It's about FORKin' time

[buickyouth]

I finally got the right fork seals for my XS1100SF and am preparing myself for the replacement process. I have a moderate tool kit. However, aside from wrenches and the typical fare, are there any special items that I will need to use, or would make the job easier to do?

Also, I feel that my forks are a little off. How bad is bad in terms of the straightness of the tubes? Any way to quantitatively determine this?

Please let me know the stones you've seen or tripped on while navigating this particular fork in the road so I don't have to be bikeless for any longer than absolutely necessary.

I love you guys (and gals).

Wish me luck.

[buickyouth]

also...

these appear to be special forks. Looks like noone on ebay wanted em and I felt like they would be a good buy for 45 bucks. Auction ends in an hour or so. Maybe I'll be replacing more than the seals after all?

[gisleDK]

I just hope for your sake, it's just oil on one of the tubes and not rust....

[buickyouth]

The tubes in the bag are actually new old stock. The seller was saying with the forkses combined, you'd end up with a good pair.

I'm actually only interested in the NOS to replace mine, since they'll be apart anyhow.

[gisleDK]

That's a bargain I would say.
Costs way over a hundred US dollars in Denmark, but then again everything is very expensive over here.
Don't know about replacing the forks. I know it's chicken but I had a mechanic do it.

[rover]

In order to disassemble the forks, you need to remove the allen bolt from the bottom. These are locktited in at the factory. They are threaded into a piece inside the forks. Take a 1/2 inch bolt or threaded rod 14-16 inches long, and double nut right on the end, with threaded rod, double nut both ends and use this to hold the inside piece from turning. The 1/2 " bolt or nut will fit into the inside piece and keep it from turning. Other than that, it is quite easy. There is a thread in tech tips on doing this. Read it

[Jacobite]

I am mechanically challenged, and replaced my fork seals this spring with a minimum of difficulty. Follow the instructions under Tech tips and you should be fine.

Use a tire iron to remove the old seals - as described - it works great. Remember to use lock tite when putting the allen screw back in the bottom of the fork. Good luck.

[buickyouth]

If anyone knows the link to this procedure in the tech tips please post it here, I can't seem to find it.

[Jacobite]

Sorry about that! I thought it was in tech tips - must be somewhere else on the site. Anyway - turn the fork bottom upside down, put a tire iron under the edge of the seal, step on the iron, and pull the shock back - the seal should pop out - much simpler than some other suggestions I've seen.

I know its here somewhere!