Fireman_on_a_Busa
Registered
A while back I posted that I hit a dog at night while riding. I knew that some other things would probably happen down the line, and sure enought, I busted one of my front fork seals. Asking aroung to the local shops about the cost of getting the shocks rebuilt, well the prices ranged from $250 to $300. I had allways wanted to try it myself, so I did some reading online, bought the parts, and tried it myself. First off, I did not get any pictures to share with the group, because I thought that it would be very difficult. Boy was I wrong. I hope that the words that I do share will help those that are do-it-yourselfers, like myself.
Hoist the bike up off the front tire making sure no pressure is on the forks. Remove the front tire, in accordance with you owners manual. Remove the front fender bolts from the side that you are working on. Do only one side at a time, or so they say. Loosen the 2 12 mm bolts holding at the bottom of the triple tree. Loosen the to 8 mm allen at the top of the triple tree, and make sure that you have a friend standing by, cause that fork is coming out, fast. Turn the shock upside down, with the fender holding assemble pointing up. Using a 10mm allen socket, and an impact wrench, break the inside bolt free. An impact wrench is needed, because if you try to loosen this bolt by any other means you will not be able to break it free, it just spins. When the bolt is removed, keep it upright, and find something to dump the oil into. Holding both the top and the bottom part of the fork, filp it right side up, and the oil, if any is left will pour out the bottom. By this time the insert part of the fork will slide right out. Pull the old dust cover off, remove the retaining clip, pull out the old seal. Now the old seal is easily removed using a screwdrive and prying it out. It will pop out and fly across the room. There is a washer below it. One side is rounded one side is flat. The flat side goes down. Reverse this procedure, making sure to push the seal down squarely, using a big socket, or anything else that you might have availible. When everything is back together, remove the top part of the shock. This is the section where your dampening adjustments are. I wrapped a cloth around my shock and put it in a vise, and used a really big adjustable wrench to break it free. Once you have the shock cap off, pour in 16.2 ounces of fork oil, screw the cap back on, and put it back on the bike. I say the whole thing could be down in about 2 hours. I put my shocks thru a pretty good workout last night, bumpy roads, and few wheelies, hard breaking. Neither one is leaking. I will get pictures the next time. Hope this helps others.
Hoist the bike up off the front tire making sure no pressure is on the forks. Remove the front tire, in accordance with you owners manual. Remove the front fender bolts from the side that you are working on. Do only one side at a time, or so they say. Loosen the 2 12 mm bolts holding at the bottom of the triple tree. Loosen the to 8 mm allen at the top of the triple tree, and make sure that you have a friend standing by, cause that fork is coming out, fast. Turn the shock upside down, with the fender holding assemble pointing up. Using a 10mm allen socket, and an impact wrench, break the inside bolt free. An impact wrench is needed, because if you try to loosen this bolt by any other means you will not be able to break it free, it just spins. When the bolt is removed, keep it upright, and find something to dump the oil into. Holding both the top and the bottom part of the fork, filp it right side up, and the oil, if any is left will pour out the bottom. By this time the insert part of the fork will slide right out. Pull the old dust cover off, remove the retaining clip, pull out the old seal. Now the old seal is easily removed using a screwdrive and prying it out. It will pop out and fly across the room. There is a washer below it. One side is rounded one side is flat. The flat side goes down. Reverse this procedure, making sure to push the seal down squarely, using a big socket, or anything else that you might have availible. When everything is back together, remove the top part of the shock. This is the section where your dampening adjustments are. I wrapped a cloth around my shock and put it in a vise, and used a really big adjustable wrench to break it free. Once you have the shock cap off, pour in 16.2 ounces of fork oil, screw the cap back on, and put it back on the bike. I say the whole thing could be down in about 2 hours. I put my shocks thru a pretty good workout last night, bumpy roads, and few wheelies, hard breaking. Neither one is leaking. I will get pictures the next time. Hope this helps others.
