Honda Pacific Coast ipcrc Archives

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Need Help re. Front Fork Seals
Written by goldwingman40 on 3/17/2002 at 11:30 pm

Doug,
You should be able to do the forks yourself if you are at all
mechanical. You will meed 2 seal sets (oil seal and dust seal come
together), fork oil (get a good one like Bel-Ray and make sure of
weight). If you want the forks stiffer use a heavier oil like 15
weight. As someone said it would be a good time to put in progressive
springs and if you do this you need heavier oil. Honda usually specs
ATF which is about 10 weight. I would not use ATF but use the special
high grade fork oil. You should not need fork bushings unless you
have a lot of miles or something unusall is wrong. You can check the
bushing fit after you have the forks apart and the seals removed.
I found a piece of PVC pipe that was just a snug slip fit over the
fork slider (inside diameter varies slightly by different
manufactures) to make a seal installation tool. Make sure that the end
of the pipe is cut square and is smooth so you don't damage the seal
when you tap it in. After you remove the front wheel and brakes loosen
thr fork clamps and slide the tubes down a few inches and retighten
the lower clamps. Take the allen wrench and loosen both fork tube caps
while the tube is held tight. They can be hard to get loose off the
bike where you can't hold them as well. Also you might need an impact
wrench with the proper allen wrench to get the retaining bolt loose
in the bottom of the fork, be sure and loosen them before you take
the fork caps off and remove the springs (the force helps to hold the
inner fork parts from turning while you remove the bottom bolts).
You may want to install drain screws in each fork while you have them
off so you can change fork oil in the future without pulling the
forks off the bike. If you do you will need 2 b0lts 6mm hex head as
used on several other Hondas for fork oil drains and 2 sealing crush
washers, a 6mm tap and the proper size tap drill. There is a small
raised boss (about 1/4 inch diameter) on the outside of the lower
fork slider just above the bottom which is the exact drill spot for
the drains. If you install drains take a small fine file flatten the
surface around the hole after you drill and tap to provide a smooth,
flat surface for the washer to seal on. I always put a little moly
grease between the seal lips before I reassemble the slider. To set
the oil level in the forks I use a cooking baster with several wraps
of electrical tape around it with the bottom edge 6" from the end.
That way I can slightly over fill the fork and then slide the baster
down until the ridge formed by the tape is against the top of the
tube and suck the excess oil out to the 6" level. To fill the forks
after you reassemble them but before you put in the springs hold them
vertical and push the slider down, fill with oil about 5" from the
top, cycle the upper fork section up and down slowly about 6 times to
work the air out of the lowers, check the oil height and set it 6"
from the top with the slider down. Now pull up the slider and install
the springs and fork caps. I would also get new crush washers for
the bolts in the bottom of the fork. if you can't get them in time
turn the old ones over so they reform to fit and seal better. If you
have any questions e-mail me off the list.
Fred
89 PC800
92 GL1500





--- In ipcrc@y..., "stylus1520" <stylus1520@y...> wrote:
> Hi All!
>
> Cumulus just blew a left fork seal. I looked in the entire
archives
> for anyone who replaced them before but did not come up with the
> required parts.
>
> Does anyone out there know, and could tell me, which parts to order
> so I can replace them?
>
> I checked the local Honda Dealer in Fredericksburg, VA and they
told
> me they wanted $350 in labor alone to replace the seals in both
> forks, IF I brought them in off the bike! They want over $500 if I
> just drop off the bike!
>
> I guess I had better do this myself if I do not need the special
tool
> the maintenance manual specifies for part of the fork tear-down.
>
> Take care all.
>
> Doug Preidis
> Stafford, VA
> 89 PC800 Cirrus
> 89 PC800 Cumulus
> 89 PC800 Stratus