Fork seal tool

[foxxx85]

I want to replace the front fork seals in my 81gs100gl. I need the special toold to do it though. The manual says weld a 19mmnut to the end of a +/- 2ft rod and make a T handle. I dont have acces to a welder.. nor anyone to do it for me. Does anyone know another way? Or would anyone be willing to make and ship me the tool. I hate to ask anyone to do anything "for" me but I'm in a bind.

-Thanks
FOX

[p_s]

I want to replace the front fork seals in my 81gs100gl. I need the special toold to do it though. The manual says weld a 19mmnut to the end of a +/- 2ft rod and make a T handle. I dont have acces to a welder.. nor anyone to do it for me. Does anyone know another way? Or would anyone be willing to make and ship me the tool. I hate to ask anyone to do anything "for" me but I'm in a bind.

An impact wrench if you have one or a spark plug socket will work. I don't remember which size (I think the one for 14 mm plugs) has 19 mm flats on the outside--get a long ratchet extension and put it in upside-down.

[chef1366]

Put an impact on the allen on the bottom of the fork before removing the fork cap.
Loosen the fork cap before taking it off the bike.

[twr1776]

Here is a couple of pictures of the tool BWringer made up. It is currently on loan to me. (thanks Brian). It is a 3' piece of threaded rod with 3/4" OD nuts. I was able to break the bottom allen screw loose with a breaker bar but an impact is easier. Don't forget to use the blue loctite on the allen screw when you re-assamble the fork.

[duaneage]

Using a allen wrench 3/8" socket and a air butterfly wrench I was able to remove the lower bolt, but this is difficult on G. Because you have to go through a hole to get to the bolt the allen wrench socket may not reach. I cut an 6 mm allen wrench off and made a longer reaching tool out of it. I'll try adn post pics of what I am talking about later.

[Redman]

Foxx,

In upper part of this picture of mine shows a made up tool similar to what you described, but different, and more like Tim TWR1776 shows of Brian bwringers. You can easily make one of these without having a welder.

This picture shows the tool just laying there, while the main focus of the picture is something else. The made up tool in my picture is nuts on a piece of threaded rod, although not metric. Bwringer's pictures shows the same sort of tool (nuts on threaded rod) inserted into the thingy-ma-bob. And I see that he added some rubber/plastic over the lengthof threaded rod, that would be a good idea so that this thing klunking around doesnt damage the treads of the fork. I just stuffed a rag in there to keep the threaded rod from the treads of the fork while wressling with it to break the allen bolt loose, bwrings's idea is better.

More specifically: Is a 2 foot (*) piece of 5/8 treaded rod, with two 15/16th (I think, not sure) nuts jammed together near one end, and two more nuts about 6 inches from the other end (place where ever convient when tool inplace in the fork so nuts are just outside the fork, easier to get a wrench on). I think it was like 5 bucks worth of parts from a hardware store (less than ship cost for someone to send you one).

(*) two foot was good for G forks, with about 5 - 6 inches to spare. I Dont specifically know, but maybe, might need to be longer for GL forks (having leading axle and more rake).

Just to confirm: This tool is for reaching inside the fork and hold that thingy-ma-bob so you can turn the allen bolt from the outside.

Some people say you can break that allen bolt loose without having to hold the thingy-ma-bob. I dont know, I didnt try that, I had made up this tool.

And to yammer on further, beyound what you are asking, but related: I have sucessfully used this tool on 2 ocassions (total of 4 forks) to break loose that allen bolt on bottom of the fork. And on those two occassions I did then also replace the fork seals. And on both occassions the seals again leaked in a matter of weeks..... but that then gets into a discusssion of an other tool needed to reinsert the seal, or maybe a discussion of the other tool and how to reinsert the seal, or maybe more of a discussion of how to reaseembe the fork tube back into the fork before or after installing the seal. Or maybe the discusion should be that I am a mechanical duffus.

Bhaaa. So on further occassion I took the forks to a independant shop. Been fine for the 2 years since.

Foxx, Where in general are you located?

.

[Sandy]

Here's what I made to do the job. Takes about 1 minute to make once you have the parts.

[Steve]

There seems to be a general theme of resourcefulness for those of us without welders.

Some have used 1/2" rod, others have used 5/8" rod, it depends on what size nut you need to hold your thingy-ma-bob in the forks.

I used two feet of 5/8" rod, here is mine:





For a seal insertion tool, I use a 16-inch length of 1 1/2" PVC pipe. It won't quite go over the tube on the 850 forks, so I cut a slit down the entire length to allow it to expand slightly when pushed onto the tube. By cutting one end with a table saw to keep a square edge, it pushes the seal in place very nicely with no damage at all.

.

[foxxx85]

Thanks

Thanks all for all the ideas i will do the threaded rod and nuts method. ...

I am in North Central IL.

[Redman]

Foxx,

I just checked mine. THe nuts are 15/16th (I check with a socket, definaily not 7/8th).

About the length: Tim TWR1776 can veryify the length required for GL forks as he has 2 GLs.

North Central Ill, you say. Maybe last fall you saw about the Galena ride. And maybe now you see about the Brown County (South Indiania) ride.

Hum, somone might think this is strange, us talking out our tools and the length and the size of nuts and showing each other pictures of them. But Tim TRW1776 is probably the worst of all, showing us Brians!
Brain, did you agree to that?

.

[twr1776]

Redman About the length: Tim TWR1776 can veryify the length required for GL forks as he has 2 GLs.

Actually Dave, I have 3 L's but who's counting? A 2' piece should be long enough for the L models, the actual length is 3' of the one in the picture.

Tim TRW1776 is probably the worst of all, showing us Brians!
Brain, did you agree to that?

Brian only charged me a slight copyright fee for the representation of his "patented tool"