My seals are leaking so I’m going to remove my forks for my local garage to replace the oil and seals. I’ve never attempted removing forks before but am competent with spanners etc as I’m an electrical fitter. Any useful pointers appreciated so that the job goes smoothly.

 

It's been a few years since I removed mine to upgrade the springs but I recall it being a pretty straightforward job. Might want to take a measurement of how much is sticking up past the triple if you like how it's handling "as is". Or you can play around a bit by raising/lowering depending on your needs...

 

As Doc says, pretty straight forward once the bike is securely tied down with the front wheel in the air (you might want to loosen the bolts before raising the front end) and you have the brakes (tied back held out of the way), front mudguard which is a tight fit and the wheel all removed.
If you were doing the refurb yourself then before undoing the clamp bots it is a good idea to free of the fork top nuts whilst they are clamped in place.
Depending upon when the brake lines were last changed, this could be a good opportunity to fit replacement braided hoses and pads if required.

 

Thanks, good points there. The lines have been braided and brakes look/feel good order. No idea how old fluid is though is it a good idea to replace that and the coolant as I’ve no idea when it was last done? Gona do the oil and filter while she’s naked too…air filter looks new and the oil is clean but I’ll do that anyway. Bikes only done 9500 miles and has early history of dealer services but the last 20 years are a mystery😁

 

Wow, that is very low mileage, she's barely run in!!. What a great find.
A flush of the coolant and brake fluid is always a good idea if the opportunity presents itself, they are one of the most missed service items on a bike along with fork oil.

 

Thanks I wasn’t even looking for the bike it just caught my eye mainly because of the miles however I expected a minter which it wasn’t when it got delivered. I think it’s been rescued from someone’s shed and put back on the road. I did about 10 miles on it and it ran good but I wanted to strip it and check everything.It is very very tidy but underneath it had rust spots everywhere, the forks started to leak, the chain was almost seized, there were cobwebs and years of crud all over.
The tank was full of rust and the tyres were as I was told 19 years old! Wheels and forks are really good condition it’s got a new Petcock and battery and as I say runs sweet. I’ve now cleaned out the tank and fixed a fuel leak. Got tyres to go on after the forks are fixed. I had it running on the stand last night and it is a little bit clunky on the front sprocket? I’ve cleaned and lubed the chain and sprockets which are original but I’m wondering if there’s a tight link? Only did it when the clutch was fully out, half clutch and it was spinning freely? Question for another day maybe…bike has original dealer plate on it I’ve got all the early receipts for services mots etc it is a nice bit of nostalgia….

 

@Sparky46 I'm curious what you used or by what method you cleaned out the tank? Also, rebuilding the forks are not that difficult to do. If you're able to raise the bike up and take it apart enough to remove them from the triple trees, then you're more than qualified to take each fork tube apart and replace the bushings and seals.

For me, I figure I can pay someone else a premium to do some work and not know how well it was done, or I can invest that money in some tools and education/knowledge to do it myself and know exactly how it was done. There are a couple of tools that make this job relatively easy to do. They are both relatively inexpensive.

The Fork Seal Driver and The Fork Oil Level Gauge. I think if you watched a couple of YouTube videos on rebuilding them, you'll find it's not that tough of a job. Besides, you have a bunch of moral support right here cheering you on.



Anyway, just some food for thought.

 

Thanks for that I was contemplating doing it but a mate of mine said he’d do it very cheaply and he has 50 years in the business I thought it may be a safer option but I will watch some videos.
i cleaned the tank using some spirit vinegar. I filled the tank with vinegar and put some 10mm nuts in there, I rotated the tank every few hours for a couple of days. I drained the very brown dirty vinegar and then jet washed the tank out. Loads of flakes came out. I rinsed it then with bicarbonate of soda to neutralise things. I kept spraying carb cleaner in too to keep flash rust at bay between rinses. Finally I dried the tank by inserting rolled up towels and silica beads in socks again with some more carb cleaner. Finally I rinsed out with fuel and the tank and fuel are nice and clean again.