Fork Seals Leaking

[ZachDDill]

I have a M750 '99, My forks have been leaking for sometime now and I was curious where I could buy Seals, how much they would cost, where I would get them, and how to install them. Sorry if i'm in the wrong thread.

[EEL]

Whatever you do DONT buy them from a dealer. They will tear you a new one.

I'd go to a local suspension shop and ask for them. I just did mine and it was about 25 US Dollars. Not sure where you reside but the price should be equivalent.

As for install you may have to do a search in the how to's. Bottom line is that you will have to strip the entire fork down.

Some external links below. Non adjustables and adjustables are very similar (non adjustables are actually a little easier) so you shouldnt have much trouble with the links provided so long as you understand the concept. Ignore the removal of the compression valve since you really dont have an adjuster.

http://kuixihe.com/node/22

http://waste.org/~knobs/fork_rebuild1.html

[671M900]

I get them from allballs. $14 on ebay.

If you do them yourself, do yourself a favor and PLEASE get/make a spring compressor tool. I used a spare engine mounting bolt, s hooks in the holes in the spring sleeve, and two turnbuckles.

Also, I would get 2 inch pvc pipe (or slightly smaller) cut it in half and use it as a seal driver. You could also cut the old seal in half and use it as a drift.

[ZachDDill]

Thanks guys!

[He Man]

one small thing i never understood, ( or really bothered to understand actually)

is how the bolt on the bottom locks the cartridge. Sometimes the bolt gets to the point where it spins the cartridge, but there isnt a way to grab the cartridge to stop it from spinning. I've never paid mind to it until one day my friend was doing his and it just kept on spinning.

[VisceralReaction]

This is where I get all the stuff needed for a fork job.
They are really helpfull too
http://www.traxxion.com/

[EEL]

one small thing i never understood, ( or really bothered to understand actually)

is how the bolt on the bottom locks the cartridge. Sometimes the bolt gets to the point where it spins the cartridge, but there isnt a way to grab the cartridge to stop it from spinning. I've never paid mind to it until one day my friend was doing his and it just kept on spinning.

If you have a non adjustable its a little easier. If you have an adjustable you actually need to back out the adjuster all the way and torque to spec. I had the same problem until racetech support told me to proceed accordingly

[671M900]

one small thing i never understood, ( or really bothered to understand actually)

is how the bolt on the bottom locks the cartridge. Sometimes the bolt gets to the point where it spins the cartridge, but there isnt a way to grab the cartridge to stop it from spinning. I've never paid mind to it until one day my friend was doing his and it just kept on spinning.

Yes, this drove me insane! Then I figured it out: thread the bolt on until it starts spinning. Then assemble the spring and fork cap and everything else. Crank the preload until it's pushing down as much as it can. The pressure holds steady enough to torque to spec.

[He Man]

good trick. For the times ive done my works it has always caught. but that one time on my buddies fork, we stood there for quite a while trying to get the bolt off.

Youd think they put some indents in it so you can push down and lock it in place.

[671M900]

good trick. For the times ive done my works it has always caught. but that one time on my buddies fork, we stood there for quite a while trying to get the bolt off.

Youd think they put some indents in it so you can push down and lock it in place.

Other bikes (Aprilias, japanese 4's) have a tool you can use to press down on the lower part of the cartridge to keep it in place. however, I forget why the bottom of the cartridge doesn't lock into place. One other trick I learned was that I had a broom stick made of metal for the handle, and i used it to press down on the lower part of the cartridge to hold it down before torquing it to spec. There was a plastic ring on top, and the top part of the cartridge fit inside the broomstick.  This was on a vrod though.

[bikepilot]

one small thing i never understood, ( or really bothered to understand actually)

is how the bolt on the bottom locks the cartridge. Sometimes the bolt gets to the point where it spins the cartridge, but there isnt a way to grab the cartridge to stop it from spinning. I've never paid mind to it until one day my friend was doing his and it just kept on spinning.

If its like the forks I've done there's actually a special tool that holds the cartridge.  I have one, but rarely use it.  I find the easiest thing to do is to spin the bolt out with an impact gun - the inertia of the cartridge is enough to keep it from spinning (much) once the bolt breaks loose.

For seals I often buy honda seals for whatever - so far I have found that seals for a given diamater/make of fork are all the same.  Certainly not exhaustive findings, but I've used "honda" seals for 43mm showas found on a husqvarna (at the time really a cagiva) for example.  If you need seals you also almost certainly need bushings and dust wipers too.