fork oil seal removal

[Richard]

How do you go about removing the seal from the chrome seal holder?
I have tried a socket the exact size of the hole within the lip that the seal sits against and that just goes through the seal without shifting it, I do not want to damage the holder or the thread by using a screwdriver and levering it out, there must be a safe way of doing this.
I have now stopped this job until I have the  answer
Thanks Richard

[Richard]

Right then as I am not the sort to give up I managed to prise the seal out with a good flat bladed screwdriver, unfortunatly in my efforts to not damage the seal holder in anyway the dam thing slipped as it was just coming out and I can verify that the chrome edge of the holder is very sharp as I now have a deep circular cut around the top of my thumb which is refusing to stop bleeding.
Now for the next question which way up do progressive springs go or does it not matter?
Richard

[chaterlea25]

Richard,
Use a piece of flat metal say 1/4 in. thick, wide enough to just fit inside the notches that the removing tool engages in, and long enough to stick out the top of the seal holder,
then tap out the seal from above
HTH
John O R

[Richard]

John
There are no notches in the chrome seal holder these just unscrew and there is a circlip holding the fork bush in the lower leg.Funnily enough I borrowed the mentioned tool in readiness to do the job also checked in a Haynes manual afterwards and it just says to unscrew the holder no metion of a tool.
The new springs I am fitting are progressive ones from P Goff (Goffy) and the coils are tighter at one end, I was after knowing which way up these should be but have decided that it should make no difference and have put the tighter coils to the bottom.
The cut has now decided to stop bleeding !!
Thanks anyway
Richard

[beezalex]

Richard,

The proper way is to put the tighter coils up so as to reduce unsprung weight, but that's really only academic.  I doubt anyone could notice.

Yes, the original seal holders have slots on the inside.  They allow you to unscrew them and get the seals out.  Here's the BSA tool for the job:


Cheerio

[Richard]

Alex
Thanks for the info, if that is the case I can drop the legs out and turn the springs over as I have only got as far as fitting them in and tightning the pinch bolt up, so no big deal to alter them.
Does that mean that I have pattern seal holders ? and if so why do they not put the notches in them for the tool? or were they changed after 1959 to the type I have?
Richard

[beezalex]

Richard, as far as I know, while many other things changed, the slots in the seal holders were like that until 1969, when BSA's were switched to triumph-type holders with peg holes on the outside.

[alanp]

Just a throw away comment - Pattern parts can be a right pain at times! However, I bought a pair of stainless fork seal holders from Barleycorn - expensive but beautiful - and bought a removal/insertion tool on ebay, that way I know I won't have to buy anymore. Peeing with rain here (SW Devon). Kids back to school, can't move for traffic jams as a result. Whatever happened to kids going to their local school and walking????

[Lannis]

Just a throw away comment - Pattern parts can be a right pain at times! However, I bought a pair of stainless fork seal holders from Barleycorn - expensive but beautiful - and bought a removal/insertion tool on ebay, that way I know I won't have to buy anymore. Peeing with rain here (SW Devon). Kids back to school, can't move for traffic jams as a result. Whatever happened to kids going to their local school and walking????

Got the same problem here.  Even though a school bus goes right past every house in the district, parents still put their kids in the car and take them to school.

I blame cheap gasoline.  Doesn't matter what the price is; if people still carry their kids to school instead of walking or using the bus, it's "cheap"!

Lannis