| Author | Message | ||
     Buellrobot |
Had to pause on the pulley removal project (DIY wood tool didn't work), but have been meaning to change fork fluids/seals for a looong time, so I got to it. I had ordered the seals, oil, and oil leveling tool from Al at American Sportbike, but figured I could get away without a seal driver or compression tool. I had seen a few good recipes for fork compression systems with ratchet straps and such, but figured I could go even more budget and get it to work – someone had the idea of using cable turnbuckles. I added in a hockey lace for maximum cheap and it worked great:  I used a piece of wood, some U bolts, and a couple of turnbuckles for the bottom part – could have done without the chain, I think.  I doubled the hockey lace through, once on either side of the fork cartridge stem.  I used a piece of PVC pipe sawed in half and sanded down as a first shot at driving the seals in, but didn't have much luck with those. I found some helpful advice about cutting an old seal in half with some heavy duty clippers. I sanded down the metal edge and ensured that it would NOT touch the slide tube. I then used a piece of thin cardboard between the old seal and the tube, and tapped the old seal with a hammer to drive the new seal in. Seemed to work quite well.  I got the forks refilled and put back on the bike. I'll return to my front pulley project when I'm back in town next month (I ordered a pulley locking tool). | ||
| Ltbuell |
..thanks for the DIY setup.My right side seal is leaking and i'm going to try and do it with the SealSaver first.If that doesn't "cure it"...i'll be doin' the seal replacement.Left side is fine.LT | ||
| Buellrobot |
Good luck with the sealsaver – if it doesn't work, the process of doing seals/oil isn't too bad, all things considered. You might consider doing both at the same time (at least the oil, if not seals), since half of the process is getting the tools and space set up for it. I used a hairdryer to get the old seals loosened up, then just *thunk* *thunk* *thunked* it apart by sliding the tubes apart. Everything else was relatively straightforward. |
