Doing fork seals ...

[bigfatcat]

Looking at the bikebandit schematic - the seals are a bit pricey - could someone who has done this tell me if I could re-use my old dust seals and just replace the seal,oil and the ring oil seal s ?   And maybe that $1.95 washer (item #4 iirc) ?

Also, the pair of Progressive fork springs go for $ 74.65   ... good price or could i get them significantly cheaper elsewhere ?

[Kerry]

Get the Progressives from [MAW].  Here's the line you're looking for on that page:

     (02517)     $55.95 Progressive Fork Springs Pair 30/45 Mfg.#: 111128

As for the forks, I don't believe I have replaced anything but the actual fork seals (well, and the springs and spacers ) in 40,000 miles.

[dgyver]

I only replace the dust covers when they need it, which is typical for any of my Kat fork rebuilds. If they are cracked, deformed or water is getting to the oil seal, then yes replace them.

[scottpA_GS]

get ready for some fun when taking them appart... There is a good post on here of "how to buid a fork tool" You will need one 

Good luck 

[ben2go]

Here is the pic of my fork tool.

2-5/8 bolts    10 inches long

1-5/8 coupler

1 long 6 or 8mm allen head socket

Sorry the pics suck.



Here's the tool assembled.

[bigfatcat]

Thanks for all responses.

Wow, quite a $$$ difference in price for springs !

Yes, I'm looking forward to this little adventure - been doing a lot of research here at gstwins about how to do my forks.  They've been leaking for a while now.  Ordered the stuff today, plus seals for brakes,  and carb jets.

Definitely going to fab that custom fork tool for myself.

[ben2go]

Dgyver and myself rebuilt quite a number of katana forks and I've done 2 sets of GS forks.Do yourself a favor and make or buy a seal driver.All the sets that we've rebuilt,the seals have been driven in with a screw driver and a hammer.Most leaked some did not.I used a piece of PVC pipe that fit over the fork leg(chrome part) and a claw hammer turned on it's side.Some PVC is thick and will not fit down inside of the fork slider(part that holds the wheel).All I did was use a flat file and bevel the end of the PVC enough to fit inside.Worked good.Dgyver found a pretty good adjustable seal drive cheap.He may be able to give you his resource for that.Good luck.Remember to lay the parts out in the order they came apart.

[scottpA_GS]

No need for a seal driver... I think it was a 1-1/2" Schedule 40 PVC pipe that fits the GS tubes perfect 

(edit) Ben... read your post and you mentioned it but not the size 

[bergj1986]

Remeber that the OIL SEALS are the parts that keep the oil in the fork from coming out all over the shock shafts, not the dust seals.  It's a common misconception that when the forks start leaking, people replace the dust seals thinking they seal out the oil.  Just an FYI.  If there's oil on the shock shafts, I would replace the oil and dust seals.  No sense taking the shock completely apart again to replace the dust seals, it's much easier to replace them when you have the shocks apart anyway. 

If you want to make the oil and dust seals last longer, I recommend running Seal Savers (http://www.sealsavers.com/abi002/webpage.cfm?WebPage_ID=1&DID=19).  I run them on both of my dirt bikes and definitely cuts down on the amount of shock rebuilds. 

[ben2go]

No need for a seal driver... I think it was a 1-1/2" Schedule 40 PVC pipe that fits the GS tubes perfect 

(edit) Ben... read your post and you mentioned it but not the size 

I don't think I ever looked to see what size it was.I took my fork leg with me anbought whatever fit.

[Kerry]

It's 1.5" all right:

[average]

Here's my version:

[Kerry]

How long is your bolt, average?  I ask because of what joefromsf said when he "invented" this tool:

The bolt HAS to be at least 16" long
    [...]
The longest I could find at Lowes was 16"
    [...]
I originally thought I could use the cheaper 10" bolt and just use a 6" extension on my socket, but I found out the hard way that the 15/16" socket will only fit into the shock tube about 1-1/8".
    [...]

If you were able find an 18" bolt, that's perfect!  Otherwise, joining two 9" bolts with a coupler will let the "business end" protrude out of the fork.

[average]

Im not sure but there is enough room for the socket to fit down in the inner fork tube.

[The Buddha]

Wont have to put it inside the tube, the tube will compress, remember it has no cap and no spring. Just push it down.
Cool.
Srinath.