[roughneckin]

Hi all,
This is my first post but have been looking around a lot and finding really good info. Have a problem though, need to change a bunch of things on my jsut purchased used 2000 929. Brakes, Tires, sprokets, and chain, which are all fairly straight forward, but I also need to do the fork seals.
I am wondering how hard are these to change on your own. I have never done it before and not sure if I should attemt it. I am mechanically inclined but when it comes to the safety of the ride, I worry abit. Any help, pics, anything would be great
Thanks

[Red Rider]

I always let suspension experts deal with my forks and shock. Are your seals leaking? If so, you're going to have to polish the slider to remove the nick that caused the seal to fail. Here's a pic of the internals of 954 forks and RC51 forks to give you an idea of what's inside.

[JeepinJeff]

If I had even considered rebuilding some forks, that picture just convinced me not to.

[Triax]

I agree, that is just to many damn parts to keep track of.

[sinfuldragon]

Originally Posted by JeepinJeff

If I had even considered rebuilding some forks, that picture just convinced me not to.

[nedro]

Leaking forks are not always caused by nicks in the fork tube.
It can be caused by dirty fluid or dirty sliders (fork tubes)
You can change the seals without taking the forks apart.
Don't worry about the picture of the completely disassembled forks. Most of those parts are simple shim stacks that pile together like washers. And you don't have to separate them.
You can replace the fluid and change the seals without ever separating the two halves. Although it's always better to replace the bushings at the same time since they usually wear out before the seals do.
again, even if you separate the halves, you don't have to disassemble the shim stacks. Front end guys do however because they are usually upgrading at the same time...and it looks very impressive to have all the little pieces layed out like in the pic. Sort of an ego boost.

[roughneckin]

Thanks for the replys guys!! Might stay away from them for now, but later when I have more time I am definitly going to be taking a pic like that myself

[ratchetman]

I'd do mine if I needed to. Never be afraid of a job with a lot of parts. If your approach is logical and methodical you will succeed. I rebuilt the transmission in my 4x4 Jimmy last December, a lot of mechanics won't touch trannys. I did my research took my time and learned a lot. I would do it again.

[Fastrr]

I haven't had the pleasure of rebuilding/replacing fork seals on inverted forks. It looks like the person who rebuilt RedRiders tore down everything including the rebound and compression pistons, which I'm guessing isn't necessary if you are just replacing the fork seals.

Working on forks and doing a professional job at it is like a black art. I'm still trying to figure these things out. Soooo many variables involved in fork building and tuning.

Whatever you do .... DON'T buy fork seals off of ebay. Stick with oem fork seals = best sealing and less stiction than the aftermarket seals as far as i have seen. Seal stiction on my forks absolutely sucks and that is with ebay fork seals.. so freakin' bad right now. I am going to replace them with oem seals and adjust the preload spacer length real soon.

Normal (non inverted) forks are easy to rebuild.

[Red Rider]

That pic is from Dan Kyle, who redid my forks and set up my Ohlins shock. I didn't mean to imply that extensive of a tear down was required to replace the seals, only to give an idea of all the internal components.

[Renegade929]

Originally Posted by revkev

that pic shows all the valve shims and evrything tore down.
that is very missleading because you wont have to go there when just cleaning,changing fluid and seals.
still i would recomend having a qualified tech replace your seals because
you will need
1 fork seal driver.(special tool)
2 seal grease.
3 fluid level gage
4 the right fluid
5 possibly new bushings
6 at least some prior exp in a fork tube, or a friend that has.
its realy not that hard but you have to learn what the heck your doing.
its kinda fun, unless you screw up and end up killing yourself

that last sentence is cold bro,i doubt he will attempt it now ---

[Ronjonjd]

Same deal on my 96 900RR
the right side (from the seated postion on bike) is leaking and there is oil seeping down (very slowly) onto my forklegs and leaving oil on my fork which is attracting dirt.
I went on a mountain ride the other day and going thru some switchbacks. I noticed something different.. maybe the fluid needs topping up. anyway
My local guy said $170 to change the seals.. and normally I would just go for it.. but I am also the type to tinker.. (have rebuilt Ford, and GM, and Porsche motors, while living in Canada) and have changed a few things on my bikes before..
I have seals that are supposed to be OEM rubber seals, which I did buy off Ebay (yeah I know, I read the warning.. here is the item number.. lets hope I didnt get jammed hard in the ass...280161733386)
I was thinkin do the job myself. save some cash. but then a headstem bike stand is gonna cost me $175 plus the oil, a spring compressor etc etc..
Any step by step threads? I did a search and found this one..
I have a service manual already for the bike.
Cheers
Ronno

[nedro]

You can avoid buying a Stem stand if you can thow a rope around a rafter or something similar and tie it to your bike to hold it up while you do the job.