Forked my seal

[Mr Hammers]

Dammit four times around the car park and back in for another dammit!

I thought it was going too well...

Took the forks off and apart and all was fine and dandy, until i tried to put the first fork seal in. Didn't have the correct tool to drive it in, so ended up bodging it completely. That'll be another set of fork seals then...

This is the mess i made of the seal;
https://www.planetash.net/nsr/forkedseal.jpg
(some of it was taking it out again)

Think i'll order some more and then take them down to the local bike shop and get them to install them.

So frustrating, i don't think i've been able to ride it to work on a Monday since i've had it
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A Guide To Powerbands

[ZRX61]

How the fuck did you do that????

[MaybeGuy]

i take it thats the bodged way of changing them where you just slip it down the stanctions?
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Blue_SV650S wrote: it was a sh1te wheelie, but it proves that he can get it up in 3rd and can do angles. In summery, mattsprattuk is a gobby little sh1tebag, dopehead tw4t, but sadly for all of us, he probably isn't THAT full of sh1te!!
Kickstart wrote: Hi I tend to agree with Matt. All the best Keith

[Hutchysrs50]

hahaha made me laugh that, btw just out of intrest, what is the correct way to fit them, just for future notice

tah.
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Gilera SC 125 - Current

[Mr Hammers]

[Hutchysrs50]

fair enough..

i used a "big fucking hammer" made of rubber and a screwdriver length ways against the forks..

havnt had any bother with mine anyway.

good look second time round tho
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Gilera SC 125 - Current

[Mr Hammers]

[D O G]

[SoND]

Take the old seal and set it on top of the new one before you go stabbing anything into it. This will work fine so long as there is space for you to hoke the old one back out when the new one seats.

[Mr Hammers]

Good thinking, SoND, should have thought about doing that at the time.

And good thinking too, Damofo, i think i'll try that. If it doesn't work i still have one spare seal so why not.
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A Guide To Powerbands

[Vincent]

Yup, plastic tube, I had to buy 12 foot of the bloody stuff, can post you a bit if you have the same problem Also, when you slide it over the fork, either use a bit of cling film or stick some fork oil on the seal. if not, there's a good chance you'll damage it just sliding it down the fork.

[Hutchysrs50]

[Mr Hammers]

Got the second set of seals yesterday, tried fitting them using both the old seal and a piece of tubing from B&Q*......and it didn't work.

I now have two more knackered seals. I'm starting to wonder if they're the wrong size, as they won't go in without a right good bashing.

Eventually I got the seals in, and they looked sort of ok, but when i went to put the stanchion in (it was impossible to get enough of a whack on them with the stanchion in place) it kept pulling the bit where the little metal band bit down with it and so the band wouldn't stay on.

It was only after i put one in that i realised that the bottom bush in one leg was still in there at the bottom too.....nightmare.

So, rather than wreck another set of seals i'm going to tactically retreat, and take it to the local bike shop and get them to retrieve the bottom bush out of one leg, and properly fit another set of seals. At least then if they cock it up i don't have to pay for yet another set of seals...

The only thing i can think is that these seals are too big, as i'm sure it shouldn't need quite so much violence to get them to go in.

Fork seals!! Grrrr!!!

*It was quite funny. Couldn't find what i was looking for, so i showed a B&Q guy the seal and explained what i was trying to do, and he was like 'nah, we haven't got anything like that..try Halfords'. I said surely you must have something that would do it, and again he said 'no, honestly we haven't got anything, try Halfords'.

Just then my 8 year old daughter came up with a piece of piping EXACTLY the right size, and just what i was looking for, and said 'will this do it, Dad?'.

The B&Q guys face was a picture

That's my girl......
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A Guide To Powerbands

[D O G]

That sounds very odd.

They should slip over the stanchion no problem, and whilst they do need a bit of a bash to get in there, it was more like al lot of smaller taps rather than huge whacks to get them in.

I would have thought that installing them in the fork bottom and then putting the stanchion in is just not right - and that maybe the seals are either the wrong size, or they were upside down when you were fitting them?

Mine had the smooth surface uppermost - with the groove and spring facing downward. That meant the pipe piece was 'striking' against a flat, hard surface. Was this the case in yours?

Why was it difficult to hit the pipe when the stanchion was in? The pipe needs to be longer than the stanchion so you can hit the top of it easily when it is slipped over the stanchion and resting against the fork seal.

[Mr Hammers]

[D O G]

Fingers crossed then!

It is a pain when these first time jobs don't go smoothly, I was shitting it when I did mine, but it will go fine in the end, which will be much more satisfying than chucking them at a garage when you have got this far.

[Mr Hammers]

Well, i'm hoping the extra i'm going to pay for the genuine seals means i'll be able to do it myself, as they should go in without problems, and therefore save the 30 odd quid garage costs.

Of course it could all go titsup, and i end up wrecking the expensive new ones, and then having to buy yet another set and then taking it to the garage anyway...

Like you say, i'm sure it'll all work out....eventually!
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A Guide To Powerbands

[Mr Hammers]

Okaaay. Got the seals this morning proper Honda Italian jobbies, at the extortionate price of £15....per leg

Tried to keep reassuring myself it's worth the expense, as i drove home with a big hole in my wallet.

Got home, and then measured the difference between one of the last unfvcked patterned seals and the new Honda ones. The patterned one was about 1.5mm wider. No wonder they wouldn't fit!

Put the stanchions in, slipped the seals over, dropped them into the seat and i could, quite literally, push them in with my fingers. No wooden mallet bashing this time. Needed a little tap, just to get them to sit at the bottom of the seat, but that was it. Thought this was just a little worrying, but no choice other than to carry on.

Put both legs back together, filled up with oil to the correct amount, and put them back on the bike.

Felt incredibly hard at first, almost too hard so i began to wonder if i'd put too much oil in. Then, after a few blips up and down the road it suddenly got slightly softer. Then i looked down....

Oil is p*ssing out of the forks, all over the brake, mudguard, bloody everywhere. Not just a little bit either, but quite a lot.



Cannot believe it. Either i've overfilled them somehow - despite being very careful*, or, trying to fit the larger patterned ones in have enlarged the seal seats so much that the genuine ones don't fit anymore.

Kept pumping the bike forward and back on the front brake to see if they would eventually stop leaking out, but i got tired out before they stopped.

So, now i'm wondering what to do.

One option, as they seem to be tighter at the bottom of the fork seal seat, is to put spacers under the circlip to hold them down. (I noticed that the seals had been pushed up to the circlips - i'm assuming that's normal..?)

Here's a drawing to explain better what i mean;

https://www.planetash.net/nsr/forkseals-2.jpg

1) Seal at bottom when first installed.

2) Seal has risen up, but stopped by circlip.

3) One option: Fit a spacer between circlip and seal to hold seal at bottom of seat where it's tightest.

The other option is to weld the fork stanchions to the legs so i never have to ever worry about fitting fork seals ever, ever again.


*I filled them with the stanchions fully extended and with springs in, up to exactly 130mm from the top of the stanchion.
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A Guide To Powerbands

[sickpup]

Out of interest what condition are the bushes in?

[Mr Hammers]

[SoND]

If oil has pissed out of them then they're fugged and you need another new set. I'd buy a new set of bushes while you're at it. For all they cost at least you'll know they're brand new, last thing you want is to bust even more because of them.

4th time lucky eh?

Clean your brakes really really well. Cover the pads in petrol and burn them for a good while.
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Go back to bed - You have no rights - "Streetfighters ~ Mainstream motorcycling's crackwhore sister."

[Mr Hammers]

Well, what's promising is that there's less leaking out now, which means one of two things; i did overfill them and the level is getting closer to the correct level all the time, or, you're right and i've ruined yet another set of seals and there's less and less oil to leak.

I'm going to whip them off again, reseat the existing seals and fill them properly, and see what happens. And then, if they are still completely u/s, then it's Open The Wallet Time again (it's currently hiding in the corner, quietly sobbing to itself..).

Explained that the patterned seals were too big and the nice lady at Pyramid Parts is happy to refund me, btw, which is nice.

Have to say, on the upside, that not only is ATF a lot nicer to have leaking everywhere than brake fluid, it also gives my boots and tyres a lovely dark black 'new' look
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A Guide To Powerbands

[Mr Hammers]

[Cigaro]

Well done

I ended up taking my forks to a mechanic, he did it for £18 (an hour's labour), saved a huge amount of hassle.

[Hutchysrs50]