On a scale of 1-10 how hard is it to replace the front shock dust seals and oil seals? [re-jetting is a 5].....Any words of wisdom from those who have already done this mechanical feat? I do have access to an air impact 1/2" wrench...my question is that this gun is rated at 200 ft/lb...to much power?
thanks for any tips
I'd say its a 6 or 7.
The impact wrench is useful because it jerks the damping rod bolts loose, not that they are all that highly torqued.
You shouldn't need an impact wrench.
Just a nice leverage bar or a torque wrench and some arm strength.
The only bolt I could see taking an impact wrenc too would by the bolt on the underside of the forks. But with the nice "tool" that a few folks on here thought of (2 10" bolts connected by a couple nuts...) works great. I just changed mine and other than figuring out that I even needed this bolt-bolt tool, it was really simple. Oh yeah - measuring the oil that goes into the forks is also a little tricky...
I also noticed my fork oil was a THICK metalic and shiny fluid before I changed the oil and seals.
Rolly
To see what Rolly is talking about, go to the thread Bad Day Wrenching on the GS (http://www.gstwins.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7084).
Check out the pics about 1/3 of the way down the first page. They will give you a GREAT idea of what you're up against. Keep scrolling down to see the alternative tool design that I came up with, to do Richard's forks. Now that I have the tool, one of these weekends I'll tackle my OWN forks.
PS - Don't stop with my pictures; keep scrolling down. KevinC and others describe / endorse a no-special-tool method which may work for you.
I use one of these to measure out the 377ml (or cc's) of fork oil that I need:
http://www.escondidocyclecenter.com/Item/RatioRite-Cup.htm