Fork seal advice

[Guest machinman]

Can anyone confirm (or deny) that fork seals can be changed by removing the circlip and prising out from the top and then reinstalling with an appropriate driver. 

Or is it a complete strip down?

Thanks a million.

[embee 7,288]

It's usually not possible/feasible to prise the oil seal out like you describe, the usual method is to remove the bolt in the bottom of the leg which holds the slider onto the damper rod, then use the stanchion as a slide hammer to pull the top bush+oil seal out together. Plenty of youtube vids. The tried and tested method is usually the quickest too. It's worth changing the oil anyway, so going the extra step is not wasted effort. If you try to do it as you describe, let us know how you get on.

[djsb 493]

If your only changing the seals then you can leave the stanchions in the triple tree and remove the allen bolts in the fork legs. Then after the oil has drained give the legs a good pull (with the rest of the bike properly supported of course). Then remove the circlip and then you can prise the fork seal out with a small electrical screwdriver. You have to apply leverage to the bottom edge of the seal and work your way around it. Some plusgas may help to loosen things up a bit as well.When you put the new seals in you can buy a 41mm punch type tool (sealy if I recall) for inserting them. I left this bit to Maxton when I had my forks done (also got them rechromed at Philpots as well-didn't really need doing but they got checked for trueness at the same time).

Edited April 22, 2018 by djsb

[Guest machinman]

My dilemma is ive had the fork seals changed 4 weeks ago (thousand miles) with genuine seals and one has started leaking again worse than before.

Ive tried the cleaning trick with some 35mm camera film and the leaking stopped briefly and then returned.

The guy that did them for me is good as gold and will do them again.

Im a bit concerned as to why it is leaking so soon after a new seal, no rust or damage evident.

 

[Tex 36,817]

Genuine Honda seals, correctly fitted, should last many thousands of miles. It does seem, then, that an error was made?

 

Did the guy who fitted them tell you he had done it in the way you outlined in your original post? 

[embee 7,288]

You have to make sure the seals go in the right way up, they are designed to transport oil one way, if upside down they will move oil upwards.

4 hours ago, djsb said:

If your only changing the seals then you can leave the stanchions in the triple tree and remove the allen bolts in the fork legs. Then after the oil has drained give the legs a good pull (with the rest of the bike properly supported of course). Then remove the circlip and then you can prise the fork seal out with a small electrical screwdriver. ..............

Not sure about this. When you separate the slider from the stanchion it is necessary to remove the dust seal and then the circlip, and the lower bush on the stanchion then drives out the upper bush and oil seal together. You can't get the stanchion out with the upper bush and oil seal still in situ.

[Guest machinman]

2 hours ago, Tex said:

Genuine Honda seals, correctly fitted, should last many thousands of miles. It does seem, then, that an error was made?

 

Did the guy who fitted them tell you he had done it in the way you outlined in your original post? 

Tex, i hope they have been fitted correctly😤 . If i prise up the dust cover, i can see the spring that goes round the seal lip,  is that the correct way round??

[embee 7,288]

This is the best shot I can find in the workshop manual. It doesn't look like you can see the garter spring from the top, but I may be wrong on that. I can't remember what they look like in detail.

Edited April 22, 2018 by embee

[Tex 36,817]

15 minutes ago, machinman said:

Tex, i hope they have been fitted correctly😤 . If i prise up the dust cover, i can see the spring that goes round the seal lip,  is that the correct way round??

 

I can’t state with absolute certainty that the NC seals are fitted that way (never worked on one) but some are - I remember being surprised by it the first time I came across it. Looks like it’s upside down, it isn’t.

[djsb 493]

I think your seals have been fitted the wrong way around. You should not be able to see the spring when you remove the dust seal. In my previous post it's the dust seal that should be removed with a small elecrical screwdriver and NOT the actual seal. The seal comes out when you pull the fork leg vigorously downwards with the stanchion fixed in a vice or still fixed to the bike (as Embee said above).

Edited April 22, 2018 by djsb

[Tex 36,817]

If they’re double lip seals you can see the springs from both sides.. 

 

 

Edited April 22, 2018 by Tex

[Fatbob 453]

Are the stanchions ok, any pitting and they will leak even with new seals.