Motorcycle Repair: Replacing fork seals, bike torque, hammer puller

Question
Hi Wayne,

I've never changed out fork seals before, and need to do it on a 1979 Yamaha XS750F. Condidering the low mileage on the bike...I don't think they've ever been changed out. Can you give me a brief step-by-step?? Thanks for your help.

Tom Garrison

Answer
Tom,

remove the front wheel,
it is good to put a wedge
or something like that
between the brake pads so
no one comes along and
accidently pops your pads
out of the calipers. Big mess.

The speedo gear or cable will
need to be disconnected.

Remove the front fender.

Get a drain pan and
drain the forks or
loosen the allen bolt
that goes up from inside the bottom
of the forks.
These bolts have to be removed anyway
and is easier with the fork caps
on.
Loosen, don't remove the top fork caps.
Loosen the pinch bolts that hold
the fork tubes.
Remove the tubes by twisting them
back and forth.

Remove the fork caps watching
out for a bit of spring pressure.
Remove the spring.
Dump any oil out.
Remove the inner fork tube from the lower.
Clamp the lower tube in something
that won't scratch it.
Gently pry out the dust seals and any retaining clips
holding the fork seal in.

You can warm the seal with a hair dryer
or hot water or just pull it out.
You can use a hammer puller or
try prying the seal out carefully.
If you pry too hard it may damage the
top of the lower fork.
Ideally try not to scratch things up
as we want the new seals to seal well.

Use a pvc pipe or something the same
size as the outer edge of the seal
to drive the new seals in.

If you hammer on the seal it's edge will bend
and make it leak.

Reassemble and add about 170cc or
5.75 us/oz of fork oil or ATF to each fork
after you have the bottom bolts in
or after you have the forks back on the bike.
Torque the fork pinch bolts to
about 15 ft lbs.

So much for being brief ;)