Cost of replacing fork oil seals + Oil

[mmalik]

Hi all,

I have just received a price of £156 to replace oil seals + oil in forks from a Suzuki GSXR 600 Srad 1998. Forks will be taken off the bike by myself and handed to Company.

Does this price seem reasonable?

It seems a bit extortionate to me.

[stirlinggaz]

hi,
definately sounds a bit steep.... is there anything special about the srads forks? (i havnt looked at a schematic yet)
if they are pretty standard usd forks, should take 1 or 2 hours max.

seals, about a tenner or so, so whats their hourly rate? £70? its not unheard of, but should be able to get it done for around £40 an hour.
save money by doing it yourself, even if you have never done forks before, its fairly straight forward & could be done by a newbie in an afternoon.
plenty on-line guides available.

or even just take the forks off the bike & take the loose forks to your mechanic, that way it would take half an hour so, meaning you save some on the labour,

cheers,
GAZ
EDIT : just had a quick look on CMSNL & they look like pretty standard usd's, cant see it being too difficult to diy.

[mmalik]

There is nothing special about the forks whatsoever, they are standard forks...and I would be supply them off the bike already..am a bit apprehensive about doing them myself as never done any work on a bike before.

Am in the process of taking wheels of the bike too to get tyres replaced.

Is there any special tools that are required to complete this job?

[Bofh5]

That sounds pricey.
I took mine in and it cost £50 for new seals and oil.
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Bikes: Honda 50 / CB125-TDC / 93 CBR600 F2 (Stolen & Trashed) / 2001 SP-1 (Sold) / 95 CBR600 F3

[mmalik]

[A100man]

can you tell us or hint who quoted that price in Beds (I have my suspicions..)

Cheers

[mmalik]

Not in bedford, this Company is in Northampton.

[fatpies]

Dont forget to factor in bushes for both sides as well.

If you do not replace them, chances are that they will leak pretty soon afterwards.
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"It's easy to attack and destroy an act of creation. It's a lot more difficult to perform one"

[Ste]

Is that just for the fork seals or for other parts as well like the bushes?

Is the company a local bike shop or some top notch suspension tuning company?

[Rogerborg]

Main dealer? A chumrade got absolutely mugged by a Suzuki dealer for a standard service.
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Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[ZRX61]

Friend of mine was quoted $500 by a Kaw dealer to do the seals on his ZRX.... Oil is about $20 & seals are $10, takes an hour.. so $470/hr labour? I don't fucking think so.

I usually charge $100.
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They're not one night stands, they're auditions.

[mmalik]

Bushes, are they the dust seal?

I don't actually know the Company as I found them by searching the net, so not sure if they are a big company or small. I know they were not a main dealer though.

Also not sure if I am allowed to put as a name as they have not really done anything wrong, just high price, that's all. If a MOD says I can put the name then I will happily do that.

Is there no one local that would do it for me if I supply the parts and give them some money for their time and trouble?

[janner_10]

Download the service manual and read through what is involved, only you will know if you can attempt it.

There is really nothing to them and its an easy job. I tackled it without ever doing it before on my Fazer, but I do know my way around a set of tools.

As you can see in the photo - they are not complicated.

If you dont feel like trying it yourself, then you will be at the mercy of some pretty high prices for what is about 2 hours of work.

https://i60.tinypic.com/so8qrm.jpg
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Yamaha FZS600 (Now gone to heaven) > CBR600F4i (SOLD) > '99 YZF-R1

[Vincent]

It can be an easy job to DIY....but it can be a bit of a bar-steward too. It depends on wether or not the bushes need doing. Worn bushes might be why the old seals are leaking.

If you can get the bike over to Cambridge, I can give you a hand. Or, there's a garage here I can take them to for you.....or you can go to yourself of course. They'd charge about £50 labour.

I suspect a few garages over quote as it's not a job they like to do too often.......not a way to run a business, but there you go.
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Space Is Deep

[The Shaggy D.A.]

[ebo]

I ordered a kit off ebay for £25 and done my usd forks myself i covered a couple hundred miles, pilions and a few wheelies seems all good so far.

Theyre simple as to diy

as a rough guide loosen the tube caps on the bike, remove the tubes, prise off the dust covers, take the torx out the bottom of the shock and drain into a bucket. Dont loose the copper washer off the torx.

Use a flat screw driver to pri the circlip out from above the fluid seal and then use a sliding motion to seperate tube and lower stantion. Pulls apart after a few knocks like a slideing hammer. Now theres two bushes on the lower stantion that look like rings one in a groove and one on the chrome section there is a cut in both use a flat screw driver to open them up gentle and remove them. Remove the two seals off the stantion and cut a groove into one.

Now dissasembled wrap the lower stantion with a bit of cling film and lubricate with the old oil then fit the new dust and fluid seals. Remove the cling film and fit the first bush behind the fluid seal then the bush into the groove. Lower stantion back into tube i used the fluid seal i cut a grove in earlier and tapped the new fluid seal down till you see the groove for the circlip fit circlip and dust seal. Refit torx into lower stantion. Fill with 450ml of fluid and then screw cap back onto the top.
Job done now do the same with the other fork.

Theres a couple videos on youtube that help but nothing specific
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Srad 600 - 750 fitted, big carb upgrade, swona exhaust, k1 wheels, k2 usd's & triangle swing arm, 45t rear sprocket, k1 tail end, K1 clocks, r1 throttle mod. Future plans include a turbo and k8 speedo, stubby levers and a radial mc.

[mmalik]

Thank you all for your very helpful replies. It is very much appreciated.

Did you all go for original parts of did you use aftermarket parts?

There are loads of aftermarket parts on Ebay and relatively good prices but dont want to go for them if they only start to leak again fairly soon.

Can you reccommend some manufacturers please?

[delsol]

[J4mes]

I paid around £100 to have mine done at my local bike shop/ race team, but the chap explained to me that the forks were quite pitted and required a couple of hours polishing to clean them up.

I was happy with that.

[mmalik]

Was that Company anywhere near me. Did that also include all the seals etc etc?

[mmalik]

Thank you so much for the offer, you never know, if I mess up on giving it a go myself, I may just take you up on your offer

[J4mes]

[ebo]

As for seals i asked a mate who was a bike mech for years he said a seals a seal and looked at me like i was a dick lmao safe to say mines arent genuine
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Srad 600 - 750 fitted, big carb upgrade, swona exhaust, k1 wheels, k2 usd's & triangle swing arm, 45t rear sprocket, k1 tail end, K1 clocks, r1 throttle mod. Future plans include a turbo and k8 speedo, stubby levers and a radial mc.

[drbaig]

I tell you what, it is not a difficult job if you can hoist the bike up with a jack or a yoke stand. I had the issue of not having either so I went with my standard front track stand and wood pieces under the exhaust. Then pulled the stand, wheel and calipers out. Undo the top yoke and the handlebars, the bottom yoke and viola.

Then dismantling the bugger can be a pain but is done in 15 minutes if you know what you are doing. Hammered the seals off by pulling the the stanchions is quite fun I must admit.

The thing I hated about the job is the oily mess everywhere. Plus the damper rod was so tight even with a holder I almost gave up. So that can be a pain in the arse. Other than that it is pretty straight forward job. I had the issue I had was my stanchions having pitting to have sheared the seal. So I bodged it with some araldite and sanded it for hours.

They started leaking again after a few rides, so i thought damn new stanchion is required the bodge didnt work. But ultimately it was the bolt at the bottom that needed tightening. They have been fine since i did that. happy days.
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yzf 600r

[mmalik]

well, from all the replies it seems to be a quite staight forward job if I dont run into any problem, so will give this a go myself. Have ordered original seals of Ebay, got a pair of brand new ones for £12.50. Just need to find dust selas now.