Fork seals are KINDA easy!

[PatsPOS]

I changed the fork seals on my CSR 650 today, and I gotta say that it wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be! I put the bike up on the center stand, picked the front wheel up as far as I could, and put a block under the oil pan. Took the front wheel off, and slid the tubes out. This turned out to be much easier than my original plan of setting the whole bike on a milk crate!

As far as actually getting the seal itself out, I took a Craftsman 3/16" common screwdriver and bent the tip about 30º or so (this particular screwdriver needs to be replaced, anyway), after trimming the rubber off the inside of the seal. I hooked it under the steel part of the seal and pried the seal out lickety-split.

I guess there are two things to watch: first, when installing the new seal, don't push it too far down in the bore in the outer tube. There's a spring steel clip that holds the seal in, so just push the seal far enough in so that the clip can seat in the groove in the tube. Secondly, getting the oil level correct is a complete PITA! I think I got the level in both tubes within a quarter-inch (6 mm or so) of each other, and I hope that's good enough.

Overall, I'm glad I didn't put the job off any longer...the bike seems to hold the road a lot better than it used to. I reckon that might be because now the tubes actually hold air....

Just thought I'd put this out there for anyone considering tackling this job. As I like to say...if I can do it, ANYONE can do it!

Pat

[clifftt]

Thanks for the encouraging words....always helps to hear someone else's perspective and ease the fears of the unknown!

[Mike22_16]

How do I know if my fork seal is good? Would I be leaking oil or just air? I have no visible leaks of any sort and the forks act as if they were shocks just fine. It is an old bike and I dont know if they have ever been changed.

[xcgates]

Heh, I just put in new fork seals last night, and we compressed the forks (while still on the bike) with an odd combination of a floor jack and a ratchet strap, to blow them out. You of course have to have them completely filled with oil to do it that way.

[elr658]

I'll bet I can do them faster using the book method AND doing the complete job. Without COMPLETELY disassembling the fork, you still have fork oil sediment at the bottom of the leg. UNLESS you do the fork oil swap Harley style (changed at 10K intervals) Disassembly also makes it MUCH easier to drop out the steering head and lube the undoubtedly dry bearings.

Mike22, your bike hasn't had fork oil in it since Ronald Reagan was President.

Here's what you do for front suspension. The fork legs are separated cleaned and reassembled with FACTORY seals. The thirty year old sacked out springs are replaced with progressives. The air is DISREGARDED, and not used. Steering head bearings are replaced with tapered rollers. The head bearings are adjusted Harley style. You perform the Dyna FALLAWAY adjustment.

Leak proof seals aren't. 15 wt fork oil.

[A2rider]

Originally Posted by elr658

The head bearings are adjusted Harley style. You perform the Dyna FALLAWAY adjustment.

Leak proof seals aren't. 15 wt fork oil.

They spend 2 weeks at MMI in the Harley class teaching fall away.

[elr658]

Al Moody taught me in fifteen minutes during my first 5K. I had been doing it the other way since 1968.