F3 fork seals

[jordon@fastblackcar.com]

Any special tools required? Thinking about tackling this myself- I am very mechanically inclined, just never done it before.. any tips/tricks etc? thanks

[audiophan]

please document w/pic what you do - in case i need to do it on mine.

[brentsR6]

i have a how to on replacing fork seals, lemme see if i can find it

[brentsR6]

here it is, taken from an R6 board but changing fork seals is generally universal:
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Now comes the fun/messy part. Those of you whose fork caps have threads, unscrew the cap with a socket. Be forewarned, when the threads disengage, the cap will pop out—possibly with a good deal of force. Even when you’re prepared for this, the cap can still get away from you (As one did when I was shooting pictures this project). So, keep your face out of the line of fire!

Remove the spring and any preload spacer and/or washers from the stanchion and set aside on some clean rags. Lying them in the proper order and orientation on the rags will ease reassembly. Using a small flat head screwdriver, pry the dust seal away from the top of the slider. Slip it off the top of the stanchion. Now remove the retaining ring from inside the slider just above the fork seal.

You now stand at a fork in the road. (Sorry about the pun.) To the left is the traditional means of replacing the fork seal: drain the fork, remove the damping rod bolt from the bottom of the slider, remove the damping rod, and, returning to your prehistoric roots, muscle the stanchion out of the slider. The advantage of this method is that you can actually inspect the fork bushing for signs of wear. The disadvantage is that lots of extra steps and sweat are involved. (And I’ve always felt that if I’m sweating while working on a bike, I’m doing something wrong.)

So, instead, we’ll take the road less travelled. All you’ll need is some extremely cheap fresh motor oil, a catch pan, a jack, a piece of wood, and a car or truck. Fully extend the stanchion out of the slider and completely fill the fork with oil. If possible, make sure there is no air in the system. Reinstall the fork cap. You now have a closed system with nowhere for the oil to go. Lay the fork on top of the catch pan with one end against your garage door frame. Now park your car with its front wheel parallel to the door frame. Place a board across the car wheel and wedge your car’s jack between the fork and the board. Slowly extend the jack. With nowhere to go, the fork seal will push out. As soon as the seal slides out far enough that you can pry it the rest of the way with a screwdriver, stop compressing the fork, or things could get messy. See, four-wheeled vehicles are good for something!

Remove the fork cap and drain the oil into a recycling container. Pump the fork several times and drain again. Repeat this until all of the oil has been removed. Before you slide the old seal off the stanchion, note its orientation. While most fork seals look similar, their orientation can vary from model to model of motorcycle. Closely inspect the stanchion for any dings from stones. Minor ones can be cleaned up with a gentle rub of fine grit wet/dry sandpaper. Use a little WD-40 as lubricant and wrap a rag around the top of the slider to keep any grit out of the fork. Wash the stanchion with contact cleaner and a rag. If you find a major ding, take the fork to your local bike shop to have a pro look at it.

Moisten the inner surface of the new seal with fresh fork oil. Carefully slip it over the top of the stanchion and slide it down to the slider. If you have a fancy seal driver set, simply drive the seal into the slider. If you’re cheap, like me, take the old seal, cut out the inner surface, and place it upside down over the new seal. If you’re lucky, you were able to find a piece of PVC pipe that matches the outer diameter of the fork seal perfectly. If not, take a hacksaw and cut out around six sections evenly spaced around the PVC. Clean up all the grit and place it over the stanchion. Wrap a beefy wire-tie around the pipe and tighten it until the PVC fingers fit the diameter of the fork seal. Now, tap the top of the PVC until the fork seal is completely seated. Remove the old seal and verify that the new seal is deep enough to allow the retaining ring to snap into place in its groove.

After installing the retaining ring, slip the dust seal back over the stanchion. Measure out the proper amount of fork oil. The V-Star 1100 requires 17.1 ounces of 10 weight fork oil. Pour the oil slowly into the fork. About halfway through, pump the stanchion a few times to transfer the oil to the slider internals. When you’ve poured all of the oil into the fork, pump it at least 10 times before measuring the oil height.

Before I acquired a Race Tech Fork Oil Level Tool, I used to dangle a piece of coat hanger with tape on the end to measure oil height. You can also use a tape measure. It’s cheap and it works. But the Race Tech tool makes checking the oil height so easy that I enjoy checking it. Simply slide the tube in or out of the pump body until it is the right length—95mm in the case of the V-Star. Next, place the bottom of the pump against the stanchion and draw out the excess oil. If the tool doesn’t get any oil, add oil until it is slightly above the end of the tube and suck out the excess. Fork oil height should be measured without the spring installed and with the stanchion fully compressed.

Clean the spring before reinstalling it, and make sure you position a progressively wound spring in the same way it came out. Screw on fork caps are much easier to install alone. You’ll need your assistant again for circlip fork caps. Slide the stanchion back into the triple clamp. Be sure to bring the stanchion to the same level on the top triple clamp as the other one. Tighten the pinch bolts to spec. Now, you’re ready for the second fork leg!
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[kman458]

Originally Posted by jordon@fastblackcar.com

Any special tools required? Thinking about tackling this myself- I am very mechanically inclined, just never done it before.. any tips/tricks etc? thanks

best thing to do is get the honda service manual as i think those are cartridge forks and are changed out different from non cartridge forks.

[Bob H.]

I've done it to mine (and my buddy's FZ1), and it isn't hard if you have some basic skills. Good post by brent; I used a similar contraption with PVC pipe to drive in the seals. In both instances I tore down the forks completely to inspect.

I would also recomend a manual of some kind. I used 7w oil (I believe factory is 5w).

oil levels:

4.61" '95-'96
4.72" after '96

Have fun!

[jordon@fastblackcar.com]

thanks, Ill get after it next week :-D