Curiosity Got To Me.

[Billinva]

Several weeks ago, I asked for comments on whether or not to rebuild the forks on my 1997 Tourer. Some background info: About a year ago, the left fork leaked for about a thousand miles on a trip out west. I was finally able to stop the leak with the 35 mm film trick. The bike had 21,000 miles on it when I bought it and has 54,000 miles now. The seals are not leaking now.

I received about 15 comments to my question to rebuild or not. About half said rebuild, the other half said not to rebuild and that the seals and oil was probably OK.

Curiosity got to me, and I did the complete disassembly by the manual and replaced the seals and bushings. I measured the oil that came out of each fork. The non leaking right fork still had 22 oz. of oil, which was about normal. The left fork that had leaked also had 22 oz. of oil which was about 3 1/2 oz. less that normal. The bushings looked pretty good.

So. I really probably didn't need to do the rebuild. But, peace of mind is a good thing. The bike rode good during my 20 mile test ride yesterday. The rebuild went good. I worked slow and the total job took about 8-10 hours over several days. I made the special tool from a 32 mm deep well socket from Harbor Freight. I cut the socket in half and welded a 6 inch piece of 1 1/4 pipe in between.  The four tips were shaped with my bench grinder and a cut off disk on my Dremel tool. The seal driver was made from a 1 1/2 inch PVC coupling and hose clamp.

It may not have been necessary, but I'm glad I did the forks, and I learned a lot.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

         Bill

[Grandpot]

Making your own special tools is half the fun.  Peace of mind for a job well done is the other half.  The final half is all work.  BTW, I went to the Yogi Berra school of mathematical sciences.

Nice job.

[Jess from VA]

Thanks for the report.   

[Hook#3287]

So now a bike that is 17 years old,  has 54K on her, and DID have a leak, has a rebuilt front end and you now know, you can do it.   

Piece of mind and you made a new tool.

Win-win.

[salty1]

Congrats!    Any pics of your tool creation?  ???

[KY,Dave (AKA Misunderstood)]

Good job 

[Led]

Usually.....when my "curiosity gets to me".........I soon regret everything that happens after that!!!  LOL!!!

Glad it all worked out for you!!!