fork seals

[eepmep]

Hopefully these will help, It's great when a farly simple jobs turns out to be not so easy

[eepmep]

I guess I dont need to take the end off if ther are other ways to refill them?

['OlGuiltyBoy]

I dunno ...maybe some FZ/FZR forks. Oh you think you're having fun now, lol, you're just getting started from what I can tell.

['OlGuiltyBoy]

I guess I dont need to take the end off if ther are other ways to refill them?

You actually gotta fill 'em from the top, you wanna get all that stuff out, spring and all so the oil will get down to the bottom. Don't just pour it through that little space up there.

[eepmep]

Well i guess If i can find another way of refilling them i'll leave them in taked i ordered new seals by dimensions and everything seemed ok before i started the project besides them leaking.

[eepmep]

I read on a post of a guy using a 2cc surynge and a small tube and slowly cilled threw the drain hole?

[cywelchjr]

If you take them out of the trees it's easy as pie. Get everything sealed back up on top, seals in and everything. Then with the forks back together, and the drain screw out, just just get one of those turkey injector syringes and if your lucky they are marked for amount. Then fill the syringe and put it in the drain hole with the forks upside down and put the fork oil in till the right amount has been squirted in, put the drain screw back in and turn the forks back right side up. Repeat for the other side and then reinstall the forks and get them setup and check them out. Everything should be good. This process goes easy and fast, and doesn't require opening the top. In fact, if the seals don't need changed, this is FAR faster for changing the oil than the normal method. You don't have do turn them upside down either, just on their side will usually work just fine and well, I did it upside down just to be sure nothing came back out the hole. The other person who did it, did it with the forks in the bike, and had to guess the amount that came back out the drain hole, I didn't want to try and guess that.

['OlGuiltyBoy]

If you take them out of the trees it's easy as pie. Get everything sealed back up on top, seals in and everything. Then with the forks back together, and the drain screw out, just just get one of those turkey injector syringes and if your lucky they are marked for amount. Then fill the syringe and put it in the drain hole with the forks upside down and put the fork oil in till the right amount has been squirted in, put the drain screw back in and turn the forks back right side up. Repeat for the other side and then reinstall the forks and get them setup and check them out. Everything should be good. This process goes easy and fast, and doesn't require opening the top. In fact, if the seals don't need changed, this is FAR faster for changing the oil than the normal method. You don't have do turn them upside down either, just on their side will usually work just fine and well, I did it upside down just to be sure nothing came back out the hole. The other person who did it, did it with the forks in the bike, and had to guess the amount that came back out the drain hole, I didn't want to try and guess that.

Ther you go ...from the man, the myth, the legend himself

['OlGuiltyBoy]

Hey Cy, you have any idea what type of forks those are though from the pics on the first page??? Those def aren't XS forks - special or standard

[bikerphil]

Those look like XS11 Standard forks with the exception of the caps. I've never seen that type of cap before.

['OlGuiltyBoy]

Yea. Cuz where the headlight mount, that "sleeve" is the same as an XS, and the bottom looks like it too ....

[cywelchjr]

I agree with phil. Except for the cap, they look like XS11 standard forks. But the cap area looks wrong, and that the fork seal is too tight says they are something really close but not quite the same. Now you can if you really want, put G forks on an E, but the G and H both have air forks and progressive front springs so the front handles a bit different than the non air and straight wound springs of the E and F. Crazy Steve also found that the air forks have an extra slider bushing that the non air forks don't have, so they are slightly better forks, but still not as good as the special forks (the special forks really are better made except for their weird brake caliper mounting system).

I know that many of the things I've heard owners of earlier standard model owners complain about handling wise, I've not experienced (at least not since I got rid of the stupid D404 that was on it when I bought the bike), and the things it did do stopped when I put the XJ shocks on the rear. It seems that mother Yamaha made little improvements to the suspension each model year, with the culmination for the XS standards being the XS1100H Venturer model in 81. Then they kind of took all of it and added air suspension to the back with the XJ in 82. But I digress. It might be that those are something else close that looks almost exactly the same, but is different at the top. It's hard to tell cause the photo looking down into the top of the fork isn't quite well enough lit and sharp enough to see, but there SHOULD be threads in there and I don't see any, it looks like it's held in by a clip of some sort.

That said, is you can find the right fork seals for them, they may still work fine if you can take them apart from the bottom. And as I mentioned, it's pretty easy to fill them from the drain hole, actually I think it's easier to fill them from there.

[crazy steve]

Sorry guys, but those aren't XS11 forks.... very similar, but the 11 forks don't have that 'flat' on the inside or those 'webs' at the fender mount bosses...

Maybe a pic of the wheel, fender and/or brake calipers could offer more clues; you'll need to figure out what they are, otherwise finding the right seals or even the right amount of oil to put in will be tough. If I had to guess, I'd say those are off something newer, as I've seen some newer Yammy forks that don't have conventional fork caps; I've got a set of '80 XJ 650 forks that appear to be sealed, with a pressed-in steel plug instead of a removable cap...

[barrelguy]

I read on a post of a guy using a 2cc surynge and a small tube and slowly cilled threw the drain hole?

I just drained and refilled my fork oil the other night (1100SG) I took out the air valve and used a syringe from my dentist that had a small, curved end that fit down into that tiny hole.

Now I just need to figure out whythey don't hold air pressure. I will change the o-rings to see it that helps but I couldn't see any bubbles at the valve with a soap test. Hints would help. No oil leaking anywhere.

[cywelchjr]

I just drained and refilled my fork oil the other night (1100SG) I took out the air valve and used a syringe from my dentist that had a small, curved end that fit down into that tiny hole.

Now I just need to figure out whythey don't hold air pressure. I will change the o-rings to see it that helps but I couldn't see any bubbles at the valve with a soap test. Hints would help. No oil leaking anywhere.

Did they hold air pressure before you changed the oil? The seals could be leaking, or the air valves could be leaking after being removed and replaced (and yes as you seem to be suspecting it could be the o-rings in there). Usually the seals will leak oil before they leak air, but that will usually take a little while before that shows, and the air leakage will show right away.