Upside down forks, getting nowhere replacing the seals

[robocog]

DR250S, its got upside down forks

Only wanted to have a quick peek as to oil levels as I was managing to bottom them out last time I went out offroad (and was the only time I have been offroad)

What a ballache
I've wasted a whole day gone 10 steps backwards and now have 1 fork completely in bits and run out of ideas as to what to do

Started off with me having a peek - noticing one leg was full to overflowing and the other was as good as bone dry, so managed to pull oil from one leg and put it in the other to see how bad the leak was (I assumed thats why it didn't have oil in it)
All went OK, bounced the wheel a bit and sure enough theres a hazy residue on the once dry leg

Thought getting both forks off would be a good start to get to the seals and quote some numbers to get replacements (Clymer manual doesn't even show an USD fork for my model, but my "all in Japanese" manual does...but doesn't have any part numbers or dimensions in English)

Used the leg as a slide hammer to try and get the forks out of the yokes, one leg completely comes apart spilling all the oil that I had put in the leg...b**tards hadn't put the c clip in to hold the seal in place...maybe they ran that side oil less so it wouldn't have blown the seal out first bump I went over

The good news is I was able to measure the seals and find replacements

Now I have found somewhere locally with the seals...hurrah
But as the forks are a "stupid design" USD - its not a case of just pushing them in with some suitably sized PVC pipe as a drift - as I have done in the past

I asked the local shop (who had the seals in stock) and they want £80 to put the seals in and service my forks...cannot afford that

Tried bashing the old seals back in in practice for putting new ones in , but because of the design I cannot get the seals fully home as they push into a collar that keeps moving down the leg (its loose and relies on the bushing being in and circlipped)

The Japanese manual shows a very vage looking "special tool" that possibly clamps against the leg to hold this collar in place so the seals can be slide hammered into place with yet another "special tool"
....why oh why did they make the collar the seal seats against a loose part and noit just the end of the fork tube. Looks like Saturday is going to be clearing out the shed so I can get to the lathe with the rest of the day spent making swarf for a set of "special tools" that may or may not actually help....assuming I have some delrin or nylon in the right quantity and dimensions

I've got oil all over the driveway, I've been eaten alive by mozzies, bike is sat pecariously without a front end on the crappy stand that just made the job a nightmare, I have a fork currently in a dozen pieces and dribbling rancid cats pee smelling oil into the kitchen sink, I have oil splash marks all over the kitchen and Mrs Cog is due home from shopping any moment now ...and will be a tad miffed the floorboards I was supposed to fit today are still piled up in the hall and kitchen....also managed to knock my Top Gear Stig mug onto the floor smashing it to a thousand pieces and cut myself trying to clear the remains

I've not had a very good day TBH

Regards
Rob
____________________
Needs a bigger garage...

[Suntan Sid]

I feel for you!

I've got the same job to do on my DRZ400E, in the near future, conventional forks though, so I'm hoping its not going to be too difficult.

I've been reading my Clymer for this job this week, still haven't got the procedure right in my head yet, and I'm not going to start the job until I do. I've got the seals to do it, they've been here for about a year and I've been putting it off ever since I got them.

Unfortunately, same symptoms as yours, last time out the forks didn't feel right at all, so it looks like I'm going to have to bite the bullet!

Sorry I can't offer any advice, but you have my sympathies, have some karma, , might make you feel a tiny bit better!

[robocog]

Should be fairly straight forward with right way up forks Sid

I used to use a piece of PVC water pipe to drive the new seals in on "normal forks" as long as you do one at a time and lay stuff out in the order they come off (and can get the leg off the stanchion by using it as a slide hammer) its a pretty straight forward job

...its just got me stumped for today when they are upside downies and no way of pushing the seals home because the bit they go into wants to slide off the leg, and you cannot just use a bit of tube to push the seals in cos the bit the wheel dangles off is in the way...LOL

Just cleared up the mess and loosely popped the forks together, had some food and am feeling a bit better about it

Bit of "digging" using Google has come up with the goods

Apparently the DR250's USD's are a similar design as the RGV USD's and found a good clear diagram of the said "special tools"...which don't seem so special now, and a bit bleeding obvious now I've seen them in action

I understand their purpose and how it could easily be done at home using a workmate and drilling a big hole and just simply clamping the collar bit that wants to move
Just need to make the 2 piece slide hammer seal installer as theres no way I'd spend the ammount they go for on eBay!
If only I'd done the research earlier in the day...doh!

Pic of the tools for upside downies

No replacement for the TG Stig mug though...the new ones have white handles...ridiculous situation

Regards
Rob
____________________
Needs a bigger garage...

[robocog]

The saga continues.....

Got a new set of seals and a litre of fork oil on my lunch break Friday
Took the old seals in and the collars so they could measure/determine what I needed

This morning I managed to get rigged up with a set of tools to do the job - bit of perfectly sized stainless exhaust pipe with faces turned on the lathe and sliced into 2 halves as "seal seaters" (similar to the PVC pipe in Silky666's Vid on YouTube, but shinier..LOL)
Also sliced some PVC pipe down the side to use as an anti scratch device for the stanchions ( - Silky666 used paper rolled round the leg to stop scratches in the vid)

BTW Cheers for uploading it Mr Silky sir

Also found in the shed an antenna mast 4 way guy support bracket that co incidentally is a good fit to hold the seal cup thingy still whilst the seals are pushed home

Thinking I was good to go...

Roped the Mrs into holding the fork leg off the seals whist I got busy with "the tools" to seat them....hmm both of them plop in without the need for any pressure at all, thinking perhaps its a minor point they are able to be lifted in and out with the stanchion and perhaps the circlip will hold everything snug enough that it doesn't leak? so carry on regardless, they did require a push to get the clips seated in the groove, but have to admit I was skeptical about its sealing abilities being so sloppy

Put the new oil in and the springs, get everything back together on both legs, bolt them up and got busy putting the new grips and handguards on

Uh OH....theres a pool of red oil forming under each leg

Rang the shop I got the seals from and basically got told I'd be needing to buy OEM seals if I wanted to ensure they were the right ones for the job
explained they had done the measurements, but got a feeling I wasn;t going to get anywhere on that tack
Bit peed off, but have basically got them to order a set of genuines in anyway (had to pre pay as well)

Will take the forks in when I pick up the genuine ones and show them how loose the seals they originally chose were - kind of hoping they will throw in a new bottle of fork oil as a goodwill gesture...or something at least...not holding my breath though

Another weekend I'll not be going greenlaning then

Its getting expensive this greenlaning lark
Hoping these are just minor teething issues due to its previous owners bodgery and will get them all ironed out and have a good reliable machine to play on....before it drains my bank balance to zero

Regards
Rob
____________________
Needs a bigger garage...