HELP!! fork seals!

[jusfuris]

i went to go get my bike inspected today and the guy said he wouldnt pass it cause the fork seals were craking and thats dangerous. well i knew they were cracking a little but didnt do anything for a bit. i guess thats why the forks have been bottoming out so often, and dipping in so much in corners ( i.e. dangerous )

anyway, my question, is this a hard job to replace them? they wanted $220 for parts and labor, but i am a poor college student and that is A LOT of money to me. me and my dad are fairly mechanically inclined. what do you think, should i pay or do it myself? i ordered the parts and they are only $47 and that includes some other front brake parts i needed! the labor part is way too much! IMO...

any hints, helpful suggestions would be nice? any how to's? i got a Clymers book on the bike...

[dsmirnov83]

I'm a colege student too, and I had to do it myself.
It's not so bad, just:
1) loosen the nut at the bottom of the fork,
2) remove the front fender,
3) remove the front wheel,
4) Hang the brake caliper by a rope and put a piece of garden hose between the pads (don't aplly the front brake ),
5) lossen the top and bottom fork clamps and slide the forks out (one at a time),
6) since you already lossened the bottom bolt, the rest should be easy...open the top of the fork CARFULY with a rench (the inside spring is loaded and will become a projectile) take out all the insiode parts
7) remove the bottom bolt compleatly and take out the rest of the inside stuff.
8 ) pull forks apart and remove the old fork seals and dust seals.
9) when putting on new ones be carefull not to damage them. Take a plastic bag and cut out a piece of it to use between the new fork seals and the fork tube as you are sliding them down the tubes. once you are near where you want them, remove the plastic bag inserts
10) reasemble in opposite order with a use of a PVC pipe as the fork seal setter.

Notes: Look up older posts (GSTwin gods helped me out with this one before) And drop in progresive springs alogn with 15wt fork oil instead of the 10wt. Put a little bit of oil between the dust seals and the fork seals to prevent future cracking.

check out
http://www.gstwins.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9559&highlight=fork+seals

[stephan]

I'm not a college student, but I refuse to pay crazy labor charges on stuff I can either do, or at least figure out!

Well dsmirnov83 is right on, not much more I can add.

If you have problems with the bottom nut you will need to make a tool to help you remove it.  You can find that information here:

http://www.gstwins.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7084

-  Pay attention to the brake pad suggestion!  You may need to use a C-clamp or channel locks to compress the caliper pistons so the caliper and new pads will fit back on the rotor.

-  If you have a Haynes of Clymer manual it will help out a lot.  If not, just search this site and you'll surely find enough info to do what you need to do.

-  A nice set of metric allen wrenches and metric socket set will make this project go much smoother!

-  The PVC pipe works great to seat the new seals.  You'll need a 16-20" piece of 1.5" schedule 40 PVC pipe.

-  You'll need a 1\2" square headed something to remove the top part of the fork.  A 1\2" breaker bar or ratchet works well.

-  I hope your fender bolts are more forgiving than mine!  I had to dremmel off a couple of bolts.

Besides a few small setbacks it was a pretty easy project.  Since you're mechanically inclined you should be fine.  

Good luck!!  

[tt_four]

ooh don't even worry about it, i just went through that this week, and it was a ton easier than i thought it would be, and in no way worth $60/hr worth of labor,

the tool to get the bottom bolt loose cost me $7.03, the pvc pipe cost me about $4, the worst part of that is they only sell it in 10 foot chunks, and i don't have a car, and then new fork oil was $9,

[tt_four]

oooh, and i forgot, it is dangerous to have your front end bottom out, but i think the reason bike shops won't pass it for that, is because the oil can run onto the brakes,

[jusfuris]

so with those new fork springs it wont bottom out anymore, as easily anyway? do i need to know anything other than prgressive springs? any sizes? and where do i get those, and usual price?

thanks all!  i will definatley do it myself after looking around on the net and in my manual it dont look too hard... not $180 labor fee hard anyway!!

[jusfuris]

oh also will those new springs help me in corners? i feel i little uncomfortable in sharper corners cause the forks dip down so much. should i just get use to this or will these springs help that?

[Kerry]

so with those new fork springs it wont bottom out anymore, as easily anyway?

You got it!  Great mod.

do i need to know anything other than prgressive springs? any sizes? and where do i get those, and usual price?

The following thread will give you the part number and price for the required springs from Chaparral Motorsports:
Uh...prog springs model #.

Do you need to know anything else?  Yeah, a few things for "install time".

1) The stock spacers will come out with the stock springs.  (This is what they look like.)

You will find that the Progressive springs are longer and much "beefier" than the stockers.  You will also find that there is NO WAY you can drop those honking-long stock spacers back in and use them with the Progressives.  You need to either create a couple of 3/4"-long spacers by cutting the stock units down, or "get creative" with a different material.

I chose some 1/2" (diameter) Schedule 80 PVC pipe - actually a coupler.

Schedule 80 is thicker and tougher than Schedule 40, and the 1 1/2"-long coupler turned into two 3/4" spacers.

Here is the PVC compared to the stock spacer and the fork cap ...


... and here is the "Before and After Shot" of the coupler / spacer.  (I had to round off the hex-shaped connection area, because it wouldn't fit inside the fork tube.)


I'm sure there's a simpler solution; I'm just a sucker for "over engineering" things....  

2) You will need to decide whether to replace the stock 10W fork oil with a thicker 15W oil.  If you're a heavy guy, go for the 15W.  If you're Pablo-sized you can stick with 10W (although I think he switched to 15W and swore by it...).

3) You will need to decide what fork oil level you want.  There was a discussion on this in one of threads referenced above.

thanks all!  i will definatley do it myself after looking around on the net and in my manual it dont look too hard... not $180 labor fee hard anyway!!

Bravo!  May this be the beginning of a beautiful relationship with your machine!  

EDIT: Changed links from sisna.com to bbburma.net

[Blueknyt]

did you see oil gatherd or leaking down the fork leg? then kindly tell the idiot the seal isnt cracked, he cant SEE the seal without removing the Dust cover. or just put some dirtbike dust covers over it and be done with it.

[tt_four]

ooooh, that coupler looks nice, i shoudl've tried to find one of those in the right size for setting my fork seals, isntead of buying a 10 foot chunk of pipe and hacksawing it in the parking lot,

anyway, jusfuris, if nothing else, work on putting the new fork seals on, and making sure there's the right amount of oil while you're wiating for the progressive springs, cause i'd like to get them somday, but once i check the fork oil and fixed the leak, it made a huge difference in how the felt, so that'd atleast help you for a little while

[dsmirnov83]

I cut the spacers from the original spacer, Just get a pipe cutter (even a hacksaw will work) Cut a little more then needed so you can widle it down to the correct size . Cornering will be 100% better, you wont believe it's the same bike.
BTW is it your right fork that is leaking?? (just for stats)
-Denis S.

[tt_four]

it was my right fork seal that broke, i think it was when i was teaching my girlfriend to ride it in her yard and she dropped it a few times, it's possible it was leaking when we bought it, but never know,

[jusfuris]

thanks kerry! i think i will just hack the stock one though, seems easier.

ya it was my right fork mostly, i think the left might have been a little.