I just purchased a 97 GS 500 in May with 1300 miles. It's great and I love it!
But, I have some leaky fork seals and I am trying to decide if I should upgrade the springs or just replace the seals and such. Any opinions?
Also, I am a shadetree mechanic, I own an 80 jeep CJ-7 that I work on constantly and I am always up to the challenge of figuring out how to fix things on that beast but wanted to know if forks are something a ST mechanic can fix or should I leave it to the pros? I like working on my own stuff because I enjoy figuring it all out but I also don't want to mess the machine up, it seems to me a bit more delicate than my old beat up 4x4.
Do the work yourself. Been told its pretty easy to do as lon gas you have the Clymers manual. If you dont have one buy one through the link above to help support the site. <thanks>
There is one trick though so you should do a search here (use search link above). The trick involves an easy way to break loose the bolt at bottom of fork that if you dont do it just right it will just keep spinning and you'll never get it off.
Changing the fork seals requires disassembly of the forks so you might as well upgrade to progressive springs and 15W oil. Best thing you could do for that bike! Like night and day.
Oh, and welcome to the site!
not too tough, just requires patience and an impact wrench.
Quote from: pantablo
There is one trick though so you should do a search here (use search link above). The trick involves an easy way to break loose the bolt at bottom of fork that if you dont do it just right it will just keep spinning and you'll never get it off.
Put an allen on the bottom bolt before taking the top cap off and smack it with a hammer couterclockwise a couple times. Works like an impact.
there ya go! that was it.
Pleaee upgrade the springs to Progressives. You will thank yourself every single time you ride. The stock ones are like marshmallows.
Doing fork seals is a breaze, get the parts, and fresh fork oil, some like 15w, i like 20w. now quick and simple way to fork seals.
get the front wheel off the ground( i set mine up Highwith jackstands), pull wheel,pulle caliper and set to side, unbolt fender. while tubes are still in clamps, use air impact wrench (dialed down) if you got it with allen socket and blip it to break the bolt loose almost to the point of coming out, get a bucket or old butter bowl and place it under the fork your working on(keep it there). finnish pulling the bolt and let the oil drain. now you can either loosen the clamps and drop the tubes out and work at a vice (Use wood in the jaws so you dont scratch the tubes) or if you set the bike up HIGH do them on the bike. either way the top tubes must be secured in solid place. Gently pry up the dust cover that sits over the seals, there is a spring clip that holds the seal inplace under the dust cover. once clip is removed, take a 1/2" drive ratchet and pull the top caps, the idea is to NOW unload the springs, (remember that butter bowl? is it still in place? should be) once caps are removed more oil WILL come out. (remember any spacers/washers that come out they must go back) pull springs if you like. Now being as tube is still secured in Vice or fork clamps, compress the lower tube and give a quick yank to seperate the upper and lower, the seal will come out , you will see the Valve that the little allen bolt was holding, those spin when you try to break loose by hand, you get no where. clean everything up, if changing dust boot, do it now. slide new lubed seal over tube,makesure bushing(if came out) is back inplace as with washer that sits over that but under the seal, slide tubes back together making sure the seal is seated, reinstall that clip and dust boot. now, recompress the spring and thread topcap back on, only need few threds tight, put allen bolt back in the bottom and blip it tight (be gentle ok, your not gun man on a pit crew) pop top cap and dump in your messured amount of oil. replace top cap and tighten. this point you can reinstall fork on bike(unless you did it on the bike like me) do same for other fork. even if only one is leaking, Do both at same time, you already have the oil, seals come as a pair, it only makes sense.
If you dont like my method, thats cool, just fallow the book. I have had both forks DONE and reinsalled runing down the road inside 45 mins. either way if you think you can, do it yourself, shops want 60$ per forkleg to do it, not including parts seals run about 14$
feel free to PM me with any questions
Great instructions. I have found an impact screwdriver with an allen attachment very usefull for removing that bolt at the bottom. I got an impact screwdriver (not air powered) for about $7.00 at AutoZone or Checker, one of the two and some allen wrenches that fit on a 3/8ths ratchet for about $15.00 (higher than necessary, but I use mine ALOT).
I have a 75 CJ-5 and my wife owned a GS500 for awhile. If you can keep a CJ running, you should have zero difficulty with fork seals. :) :cheers:
the Hamered impact driver will work to knock it loose from being stuck, BUT the Valve portion inside that the bolt threds into will spin with the bolt if done by hand, sometimes the pressure from the springs is enough to hold it, but often not. the Air gun has speed too, so by blip blip blip on the trigger, it backs the bolt out before the valve can turn. You can tighten it back up by hand NP.
The most important part is checking the forks for damage. Look for pits and scoring of the metal, rust and other things that can tear a fork seal. If you don't pay attention to this there's a big chance the seals will leak again after a couple of weeks or even faster. If the damage isn't big, you can try to polish it out. If you can't repair the damage you have to buy a new inner fork. Pits are not a problem as long as they don't have any sharp edges. (you can polish the sharp edges away).
dissasembling and reassembling of the forks isn't hard to do and doesn't take much time. repairing the pits and polishing away rust costs a lot of time.
WOW! response has been great...!!! I just want to thank all who responded.. :) I have not had a chance to get back to the job yet, but with your expert advice I'm sure I will have no problems..Thanks again!!
Another option (my preferred) for taking care of the spinning bolt problem, particularly for those of us who don't have access to air tools, is to build a tool that sticks into the forks and holds the thing in place.
see the thread A Bad day wrenching on the GS (http://www.gstwins.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7084) for details. It's not hard!
Good luck! let us know if you have any problems... I've done it recently, it's not hard.