fork seal replacement

[PaulP]

Hi

I have my first fork off, everything ok so far apart from releasing that bolt from the bottom, it spins very freely but doesnt come out, i have had a look on youtube where several recomend shoving a sharpened stick from the top to hold it in place, does that really work ?, if not what are my alternatives, i assume that there myust be a special workshop tool?

Thanks

[PaulP]

Sorry,i should have said that this is for a GSX1100esd

[Dezza]

If you compress the fork fully and peer in you will see the damper rod has a 12 pointed recessed top to it, like an inverted socket. If you find the correct size hexagonal box spanner you can get one end in the damper rod then hold the other end of the box spanner with a normal socket attached to a couple of extensions and a t-bar. The allen screw can then be undone as is normal as the damper rod can be prevented from turning by holding the t-bar still. That's how I do it anyway and it always works Don't use a sharpened stick, broom handle etc. as it just gets little bits of wood inside the forks that are difficult to get out.

Edited July 28, 2020 by Dezza

[Swiss Toni]

Sound advice from Dezza! If you haven’t got the sockets & extensions, try it with the spring in, leg fully assembled, first. Usually gives you just enough friction to come undone, compressing the spring further gives you more! Don’t forget to renew the alloy washer under the bolt head. And use thread lock on assembly. 

[Wilko275]

Really great advice from Dezza and Toni. The only thing I can add is undo/loosen the bolt while in the triple clamp.

as Dezza said the damper rod normally have shaped recess.

I have been in the same situation on a set of GSX 750ET (1980) forks. But the damper rods were just round. 

I used a sharped broom handle and a big hammer. One hell of a bodge but it worked for me.

also I manual impact driver can help, may just shock it free.

[Dorkburger]

When i did my 1150 I used a bolt with a 19mm head welded to a piece of pipe.  

[PaulP]

Thanks guys, both loose now, unfortunately I have damaged the threads on the bolt and damper doing the first one, I reassembled everything to try without success so I turned it upside down and pushed down to increase tension while spinning the bolt with a power drill, but it looks like I was still pushing hard when the screw came out and have damaged the last 2 threads, on the second one I tried the box spanner option but it wouldn’t grip enough, so ended up with a 19mm bolt taped to a socket, that worked well. I have ordered a new bolt and a tap, I believe they are m10 x 1.0   
next job is to reassemble, what’s the best way to install the new seal, it looks like I need to slide it on the inner tube and the insert altogether?

 

[gorbys]

Condom or a plastic bag over the leg, get some fork oil on it and slide the seal over. 

As for the damper assembly, tough lesson that. Hope you get it fixed. But next time keep that drill as far away as you can from anything but wood screws and IKEA furniture. 

Get yourself an impact wrench and that bolt is out easily every time. I'm surprised no one has mentioned it in the earlier posts. 

[PaulP]

Hi, I don’t quite follow the plastic bag or condom bit, I need to insert the slider into the bottom leg and then slide the seal down over the tube, that bits easy but now I need to get it into the lower leg, I imagine it’s quite easy to damage while doing that ?
by power drill I should have  said power impact wrench, it spun too easily for the hammer action to work

 

[fab]

fitting the seal is quiet easy, just clean the lip where it will sit very well and slid the seal down the tube

there are special tools to fit them but i just use the old seal most of the time on top of the new one and just work it in with your fingers or you can use a piece of pvc pipe to slide over the leg and tap it in.

[Dezza]

13 hours ago, PaulP said:

Hi, I don’t quite follow the plastic bag or condom bit, I need to insert the slider into the bottom leg and then slide the seal down over the tube, that bits easy but now I need to get it into the lower leg, I imagine it’s quite easy to damage while doing that ?
by power drill I should have  said power impact wrench, it spun too easily for the hammer action to work

 

Maybe he has to find an excuse for the use of condoms ever since the missus found some hidden in the shed

Seriously though, if it's to prevent damage to the new seals when fitting them over the end of the fork stanction a bit of oil and care are all that is needed, or cling film. The OP suggested that the forks were already dismantled so the use of an impact driver would be of little use. Next time though, loosen the top nuts of the forks whilst still in the yokes and then remove. Position the forks so you can get the impact gun on the allen bolt whilst the fork spring is being compressed. This is the easiest way to remove the bottom bolts. Don't use an impact gun to tighten the bolt. Use the method I described above. An alternative to a box spanner is a wheel spindle tool, the ones that are basically a very large Allen key (19mm in this case, according to Dorkburger). You can then use a torque wrench on the allen bolt easily. A basic socket set has the required extensions to do this: I use an old Kamasa set 1/2" drive and join the long and the short extensions together and this is long enough to hold the damper rod in the same way as an expensive Suzuki service tool Oh, and as Fab says, use the old seals on top of the new seals and a bit of pipe to fit the new seals.