Fork seal holders

[Worty]

Just a quick question.  Replacing oil seals in fork, any new ideas of how to press seals home without knackering them.  Also, any new tips in stopping the 'trousers' scraping up the holders.  RH fork has been perfect for years, LH is giving me headaches.

[Greybeard]

Is it possible that something is bent?

[Worty]

Not obviously GB, but I'll check.  What about getting the seals in.  I have sockets but not an exact size.  Is it a case of greasing everything up and careful persuasion?

[Greybeard]

Not obviously GB, but I'll check.  What about getting the seals in.  I have sockets but not an exact size.  Is it a case of greasing everything up and careful persuasion?

Sorry, I cannot remember much about fitting those seals, or rather, I don't remember having any difficulty getting them in.

Don't do anything yet; wait and see if one of the forum 'Trusties' comes forward.

[JulianS]

Gently press oil seal into holder with fingers and thumbs enough to expose a few threads then screw holder onto fork bottom (without shaft in place) and seal will be pushed into place.

[Worty]

Thanks JulianS, makes complete sense.  I didn't want to do this without checking whether it would work - didn't want to knacker the seal.  Forks should be back together tomorrow then back out on the road.

Cheers all!!

[JulianS]

Been using this method for many years it certainly beats using a drift hit with a big hammer.

[Worty]

Should have named this thread 'Forking Hell' 'cause mine are giving me hassle.  Just finished the fork rebuild today and gone out for a test run.  Forks are very stiff but do move slightly.  Stanchions moved easily in the legs with no play when inspected.  After rebuild, slackened everything off and bounced a few times to get everything to seat - seemed ok.  Tightened everything up and very stiff.  I did have this when I first rebuilt the bike and it came good in the end - should I do the same this time?

[chaterlea25]

Hi,
Loosen all the bolts again and see if the forks move freely
tighten the axle first and bounce again
if ok tighten the fork caps one at a time bounce after every tightening
If still ok do up the pinch bolts in the bottom yoke one a time
This should show up what is causing the problem
Did you check that the stanchions are straight?
It has happened to me that stanchions supplied were not concentric between the top and bottom yokes / sliders
Some times you can get away with  rotating one stanchion  to get both quasi parallel

John

[Peter in Aus]

Just a quick question.  Replacing oil seals in fork, any new ideas of how to press seals home without knackering them. 

Get a bit of steel strapping about 25 x 1.6 mm form it into a circle so as it fits down the inside of the seal between the seal lip and then get some thing to fit on top of it like a socket or some thing you then can press it in to place.
This is mine I made.
 

[Worty]

Thanks guys.

Used JulianS's suggestion of screwing the holder down on to the bottom leg.  Worked a treat especially as the seal had a metal outer so really easy to push in.  I'll try the slackening off thing.  I did do this originally but tightened from the top down.  By the way, do you need to loosen the mudguard bolts as well or just axle, pinch bolts and top bolts.

[Worty]

Update: John's fork resetting sequence came good - forks are pretty good now and holders don't appear to be getting scraped.  No leaks so far - didn't use anything on the threads as the oil was leaking out the top of the holders.

The holder tool was bought off Ebay for 29.40 GBP but needed a couple of ml ground off the end circumference so it'd go into the new holders.   Seals were pretty decent.  Holders were 45.50 GBP for a pair of chromed items although one had a couple of very minor imperfections on the chrome.

Looking forward to the next couple of weeks when the weather looks good - Yorks Dales again methinks.