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Changing fork seals
Written by goldwingman on 8/11/2001 at 04:55 pm

Bruce,
I just replaced mint before going to Deals Gap. You said you had the
retaining bolt out of the bottom of the fork body. You then just bring
the slider up against the seal and slide it up and down against the
seal until it pops the seal out. First you didn't say you took out
the seal retaining ring, a little round wire snap ring in a groove.
Use a smell screwdriver to remove this being careful not to over bend
this so it distorts. You swould have new dust seals because they come
in sets with the oil seal. I did not do anything special with the
anti dive because there was no signes of leakage. When I had mine
apart I drilled the lowers and installed 6mm drain screws so I dont
have to pull the front end in the future to change oil. You get the
short 6mm hex head screws and soft crush washer that is used on other
bikes from the Honda Dealer. There is a small round boss on the
outside of the lower fork leg. This is the spot to drill. Make surew
you have the proper size tap drill and proper pitch 6mm tap, I think
it is 1 mm,My stuff is up in my workshop. After you drill and tap
tap the hole you must spot face the tube slightly around the hole for
the washer to seal on,this takes a 7/16 or larger spot face or end
mill. If you dont have and you are good and careful you can use a
small file to make this flat. Then wash your fork tubes out first
with spray carb cleaner and then with brake cleaner to get all
thrbesidue out. Make sure there are no chips in the tube from
drilling and tapping. Check your upper tubes ,especially in the seal
area for ant nicks, scratches, and such,. If there are polich lightly
with 600 grit wet and dry paper just to remove any sharp raised edges.
To make a seal install tool get a piece of PVC pipe that just slides
over the upper tube and is a couple of inches longer than the amount
of tube sticking out of the lower when compressed. MAKE SURE that the
end of the PVC is square and flat with no burrs. This will install
the seal using a mallet. make sure not to drive too hard and that the
seal is seated all the way. You can ckeck this by the sound and
lifting the driver and looking at the snap ring groove. I put moly
grease between the two lips on the seal and on the dust seal lip
inside before installation. When I put the upper and lower section
together I install the retaining screw and just snug it and torque it
tight later. You should get new crush washers for the retaining
bolts. If you can't clean any burrs off the outside diameter and turn
them over so the raised face that extruded into the hole in the
bottom of the fork is now against the screw head. Be sure and clean
the bolts and put removeable thread lock on these bolts and the drain
screws if you installed them. Make sure you install the snap rings
above the seals before you put in the dust seals. Now torque the
retaining bolts in the bottom of the fork. Fill your forks with good
fork oil or suspension fluid, I use Bel-Ray, not cheap ATF like Honda
lists. ATF is usually 5 to 10 weight. I put in 15 wt. with
my Progressivs springs because I wanted more dampening here in the
mountains. I would not use less than 10 wt. anytime. Fill the fofks
6 inches from the top with the springs out and the forks collapsed.
Be sure and pump the forks up and down to get all the trapped air out
before you set the oil level. Now pull the forks out full length and
install the springs, Watch the direction of the close wound coils,
Honda said one way with stock springs and Progressive said the
opposite. Check the "O" rings on the caps for any damage. If OK you
can use them again. Ifyou want to get new onse but be careful not to
damage installing. Hold your fork tube extended clamped lightly with
wood blocks below the cap area or have someone hold them and install
the caps being very careful not to cross the fine threads. Tighten
the saps and reinstall the front end in the order of tightening as
shown in the manual.
Fred



--- In ipcrc@y..., "Pickett, Bruce D" <Bruce.Pickett@P...> wrote:
> I asked the list about changing fork seals a few weeks ago. I have
another question on this subject now: how do you remove the inner
piston and the fork tube once you have removed the fork cap, oil,
spring, dust seal and lower socket bolt? The service manual simply
says to remove them, but not how to do it. There seems to be
something else that prevents the tube from slipping out. Do you just
pull hard on the fork tube to dislodge it (something I'm reluctant to
do until I know more), or do you have to somehow remove the fork seal
first?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Bruce Pickett
> Federal Way, WA
> '89 PC800 "Blue Pacific"
> http://www.members.home.com/bluepc
>
>
> -----------Original Message------------
> From: "Pickett, Bruce D" <Bruce.Pickett@P...>
> Date: Sat Jun 23, 2001 7:54 pm
> Subject: Changing fork seals
>
> I believe that some members have changed their PC's front fork
seals on their
> own, but I don't remember who. Could someone please provide a write-
up on how
> to do this?
>
> In the Service Manual procedure for servicing the forks, with
regards to the
> oil seal, back-up ring, and slider bushing, the directions
say: "drive them
> into the slider with special tools used for fork seal
installation. - use fork
> seal driver (07947-KA50100) and attachment, 41 mm I.D. (07947-
KF00100) for fork
> seal installation." Can the fork oil seals be inserted without
the "special
> tools" or can such tools be easily fabricated?
>
> Of course, if the oil seal is leaking, you would replace that. And
the manual
> says to replace the fork cap o-ring. But are there any other parts
that should
> be replaced? What about the back-up ring or dust seal? Should
anything be done
> to service the anti-dive assembly while the forks are disassembled,
or should
> it just be left alone?
>
> Or is it a better idea to let the mechanics with the proper tools
do the job?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Bruce Pickett
> Federal Way, WA
> '89 PC800 "Blue Pacific"
> http://www.members.home.com/bluepc