Tuesday, May 04, 2004
Fork Seals
I'm still struggling with the clunking forks. It's been suggested to me that an element of the sudden movement might be due to excess stiction caused by old fork seals.
With the sliders off it is an easy matter to remove the dust covers. Then there is a spring steel clip which can be gently tweaked out with a screwdriver. Move round in a circle so it spirals out. The seals themselves are a different matter. Mine were stuck firm - even after heating the slider. I couldn't get my bearing puller to catch the rim of the seal so resorted to the Dremel to slice the body of the seal. This enabled me to fold the seal into itself and then it came out easily. After cleaning all parts were reassembled with a slight smear of coppaslip. The seals were seated with a hammer and a big socket worked around the seal. A proper seal driver would make it a doddle...
I'm still struggling with the clunking forks. It's been suggested to me that an element of the sudden movement might be due to excess stiction caused by old fork seals.
With the sliders off it is an easy matter to remove the dust covers. Then there is a spring steel clip which can be gently tweaked out with a screwdriver. Move round in a circle so it spirals out. The seals themselves are a different matter. Mine were stuck firm - even after heating the slider. I couldn't get my bearing puller to catch the rim of the seal so resorted to the Dremel to slice the body of the seal. This enabled me to fold the seal into itself and then it came out easily. After cleaning all parts were reassembled with a slight smear of coppaslip. The seals were seated with a hammer and a big socket worked around the seal. A proper seal driver would make it a doddle...
| Seals | 2 off 35 x 47 x 10/10.5 | (I'm told that fork seals are subtly different to ordinary oil seals as the latter are intended for rotary rather than reciprocal movement) |
