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Fork seal replacement

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Old Jun 20, 2017 | 10:20 PM
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Default Fork seal replacement

irritating to say the least....riding season and no rain or time, has anyone tried the 35mm ( or thin plastic)film trick where you push it down through the seal to clean, and if so did it work for you. I am not against replacing but would rather ride and if this trick works I'd be happy as hell.
 
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Old Jun 20, 2017 | 10:27 PM
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New one on me, but I just rebuilt my forks and am very pleased with how much better they are.
 
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Old Jun 20, 2017 | 10:35 PM
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Was thinking of rebuilding mine this winter...might be earlier now, or I might just put up with the mess for the summer. the heater in my garage finally started working after the AC quit a couple months ago! Go figure...
 
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Old Jun 20, 2017 | 11:25 PM
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Ride it like it is and carry you some rags. Then when you get a chance do it fork at a time if you need to.
 
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Old Jun 21, 2017 | 04:41 AM
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You can tear them down and and rebuild them in a couple of hours. Start at 5:00pm and be riding on the moonlight by 9-10:00pm.
 
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Old Jun 21, 2017 | 06:21 AM
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Not my favorite job but also not the end of the world. On my Wide Glide I could do it without removing the tubes from the trees, which makes it much faster. Remove wheel and fender, drain fluid, remove bottom screw and slap the lower leg down to remove seal. Slide on new seal and with seal installer of your choice (I use two PVC halves wrapped in duct tape and two hose clamps) hammer the leg up into the seal. Reinstall all as removed and be on your way. PITA for sure but probably three hours uninterrupted. Good luck.
 
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Old Jun 21, 2017 | 07:02 AM
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Originally Posted by apples402
irritating to say the least....riding season and no rain or time, has anyone tried the 35mm ( or thin plastic)film trick where you push it down through the seal to clean, and if so did it work for you. I am not against replacing but would rather ride and if this trick works I'd be happy as hell.
Watched a YouTube on this the other day, they sell a tool but it looks like you can make your own easily. I need to do it, but haven't tried it yet. For the 5 minutes it takes it's worth a try


Check out this video on YouTube:

http://youtu.be/8wlzfoVroSY
 

Last edited by br549A1; Jun 21, 2017 at 07:08 AM.
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Old Jun 21, 2017 | 10:18 AM
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Originally Posted by apples402
irritating to say the least....riding season and no rain or time, has anyone tried the 35mm ( or thin plastic)film trick where you push it down through the seal to clean, and if so did it work for you. I am not against replacing but would rather ride and if this trick works I'd be happy as hell.
Guess you could give it a try. Might get lucky and it works. Probably won't hurt anything.

But hell, man. On your bike, where you don't have to spend half a day taking stuff off just to get to the forks, you could have this done in a couple of hours. I splurged a while back and bought the fancy-pants fork seal driver tool. Come on down. We'll get you rolling in no time!
 
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Old Jun 21, 2017 | 07:29 PM
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Well, I tried it...slowed it down but not a complete success, going to try again and if I don't get it I'll tear into it. Yeah they are easy enough to get to and I'll be needing a tire soon so that may be the day to do this properly.
 
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Old Jun 21, 2017 | 07:45 PM
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Should clean it up too,inside,fluid change. When I just did mine,I compressed the tube after draining and it was like toothpaste squeezing out the hole,needed a complete douching.
 
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