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How To: Fork Seal Replacement

96K views 90 replies 47 participants last post by  John T 
#1 · (Edited)
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.
 
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#3 ·
Thanks for posting this again Garth. I used your write up when I did my seals.

Here is my homemade fork compressor

 
#4 ·
One other note with the TD rebuild kit and the 06-07 forks. I had to grind down the supplied plunger to get it to thread deep enough to pull the fork internals up when reattaching the cap. Each side of the plunger has a larger and smaller thread pattern and the thread you need for the 06/07 is the inner on one side. Not a big deal since I had access to a grinder but it would have really ruined my day if I didn’t.

Another tip – make sure to put the seal back in the right way. I put my first one in backwards with the writing facing in. Luckily I noticed it before I put the fork back on the bike. The old fork seals make for great seal drivers too with a rubber mallet.
 
#8 ·
Great write up. I have those tools and changed out my seals. The first set I bought sucked and I had to do it again. The second were all balls and they fit right. Should the seals leak a little from residual oil after?
 
#12 ·
Mine are a lot better than they were, but I do occasionally still see a slight oil residue. Other times I see nothing. After reading the Ohlins manual it looks like they actually tell you to put their red grease on the tubes of their forks. I may start doing that and see what happens.
 
#11 ·
So I was playing with the rebound and compression this morning and I noticed I now only have 4-5 clicks of rebound and I now have 17 clicks of compression adjustment after the rebuild. How many clicks of rebound do you (2nd gen) guys have? The manual says we should have 11 rebound clicks and 12 compression?

I had to move nut in the picture here to be able to pull the internals up. Is this what caused the change? Probably only one way to find out....

 
#15 ·
good, post thanks man
 
#19 · (Edited)
Nice write up garth. The gold bleed tool came from traxxion? (Mine is black from 2006) Just to add in here, is that traxxion has a rebuild how to as well on their site. Just not near as pretty as was shown in here. In reply to the all balls, I have only one track weekend on mine without any signs of seepage.
 
#21 · (Edited)
As everyone said, just beautiful write up. First one took couple hours or so, second one took 20 minutes.

One not about traxxion tools, they do make a huge difference, but i had to modify "fork priming tool/rod tool" because it has muliple threads inside, and one i needed didn't reach the rod to bolt onto, so i had to hack saw it, to get it right, but it did drive me insane for a little while why the tool didn't fit.

as far as spacer/ring under the oil seal, i hope i've put it in the right way (with seals i know for sure)... but i guess i'll wait and see, next time i can complete whole thing in less then 3-4 hours.

And just wanted to say Thank you VERY much for the write up.
 
#27 ·
I actually have full pdf manual for my year, don't remember where got it, but it's 600+ pages with all the specs, and under suspension have same diagram.

But i jinxed myself. :mrgreen: Since didn't pay attention to 13mm part, i got 4-5 clicks on top and 18 clicks on the bottom.
So, I guess i gotta redo them... At least I set rod nut at the same distance from the fork cap on both forks.


Is that what distance [C] is? distance between bottom of the fork cap and bottom of the rod bolt? 13mm?
Cause description on the picture is not really clear.
 
#28 · (Edited)
Sort of, it’s really just trying to get you measure the thread length in the fork cap until you tighten the lock nut. . You can also approximate the distance by turning in 13-14 clicks of rebound and then bring the nut up to the cap at the point when it stops threading into the rebound rod. I just used a caliper though to be sure (2 different ones actually to be really sure lol). I've now rebuilt mine 3 times just to get it right lol. Good news is that I am awesome at it now and the seals look great after a long ride yesterday. Most of my residue was just from the extra oil I put on the tubes when I was sliding the new seals on. Now all that has been cleaned off and she is looking great again. Good luck!
 
#30 · (Edited)
This deserved putting in the 'How To' section, Good Write up
 
#32 ·
Thanks to that procedure, I dared to change my oil and seals myself. I ma not too much of a mechanics but enjoy working on my bike.

Everything went as expected but two small details:
1/ I had to cut the Traxxion rod in order to screw it to the cartridge. Reason is the cartridge bold was a little loose and I could not access the whole thread.
2/ There is not too much place to insert that shim/spacer plate under the nut to remove the fork cap. The spring need to be COMPLETLY compressed and the rod COMPLETLY pulled. I even have to remove the zip tight from the inner tube (it checks the fork travel) to thoroughly compress the spring.

Beside this, it was flawless.

You guys rock!
 
#37 ·
I had a problem with the plunger rod.. I compressed the spring all the way and the lock-nut was still not exposed enough for me to slip the spacer in .. So I just pulled it up and was able too negate breaking free the fork cap assembly .. First time i changed seals on the 10R. Was fun .. seals don't leak ... and now im saving 300 bones next time i need seals
 
#38 ·
I just noticed fluid residue on the forks so I'll be doing this soon. I am ordering the kit now. What weight fork oil should I get? 10,15,20,30?
Also, how long would you say it's safe to ride with the seals slightly leaking? Don't think the seals have ever been replaced with just under 13,000 mi on my 05 10r.
 
#39 ·
10 weight .. And I have only ridden my bikes a couple hundred miles with seals leaking and no added strain on the forks Ie..Wheelies, passengers or bumpy roads..

Have a friend with an R6 who rode his awhile ... If you have ridden iit so long the fluid no longer leaks you have a problem..BIG ONE

They truly are easy to do. This write up is accurate ...except on the gen2 the spring compressed does not expose the fork cap assembly lock nut .. you have to pull it up to the kits retaining clip holder.. and the push rod thread tool has 4 threads in it .. you have to grind off the M6 deep thread side down a half inch to thread it on enough to get a good bite :wink:
 
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