front fork seal replacement

[Max]

Back on the road !! after 3 weeks of reading every related post on this site and waiting for oem replacement parts.

As a first timer, I was going to take it to the stealer after reading about some of the replacement issues here,

but with a little luck and extensive directions it worked out in the end. It's been 3 days and 100 miles since.

Had a few issues along the way if it helps anyone.

 

Initially I used the Motion Pro 'Seal Mate' fork cleaner and leaking stopped for 8 days.

 

The oem replacement damper bolts don't have the permanent magnet imbedded in the end like the originals.

Not sure if this is an issue, but in hind sight, I could have drilled out the end of the new bolts and reused the original removable magnets.

 

Picked up a 41mm Motion Pro seal driver on Utube '1984 Venture Seal Replacement, Part 2'. (spec is 40mm).

As it turns out this driver wouldn't quite fit inside my 87' tubes. Had to grind off 1/2 mm circumferance on the driver where the seams meet.

Could be the difference between MK1 and MK2 tolerances.

 

The MP driver doesn't have a specific edge to seat the metal slide collar.

Fabricated a piece of black 2" pvc pipe which fits perfectly around inner tube and used MP driver inline with pvc to seat the metal collar.

 

Checked everything after reassembly and the front brake bottomed out !? Removing the handle bars and letting them dangle out of the way during assembly probably wasn't the best idea.

Must have introduced air into the master cylinder at some point. Brake pressure returned to normal by the next day. Clutch side was ok.

 

Once again, this site was an invaluable resource.

[dacheedah]

glad you got her done

[syscrusher]

When you push the brake pads back in the caliper so that they slip over the disc you will have to pump the brake a little again to get things back into position. It is unlikely that you got air into things unless you had the master cylinder laying on it's side or upside down and then pumped the brake handle.

 

You have me curious about seating the metal slider since I had just relied upon fitting the outer slide tube to the inner fork tube with the lower bushing at bottom and upper bushing resting above it and then allowing the upper bushing to find it's own level within the outer slide tube. Could you tell me where you read about seating it?

[Max]

Syscrusher, to clarify we're talking same 'upper bushing/slider' as oem 3JJ-23125 metal,slide 1. ?

 

first example I used on utube - scroll to 5 min 40 sec for metal slide seating, and 8 min 20 sec for oil seal installation.

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wzn81nXLOMw](part2) 1984 Yamaha Venture Fork Seals Removal - YouTube[/ame]

 

another procedure was KIC's post. The second set of instructions # 9 description for metal slider seating and # 11 for the oil seal installation.

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=67159&highlight=fork+seal+parts

 

that was my interpretation of slider & seal installation.

 

note.. I tried using different tools to set slider & seal before I ordered the Motion Pro driver.

Found the slider seated easily with a pvc punch, but I could tell half way into the oil seal installation the tools I used weren't doing a very good job.

My concern was inside tube damage, seating the seal level, and to proper depth. Using the MP driver turned the slide and oil seal installation into a 3 minute job.

[syscrusher]

I need to go through the procedure again pretty soon but I'm still a little confused. I watched the video and they used the seal driver to drive home the seal spacer P/N 26H-23149 not the upper slide bushing, although maybe the slide bushing also gets positioned when doing this. That could help explain why the one on my left lower tube seems to fit poorly. I will have to take a good look at things while taking all of this into account when I do mine again in a week or so.

[Eck]

Glad everything went well for you during your loss of virginity on fork seals. Don't feel all alone. Today I just finished installing my new fork seals, sliders, guides, fresh 15W oil and dust boots on my Goldwing 1800. I too lost my virginity on fork seals......

[Max]

Hope it works out for you sys. With my limited experience, any questions fire away.

 

Well, with about 1k miles under the new seals everything appears to be holding..... but,

not quite ready to move on just yet, the rest of the story..

 

I also had a leaky seal on the 87 'spare parts' bike and decided to repair it at the same time with the 1 good seal from the original.

Pleasant surprise, the 'spare parts' forks had progressives.. good deal eh.

Swapped them out with the OEM's. Over the past week, found the progressives a little tight with 2 up, no air pressure, 10wt synthetic and the 5.5 " oil level.

Yesterday morning replaced the 1-3/8" PVC spacer with 5/8" and siphoned off 1" of oil to 6.5" oil level. Had a chance to chase

a few rainclouds yesterday afternoon a few hours and found this made a substatial difference for the better. I think we're finally dialed in.