Changing fork seals without fork removal from bike??

[sparkfly88]

My god, what came out of one strut....the one with the oozing peanut butter...almost made me vomit.

Such a god awful smell......

But, on a good note, the tool worked wonders, they both came apart with ease.

[Rasputin]

You will never get the fork tubes really clean without a complete dis-assembly so you are on the right track.

You see what I meant about doing it all the way. Damn peanut butter.

[GLoweVA]

My god, what came out of one strut....the one with the oozing peanut butter...almost made me vomit.

Such a god awful smell......

But, on a good note, the tool worked wonders, they both came apart with ease.

That just LOOKS nasty! I can only imagine what it smelled like!
Makes me wonder what I'm gonna find when I take my G's forks apart.

[skids]

I told you it smelled bad! When I did the model H forks, I didn-t have them pressurized yet it still squirted me in the face when I unscrewed the drain screw.

[sparkfly88]

Following this to the letter:
Originally Posted by crazy steve
There really isn't any 'fork alignment' to lose; particularly if the tops are uneven. Unless you have some bent components and the PO has forced/misaligned bits to compensate for it....

To realign the forks is simple; if you're replacing fork seals, pull both forks off the bike and rebuild them. Reassemble in this order:

1. Loosen the stem bolt on the top tree so it can rotate, and all the pinch bolts.
2. Install the forks in the trees, adjusting 'height' in the trees so the forks are even at the top. How much they are out of the top tree is up to you; I'd make sure the cap clears the tree, you can make minor adjustments in bike height by changing this. Torque the lower tree pinch bolts now. This will 'pull' the forks into alignment in the forks.
3. Lightly snug the stem bolt, then torque the upper tree pinch bolts.
4. Torque the stem bolt.
5. Install the wheel/axle. Torque the axle nut (but not the axle pinch bolt).
6. Check rotor centering in the fork slots. It should be centered on the axle nut side; on the pinch bolt side, push/pull the fork until the rotor is centered, then torque the pinch bolt.
7. Reinstall the brakes, fender, and the fork brace if fitted. That's it!

Doing it like this will allow you to check both forks for matched components, as well as checking your tubes for straightness against each other. This is a good way to 're-set' the forks after a minor mishap too. If you have issues with alignment after doing this, then something is bent. This would also be a good time to look at the stem/neck bearings while you have it apart.

As to the banjo bolt, if it's long enough to safely retain both lines, just drill another hole (90 degrees to existing) where it needs to be.




Results
What am I doing wrong here....
The steering wasnt off before I took it apart ( I think )

[crazy steve]

If you have issues with alignment after doing this, then something is bent.

Something is bent..... likely the lower tree if the tubes were both straight (you did check them, right?). You have two choices here; get a good triple tree (a set of top/bottom would be best) or try loosening the pinch bolts and 'twisting' it straight by eye. This can be made to work with some experimenting with which pinch bolt to tighten in what order while keeping it 'straight', but isn't the best solution. Any bent components can lead to 'sticky' forks and sometimes weird handling.

[sparkfly88]

I watched a youtube video of aligning forks, and I didnt know the tree was two separate units..

I bet this missing has something to do with it...isnt this a pinch bolt for the top tree? If its gone, the top would be mis aligned causing everything to be wacked out....right?

[sparkfly88]

Muhahahahah I think this is the problem.

With just the top punch holding the forks, I can hold the tire in my legs and twist my whole front end around!

Now I know what a stem pinch bolt is.

[crazy steve]

The missing top tree stem pinch bolt shouldn't have any affect on aligning the forks/tree; some bikes don't even have this bolt, using the stem bolt to secure the top tree from twisting. It will help retain alignment once you get it right,

No, you have a bent component... Either a bent tube or a bent lower tree. Try this; remove the stem bolt and loosen the top tree pinch bolts, then pull the top tree off (leave the bottom tree as-is). If after you get it off (and it should pull off without too much effort), if the fork tubes need to be pushed or pulled more than slightly (anything in excess of 1/16") to get the tree to go on, one or both of the tubes are bent or the bottom tree is bent.

[crazy steve]

If you can twist the forks with just the stem bolt loose, the tube pinch bolts aren't tight enough....

Or the tube holes are misshaped and not clamping properly.... and we're back to a replacement tree.

[sparkfly88]

I only had the top pinch bolts tight.

Everything else was one turn from tightened.

I'm able to flex the whole front end, which I guess is normal. Lol.

Tomorrow when I'm not getting raped by mosquitos I'll use some patience and really fidget with it.

They were out in clouds tonight, it was awful.

[GLoweVA]

Don't forget that the front fender also helps line things up and stiffen the fork flex up too.

[sparkfly88]

Well I got it all straightened up.

And I forgot to mention, the previous owner did something nice for once, I have progressive springs up front.

[bikerphil]

Well I got it all straightened up.

And I forgot to mention, the previous owner did something nice for once, I have progressive springs up front.

That is what the 79F comes with stock, progressive wound (type of design) springs, or are you saying you have Progressive brand springs?

[sparkfly88]

Oh. I just see online that they are listed as progressive. So I thought it was an upgrade from the stock springs.

Ahhh marketing.

So, they are stock.

Oh well. So much for me feeling special