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Questions about changing for seals and oil

  1. #1
    I hardly know ‘er Spooler's Avatar
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    Questions about changing for seals and oil

    I'm in the process of bringing my beloved old Sprint RS back to life as a street fighter after sitting dormant for almost two years. I just got it running and it is running surprisingly well, took it around the block and it did great considering how long it's been sitting. The rear caliper was seized and pretty corroded. I was going to try to rebuild it, but found a very reasonably priced complete rear brake system on ebay and bought that instead. Will probably put a new chain and sprockets on soon, change the oil and flush the coolant, as well as give it a thorough cleaning.

    My question: The bike's fork seals are weeping quite a bit and obviously need to be changed. I have effectively zero suspension knowledge and after doing a little research decided this wasn't something I wanted to try myself, especially since I don't have a garage or any of the specialized tools. So how much is this going to cost me and can anybody recommend a shop? They are right side up forks, if that makes a difference. I don't want to do any kind of upgrade to the forks as I plan to swap in some Busa forks eventually if I keep the bike, so only wondering how much it'll be to change the oil and seals. Thanks!

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    2019 Triumph Scrambler 1200 XE
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  2. #2
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    Re: Questions about changing for seals and oil

    If bring in just the forks, a shop might charge you $200, but I suggest you rethink and give it a shot to replace the seals and fork oil on your own. It's really not that tough.

    Slide the forks off and bring them indoors to disassemble.

    Specialized tools can be improvised, for example, for a seal driver, use a 2 ft piece of PVC you can get at Home Depot for a couple dollars. If your damper rod has a hex fitting on the inside upper end like mine, you can shape the end of a broom stick to seat into the female hex fitting snugly, drill a hole through the middle of the broomstick and put a philips head screwdriver through the hole as a handle to keep the broomstick and damper rod from spinning as you turn the bottom bolt. That will make removing the bottom bolt easy. You can get an electric impact wrench for $40 at Harbor Freight to do the same job.

    You can even remove the seal without disassembling the fork by using a seal puller driven into the meat of the seal and prying it out (do not slide the seal puller between the stanchion and seal, since that risks scratching the stanchion).

    Use a piece of wax paper as a liner to protect the fine sealing edge of the new seal when you slide on the new seal--wrap the top of the stanchion with the wax paper, slide on the new seal, and slide the wax paper with the new seal down till almost in place, and continue with just the seal for the final seating.

    Use a kitchen measuring cup to measure the fork oil. If you don't want to muck up your measuring cup, you can measure an amount of water equivalent to the volume of fork oil you need, and pour the water into a disposable, clear, easy pouring plastic container. Mark the water level on the plastic container, then dry the container and use that as your measuring and dispensing container.

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  3. #3
    Lifer
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    Re: Questions about changing for seals and oil

    Measuring fork oil: Most guides I've seen specify how much head-space you should have in the tube. The volume of oil added is not important, the level is.
    Buy a turkey baster. Put a band of masking tape or electrical tape on the baster at the level you should measure to. Slightly overfill the fork, then siphon off the excess until the baster does not draw oil when at the correct level.

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  4. #4
    Lifer DaveZX6r's Avatar
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    Re: Questions about changing for seals and oil

    Last time I checked years ago I got quoted around 200 any shop should be able to handle it. Conventional forks really aren't that difficult.

    Edit# should have updated the page before posting. What they /\ said. I did the forks on my 95 in a few hours its not complicated. Just download a service manual and you will ghave a complete walk thru.

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    BWAHAHAHAHAHA!! This time I was laughing at you. Sorry.

  5. #5
    I hardly know ‘er Spooler's Avatar
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    Re: Questions about changing for seals and oil

    Thanks for the input guys. I suppose there's not much downside to trying it myself, worst thing that happens I can't finish it and I bring the forks to a shop. Maybe I can commandeer my mother-in-law's garage to work in.

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    2019 Triumph Scrambler 1200 XE
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