fork seals?????

[lc king]

i need to do my fork seals on my mk 1, do i need any special tools and how easy are they?

[billy]

The seals can be a PITA to get out. I'm sure there must be tools to pull them out but if you want to do it yourself you can always cut it out with a dremel. That's what I did. Very delicate job. ;D

BUT, you need to know if the seal that are sitting in the forks are completely covered in rubber or not.

I'm almost sure the original seals are rubber covered all around, but aftermarket seals can sometimes have bare metal on the outer surface, this means that it is extremely hard, if not impossible, to be able to know when you have cut through the seal metal cage.
If the seal has rubber all around, you'll be able to notice when you cut through.

Now, getting the seal out is the hardest part but once that is done it's pretty easy. And might I also add, IF you get seals that are bare metal on the outer surfaces (where the seal goes against the inner fork leg) you must, I repeat MUST use some sort of sealer between the inner fork leg and the seal, otherwise the fork oil will most likely weep out between the seal and the aluminum fork leg. I used something called "gasket glue", it's a sort of "slab" that you smear on and it'll dry and become quite tough. Make sure to buy a sealer that can withstand the type of oil you're gonna use aswell. Not all sealants are very happy about synthetic oils.

Anyway, this sealant stuff shouldn't be neccessary if the seals has rubber on the outer surfaces aswell.

- There are two tricks to getting the forks apart. You can use a spare yoke and clamp the fork to the yoke nar the end of it, then you attach a claw pulley (presumably one with two claws so that you can reach into the retainer ring more easily) so that the claws are under the yoke and the center of the pulley bolt is on the end cap. This will press the end cap down and you can reach the retainer ring (which btw should be pressed _downwards_ and THEN tweaked out).

If you get to the point where the retainer ring is out but the end cap doesn't want to come out, you can take the allen bolt out from the bottom of the fork leg (you may already have taken this out though and that's good) and insert a 5 mm steel rod. The rod should be at least around 40 cm long so it has some weight in it, cos you should drop the rod into the fork all the way so that it "hammers" the end cap from behind.

The rod will not get trapped in there so it is safe to drop it in. But obviously it's always best to have a rod that will stick out a bit even when it meets the end cap, it'll make the hammering process easier.

Make sure that the end cap and spring doesn't fall out. The cap will be a bit spring loaded (not so much that you'll hurt your hand when it comes out though lol) so you want to hold your hand there to catch it.

EDIT: This is the type of seals that I got. (not the same seals but same bare metal surface on the outside) These type of seals need sealant as the outer surface is bare metal and won't seal very well against the fork leg.

[lc king]

thanks billy this is some good advice, saves doin the job twice. will give it go soon!!!!!!!!

[mellow]

Pouring boiling hot water over the outside of the fork leg usually works too.the alloy expands meaning the seal should just lever out. Thats once the stanchion is removed

[billy]

Mar 14, 2011 4:25:02 GMT 1 garyrdrobbo said:

hardest part is the top bungs in the fork legs....

Yea, those rubber bungs at the top of the forks can be a right pain in th... um... wait a second, where have they gone?

[mellow]

i put loads of waxoil on mine ;D

[lc king]

robbo which are the best seals and oil to use?? cheers