I blew a seal.

[El Matador]

Had a little to much to drink, woke up dazed, with a hangover and a fishy taste in my mouth. 

No really, the 695 has a blown fork seal. I've never tackled this before so I have no idea what it involves. Any tips for changing it?

[pennyrobber]

Had a little to much to drink, woke up dazed, with a hangover and a fishy taste in my mouth. 

Harbor or Tiger?

Sorry, I have nothing constructive to add.

[Buckethead]

Harbor or Tiger?

Elephant.

Sorry, I have nothing constructive to add.

Me either, but I appreciate the fact that El Mat knew for a fact where this thread was going to go with a title like that.

Happy 4th, and best of luck with the fix. 

[the_Journeyman]

I've not done the seals on an inverted fork, BUT I had zero trouble with the standard forks on my wife's Hawk.  Be prepared to make a mess.  Having all the tools nearby and ready makes a difference in the amount of time it takes.

JM

[El Matador]

Elephant.



Me either, but I appreciate the fact that El Mat knew for a fact where this thread was going to go with a title like that.

Happy 4th, and best of luck with the fix. 

I gotta stop drinking so much..... 

I've not done the seals on an inverted fork, BUT I had zero trouble with the standard forks on my wife's Hawk.  Be prepared to make a mess.  Having all the tools nearby and ready makes a difference in the amount of time it takes.

JM

I did the ones on an MX bike. Took like 30 mins.

For I'm thinking that I'm gonna have to take both legs off. I need to do a little more research on it. 

[Cloner]

What type of forks are on the bike, EM?  I've done both Showa and Ohlins and they're both pretty simple, but I haven't done others, though I imagine they're similar.  It typically takes about an hour to do both legs once they're off the bike....or maybe a little less. 

You'll want to be sure you have a few tools first, though, depending on what's required for your forks. 

At the very least you'll want something to easily extract oil from the forks and to measure down to the oil level.  Race Tech makes a piece that looks like a horse syringe with an adjustable "needle" length for this purpose, and it's pretty inexpensive.  Remember that fork oil level is typically measured with the spring removed and the leg fully collapsed.

You might also want a decent seal driver.  I've had very good luck with Motion Pro seal drivers.  I bought the last one I have off of Amazon.com for a pretty good price.  They're specific to your fork tube size, so be sure you got the correct ones.  All of the Showas I've worked on that came from Ducatis were 41mm, and the Ohlins have all been 43mm.

It's also nice to have something to help compress the springs on Showas, if you have those.  Again, Racetech make a nice tool for that, as well as a tool to hold the spring in place while you install the fork cap.  You don't need either of those tools for Ohlins. 

Other possibilities might include a cartrdige holder (if you're removing the cartridges....you don't need to remove them to change seals, though), a damping rod holder/bleeder (really nice for Showas), and whatever you need to remove the fork caps (Ohlins use a pin wrench, as well as some Marzocchi units).

Be sure you use the right fork oil.  Keep everything squeeky clean while you work inside the fork legs.  And, if you're servicing Showa forks you might want to replace the bushings, too, as you usually beat them up during fork disassembly (they bear directly upon each other during the slide-hammer like disassembly process and the upper slides into the lower, maring the teflon finish on both).

It's not rocket science as long as you're patient, careful, and clean!

[El Matador]

Thanks for the info, man.

The forks are the unadjustable Marzocchi's from the 695. With the expense of havingg to buy tools and whatnot I'm wondering whether or not it might just be easier to buy better forks like the ones in the parts for sale section.

Cheers,

Jesus

[bikepilot]

Often used forks will need seals too unless they were just done.  A seal driver can be had for around $50. The spring compressor is really handy too - I don't remember the cost there but its not terrible. If you have an air compressor and impact gun you won't need the cartridge holder (I have one and never use it). You can make a dandy damping rod holder from a wire coat hanger. 

Figure on the safe side $150 for tools and about the same for seals, bushings, dust wipers and oil and you'll probably have money left over. Fork oil should be changed once a year and I find that if you ride a lot seals and bushings usually need to be replaced every 2-4 years.

[corey]

pm sent regarding low mileage forks

[suzyj]

Perfect excuse for an upgrade.  The stock 695 Marzocchis are awful.  998 Showas are the duck's guts.

[uglyducky]

Had a little to much to drink, woke up dazed, with a hangover and a fishy taste in my mouth. 

damnit.  i was thinking just that when i read the title but you beat me to it. 

[He Man]

http://kuixihe.com/node/22

same concept. just without the adjustable bits.

This is done without any special tools.

[the_Journeyman]

I have the same forks on my M750.  The spring compressor is VERY handy, I did it without and with stiffer springs & taller shims it was a PITA to put back together.  Luckily, the internals of the non-adjustable Marzoochi forks are pretty simple.  I didn't do the seals, but just replaced the springs & oil.  I also used PVC & the old seal for a driver on my wife's Hawk.

JM

[Cloner]

Just to get into the, ahem, "spirit" of the post's title, was it this Seal?

[TAftonomos]

I have a nice set of 999 forks available as well, Ti-Ni lowers, mint condition