I recently downed my bike, I fixed it up then noticed that oil was leaking from the forks. I went to the dealership and asked for a price check on a fix. They told me 260$. there is no way I am paying that. Any sugestions. Should i atempt to fix it myself, find a bike machianic, or ride with it leaking?

 

dude i'm in the same boat. hope someone posts some good stuff for us.

 

Replacing the fork seals is a sinch. I definately recomend doing it yourself unless you have no way of supporting the bike while you have the forks off. You really don't need any special tools but a fork seal driver makes life easier. What type of bike are you working on? I'm in the process of doing mine but I found the teflon bushing have gone bad and need to order them.

 

i just rebuilt mine for the the first ever. I used the HOW TO for it in that forum, took me 2 hours taking my time with simple normal tools. cost $60 for all the parts.

 

WHOA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !

HOLD THE PHONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I changed my forks out today by myself - in now less than 30 minutes!!! Much simpler than a seal job but still - I HAVE FOUND EVERYONES SOLUTION TO PROPPING THE FRONT END UP!!!

If you have a floor jack and a sidestand, you can do your forks by yourself.

Place the bike on it's sidestand and from the opposite side (exhaust side) place your floor jack under the bike, near the front of the exhaust where it's welded together. Slowly jack the bike up and it will look like it's falling over - GO SLOW! Once you've made contact with the exhaust you only need about two full jacks to get the front off the ground.

Now if you don't believe me rock your bike back and forth a bit - you'll see it's pretty damn stable.

I feel like a genius. Seriously.

One tip is to break loose any bolts you'll be removing so as not to have to torque on a bike that's resting in the air on it's sidestand.

 

Most jobs like this are EZ. I'd suggest downloading the factory service manual or buying the book. I believe the d-load version can be had for free, the books about $60. The money you save can be better spent on mods.

 

I paid $150 for my 1993 F2 to have both seals changed. I only did this because I don't have a way to support the bike and didn't really want to mess with it. If I could do it over again I would save the money and pursue other options with a bike stand.

I would never pay $260, however.

 

You don't even need a bike stand if your read what I wrote above...