...I don't have a garage. I only have a basement parking stall to work on the bike, so I don't have the option of finishing up the bike later in the week...
I rebuilt 3 sets of Valkyrie forks - including removal and replacement on the bike - in 7 hours during a Tech Session hosted by the Ohio VRCC several years back.
We used an improvised PVC pipe seal driver there, and I've since bought the Honda tool.
In two cases, failure (or delay) wasn't an option either. One of the members rode over 100mi to attend and I wasn't going to leave him stranded. That said...
Lube and cleanliness are your friends.In all the years I've been wrenching scooters (since the early 80s) both professionally and in a D-I-Y capability, I've never had a seal replacement problem if all the parts are carefully cleaned and properly lubricated prior to inserting the new seal...regardless of brand. This includes Harleys, Valkyries, many other street bikes, a gazillion dirt bikes of various manufacture...normal forks and inverted forks alike.
In the case of my Tourer's forks, the All Balls seals went in no differently than OEMs do - and on the occasion I've had to remove this brand from a fork tube they come out with equal ease. Next time I have a pair of new OEMs and a pair of new AB seals side by side I'll throw a caliper on them and post the differences. I'm speculating no more than .002" variance.
