremely elaborate but the service manual tells you how to do everything, also I just did this write up off all memory and I did not put the oil height specs or any types of settings on here simply because they will vary from year to year as well as part numbers and user preference.