leaking forks

[Scott Hardiman]

Hi Guys & Gals,
I've bin away from the site for a while due to work & home comitments. Have been out on my 78E a few time recently & have just noticed the left fork is leaking oil.

Any tips on the procedure for replacing the seals ? I've never tackled anything on the front end of the bike except an overhaul of the brakes.

I've noticed that under the rubber cover, half of the hex is missing from the nut at the top of the left hand tube. Will I need to repair this to get access to the rest ???

Any help much appreciated.

Scott
UK

[strom]

The hex shouldn't be a problem. I got a broken right one. It's a fine thread there, wasn't too hard to get undone. Get some pliers or something. Big ones. And don't brake off the rest, grab just under, on the round part.
I got a rust spot on my right fork just where the oil ring is. It destroyed a new ring in bout 500km. But then again, my forks were bent and straightened. Damn... just one rust spot... and in the wrong place.
Anyway, fix the damn thing and ride!

LP

[Scott Hardiman]

Thanks for the reply,

I'll have to get stuck into tearing the thing apart & learn as I go along.

Although there's lots of rust on everything else, the forks are pretty clean, hopefully the new seals will last. I don't get many chances to take the bike out, if new seals last me 500km then they'll be good for at least 2 years :-(

Ride safe

Scott
UK

[TopCatGr58]

Hey there Scott,

Here are a few links to other threads about replacing the fork seals!! Guess I/We need to make a tech tip about this!?!?

Fork Seals thread 1
fork seals thread 2
fork seals thread 3

[buickyouth]

I'm awaiting the arrival of the new seals. At which point I will be posting the most comprehensive break down of this procedure that anyone has ever seen. With said instructions, a toddler could do it. Pending s/he knew how to read.

[uk1.1s]

Forks

Scott,

Fork rebuilding is pretty straight forward. However one awkward part that needs a little ingenuity sometimes is unbolting the bottom of the internals from the lower part (sliders(?)). Sorry for the non-technical terms - but I guess you can work out what I mean.

You need to do this to separate the stancions for the sliders.

Many years ago (for another bike entirely) I made up a helpful tool for this - just a long peice of studding bar with two nuts locked against each other at the bottom and two at the top.

What you are trying to do is hold a large hex headed nut steady (like an allen bolt hex rather than standing proud) - whilst you undo the small allen bolt at the very bottom of the forks on the outside. The size of the outer nut on the bottom of the studding bar is important to fit in the hex inside the forks, but the others are not crucial - the top one just needs to match the size of a spanner you have handy.

Other guys here have managed to do the same by using a suitable peice of wood forced down onto the internal hex which can lock it up enough to turn the outer one.

Sorry - long post for simple concept......

You will probably curse the old seal itself as that takes some prising to get out. Just try not to scratch the fork internal surfaces.

Lastly in the UK I've found pattern part seals to be the wrong size for my bike, but with an xs1100E you are probably OK. Last seals I fitted about 2 years ago were Yamaha originals...which do seem to last longer.

I'm in Surrey - if you are not too far away and need a hand give me a shout