Fork seals

[Cykill]

OK i've seen both horror stories, and others that say it's easy. my question is:

A, How hard is it to do yourself

B is there anyone in tampa Bay that is willing to help me do this? i know some special tool is needed, and the local shops and people i've talked to want like $300-500 to do this for me. i don't mind paying people to do a service for me, but it seems high from the ease i've heard it could be.

 

[manatrader]

I'm going to do it myself, from what I can see it's not that hard, shops around here want $265 in labor plus parts.

 

[Rhythm]

Its not hard to do, just time consuming for your first time ! Me and my boy BBBusa (Brain) changed his seal and dust boot the other day and saving him some serious cheddar. I will call him up today and see if he can write up a DIY of how we did it. It was very similar to the way another board member (Cat3) did his, which is very similar to the manual instructions.

In the mean time try reviewing Cat3 fork service DIY


Here are some photos from yesterday .

 

[heavybusa]

It can be a DIY project.

 

[GoldenChild]

I paid $435 for the tools from suzuki and haven't used them yet

..customer decided it was easier to buy some from ebay after committing to have me do them..I'll use them one day...

 

[Rhythm]

(GoldenChild @ Feb. 04 2007,13:43) I paid $435 for the tools from suzuki and haven't used them yet  

..customer decided it was easier to buy some from ebay after committing to have me do them..I'll use them one day...

Next time I do it, I will be borrowing (deposit)a spring compressor tool from Autozone, making it a one man job.

 

[heavybusa]

(GoldenChild @ Feb. 04 2007,16:43) I paid $435 for the tools from suzuki and haven't used them yet

..customer decided it was easier to buy some from ebay after committing to have me do them..I'll use them one day...

whats your rate for rebuilding?

 

[cougar19]

I think the stealership charges so much because of all the fairing removal and install.
Traxxion dynamics sells fork service tools at a very reasonable price.

 

[Rhythm]

(cougar19 @ Feb. 04 2007,13:58) I think the stealership charges so much because of all the fairing removal and install.
Traxxion dynamics sells fork service tools at a very reasonable price.

Takes less than five minuted to remove and install all of the panels including the nose.

 

[thebbbusa]

Dealers around here charge $70 - $90 per fork for the job, + parts.  It's about an hour job per fork if you pay attention to detail.  That price is if you bring the forks in.

After doing the job yesterday, I'd do it again.  It took us quite a while to do the first one, but the second was done in about 30 minutes.

If you're competent enough to remove the forks from the bike, you can handle the job.

The big nut on top of the forks is a 30mm nut, so you'll need a socket for that.

Just be sure to loosen that nut before you pull the forks off of the bike.

Then follow the CAT3 thread, it's basically what we did.  We didn't have to pull the cartridge out.

You'll have to make a special tool using some 2" pipe and 3/8" threaded rods like we did.  CAT3 used 1/2 threaded rod, but if you use 3/8 you don't have to grind the ends down to fit.   To make the tool, drill a 5/16" dia hole all the way through the pipe, then use a 3/8-16 tap and tap the holes.  Then you can thread the rod into like in the picture above.  I used those threaded loop things i got at Home Depot.

If you refer to the CAT3 thread you will also see a special plate tool with a slot cut out.  We found it was much easier to tie a wire under the nut as shown.

Good luck.  It's a fun job to do with a buddy.

 

[johnnycrash]

My local guy charged me $160 to do mine (including the new seals) - but I already had most of the plastic off before I even took the bike to him.

 

[Rhythm]

(johnnycrash @ Feb. 22 2007,14:08) My local guy charged me $160 to do mine (including the new seals) - but I already had most of the plastic off before I even took the bike to him.

Thats an excellent price but us broke down Pimps have more time than money.

 

[CAT3]

(johnnycrash @ Feb. 22 2007,14:08) My local guy charged me $160 to do mine (including the new seals) - but I already had most of the plastic off before I even took the bike to him.

Did that include new springs and fluid? Mine was about the same $, new seals, dust wipers, springs and fluid. Another rider took his in for new seals, $200 later only got new seals, no new fluid and they were attempting to use the old wipers...wtf?