Hello all,

Well, continuing from my other posts about my fall, today while I was going to assemble everything back together because I just got my plastics back, and I noticed that my left fork is leaking.

I found this thread here for how to, but I have some questions:

http://cbrforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=41756

Here is what I noticed about my forks leaking and need to know if this is just my seal or could it be something else. Fork oil was leaking all the way down to the end of my fork. Some oil was on the shinny silver part. I dried everything up and started to pump the front end to see if the oil would return on the shinny part and the bottom of the fork and the shinny part did get oil on it after I pumped it a few times, but none on the lower part of the fork (I am assuming it would leak more if I let it sit for a while again).

I don't know if this is the result of my fall or if the leak happened before I got the bike, or before I fell after I got the bike, but it needs to be fixed.

From the how to thread, it lists that I need fork oil, seals and bushings. Would that be all I need? Do I need to buy anything else? or do I need to just buy the seals and oil?

As you can see, I have never done this, but I do have all the tools needed and am somewhat mechanically inclined, just not too much. With the right directions, I can follow them and complete a lot of small jobs.

Is there anything else I need to know about replacing fork seals?

One thing I don't know is what do I have to disassemble to complete this task? (other than taking plastics off, front fender, front wheel, and upper plastic) Do I have to touch/remove the instrument cluster or the hardware the hold the cluster (part of the upper triple tree column)? Do I have to completely disassemble the fork assembly/remove the forks to do this task or can I do it while the forks are still on/connected the bike?

Here are some pics:

http://i330.photobucket.com/albums/l402/geek_geoff/Motorcyle/DSCF0808.jpg

http://i330.photobucket.com/albums/l402/geek_geoff/Motorcyle/DSCF0807.jpg

http://i330.photobucket.com/albums/l402/geek_geoff/Motorcyle/DSCF0806.jpg

http://i330.photobucket.com/albums/l402/geek_geoff/Motorcyle/DSCF0809-1.jpg

http://i330.photobucket.com/albums/l402/geek_geoff/Motorcyle/DSCF0810-1.jpg

http://i330.photobucket.com/albums/l402/geek_geoff/Motorcyle/DSCF0811-1.jpg

http://i330.photobucket.com/albums/l402/geek_geoff/Motorcyle/DSCF0813-1.jpg

http://i330.photobucket.com/albums/l402/geek_geoff/Motorcyle/DSCF0814-1.jpg

http://i330.photobucket.com/albums/l402/geek_geoff/Motorcyle/DSCF0815-1.jpg

http://i330.photobucket.com/albums/l402/geek_geoff/Motorcyle/DSCF0816-1.jpg

I do know that the left fork appears to be a little out of place, but from eying it and measuring it looks like it was adjusted to be a little higher before I purchased it to make it even. That is why the bolt/rust imprint is left on the fork cylinder.

Any thought?

Thanks for any and all help.

Hey Supersnake, it's good to see your bike is coming together. I'm going to be changing my fork oil here in a couple of weeks so I've done quite a bit of homework on it. The service manual explains it very clearly.
You don't need to remove anything further than what you have at this point. You'll need to suspend the front end (obviously), and remove the clip-ons and the brake calipers. After that, there's just the four foward facing bolts that hold them on (two on each side), and a snap-ring at the top. The two bolts (per side) include the one on the top bridge and the one above the rust mark. Before you remove the forks, you'll also want to loosen the fork cap.
I know this isn't much help, but it would be a lengthy process explaining everything. Again, here the service manual would be invaluable and unless you've done it before you'll definitely need it.
Youtube also has a few videos on disassembly. Although it doesn't explain everything, it does give you a general idea of it.

Leaking fork seal could be an indication you bent or damaged the tube in the crash. Definitely something you want to check. The maintenance manual gives a procedure for doing this,once the fork is disassembled.

Not hard to do. But important. You don't want to be riding on a damaged fork.
Could give you some handling funnies.

--Paul

Thanks for the responses.

For my fork tube being bent, is that something I can tell by eyeballing it or measuring the fork tubes with something straight like a leveler?

They didn't appear to be bent when I looked at them, so hopefully it isn't anything too expensive.

I think I will order the seals, o-rings, bushings, fork oil and dirt cover sometime this week. I will attempt the task myself following the manual and link above from the how-to section.

If there is anything else that could be helpful, please let me know.

Thanks.

you need 2 V blocks and a dial caliper to check to see if it's bent

there could also be scratches or rust on the inside of the tube

Thanks for the info.

What would scratches or rust inside the tube mean?

Does it mean that the forks need to be replaced or can it still be repaired?

I will probably see what a local shop would charge to just tell me what the problem is and I'll try to fix it (if I can!).

rust inside the tube means water/other materials got past your seals
scratches probably would have occurred during the crash

if that is the case then your fork tubes will probably end up having to be replaced
it's a case by case scenario about whether it's repairable or not

replacing the seals will be a must for you. the service manual combined with the site should be all you need.

you can check to see if your tubes are bent by rolling them on a glass table when you have the forks apart.

Thanks for the reply.

I just printed the 10 pages from the manual and will probably go to the local Honda dealership and order the parts there instead of bikebandit this time (I ordered some parts form bikebandit recently) to save time because I will probably try to do this Sunday, when I have all day to mess with this.

I think bikebandit and the local Honda shop are about the same in prices, but if the honda dealership is way more, than I will order the parts from bikebandit to save money.

Here's an update.

I took my left fork off of the bike and that was easy. (I also mangled my inspection sticker, so I hope that won't be a problem.) The oil wasn't dirty at all, but I just have to waste it anyway because of the bad seal.

I started to take the fork apart, but when I got to the step about the hex bolt at the bottom of the fork, my hex bit was too short, so I had to make a special trip to buy a set of longer hex bits.

So far, following the book is very easy while referencing the how to from this forum as a backup. I'll try to take pictures, but I have to leave everything until when I receive the seals. I only took the left fork apart to start to see if I may need more that just the seals, o-rings, the washer that the manual says to replace and the oil, but since I didn't have the long hex bit, I had to stop.

Thanks.

Further update,

From my post above about my oil not being dirty, well compared to the new oil, my old oil was really dirty. Anyhow, I changed both of my seals/dust cover sets and everything went fine. Sorry, I didn't have time to take pictures, but it was basically the same as the How to post above.

I do have one really important question, does it really matter which way the seal is seated when installing it. I mean, I looked at it a hundred times each way with the washer flush against the seal like it would be inside the fork tube (this was in my hands before I actually installed the washer, seals and dust cover) and I really wonder if it matters or not. The book lists to insert the seal with the marked side up, which was impossible for me to put back into the fork tube that way. They did come out that way, but I couldn't put them back in that way. I flipped them over and it was still hard to insert them using my homemade seal driver (same from the post above with the home depot part) and I tested my forks by pressing on them and no oil (at least not like it was before with a lot of oil getting onto the fork cylinder) got onto the fork cylinder. After pressing down on the forks a couple of times, it didn't stay 100% dry, but it wasn't really wet either. It was a little oily from them being a little oily from changing them.

Well, I hope that it is not a problem because it would be all of that work for nothing (although after doing the work, it does seem easy).

I'll take some pictures of what the seal looks like and how the slight variance from one side to the other.

Thanks.