I'm trying to replace my fork seals. The Clymer book says the open end is up. I had them replaced by a shop here a while ago, and of course the one over the brake started leaking again. They apparently put in aftermarket seals, as I bought Suzuki and they have a different number and appearance. My old seal was mounted with the open part down.
     
I had searched this forum for the procedure, and thought I  had it all down, until I tried to figure out which way the seal is supposed to go. My new seal has about a 1/16" sticking out past the main body, with a spring around it. The other side is open, and you can see a spring in there. Which end is UP?

Also the book shows a bushing that goes on the very bottom of the damper rod. I didn't find that. Is it critical?

Harry

Hi there,
The open end is always down in the fork legs.
Good luck,
Todd

Yes!  That bushing is criticle!  hopefully it stuck to the bottom of the fork leg inside.

Fork seal - open side down.

1/16" of what sticking out, and past what main body (that's two questions)?

The fork seal is 5/16" thick at the main body that makes contact with the fork leg. Another 1/16" part sticks out one side, the closed side, which has a spring around it make it a wiper blade. I would assume that this would go down where the oil is at, but from what you both have said this is wrong thinking.
This picture is of the open side, which also has a spring, making another wiper blade, with the seal being basicly hollow in between these two wipers.

This is the non-open side that has the 1/16" extension for the other wper. I would also think that this should be down, so you couldn't bugger it up beating the seal into the fork leg.

As far as the bottom bushing, I just went and looked again. From the bottom the leg, where the allen bolt goes in, it looked like there may hav been an aluminum bushing there. But after beating on it, it didn't move and I think I am just looking at a machined surface. In any case, if it did come out with the effort I was using, it wasn't going back in again.

Harry

Just checked again, and it has to be the way you both said. If you put it with the open end up, the washer below the seal would bugger up the 1/16" extension part, and of course destroy the seal very quickly. The Clymer manual may be backwards, because they may be assuming that you have the fork tube upside down, but in any case its not very clear to the point of being misleading.

I don't have the bottom bushing, but what the heck, it hasn't been in there for the last 500 miles. What does that affect? I am putting in new 20 W oil, and for the 500 miles since the shop did this, both sides came out black.

Harry

The bottom bushing did not come out when I did the seals. So I'm inclined to think that yours is stuck as well. Since it's called the "oil lock piece" I assume it has a pretty important function in the damper part.

Your seals are untypical, in that they have an integrated dust seal. This side is normally flat. (On all seals I have seen, anyway.)

Well my seal is from Suzuki, and should be original. Maybe not. Anyone else know about this?

Harry