Fork Dust Seals

[elbrownos]

My fork seals are fine but the dust seals are cracking and rusting and falling apart.
I've had the new seals for a while but haven't gotten around to fitting them.
Any tips? Haynes doesn't really cover this.

[Dead Eye]

Plenty of YouTube videos showing the procedure

Had to this on mine recently, but that was a full strip down and rebuild. Are you just replacing the dust seals? Depends on what condition they are in - mine were old and quite solid so ended up using a screwdriver between the inner fork tube and the seal to try and get it to move. Be careful of the fork inner though - you don't want to scratch it - you can obliterate the old seal though, its not like you are going to reuse it

[nick crisp]

Some bikes have a spring clip retainer above the oil seal, does the 600? If so they'll likely be rusty and want replacing too.

[Dead Eye]

Yes, the 600 has a retaining clip

Depends on the mileage and condition of the seals as to how badly worn the clips are. The ones from my 87k 600 were in surprisingly condition especially considering the rest of the bike so I've re-used them

[BluprintZ]

One of my dust seals is lifting and starting to rust slightly, i've already bought them, so i'll be replacing them while i'm fitting the new tyres, might as well whilst the front wheel is out.
I replaced the seals and dust covers on my Thruxton a few years ago, if you are replacing the seals as well, it isn't a difficult job as long as long as you make sure each fork is dismantled and re-assembled separately, so as not to get the parts mixed up.
I find it easier if when disassembling, the parts are laid out in the order they were removed, i use an old clean towel or similar.

G ; )

[Dead Eye]

If its just the dust seals being replaced, you should only need to remove the caliper from the fork lower, remove the front mud guard then loosen both the top yoke and bottom yoke to remove the fork. From there you can just remove the seal without any dismantling of the actual fork.

If you are going to do oil seals as well, that's a whole other matter and a much larger kettle of fish...

[elbrownos]

Thanks Dead Eye that's the kind of advice I'm looking for.
So basically I need to take the wheel out, mudguard off, calipers off, loosen top & bottom yoke , then take each shock out?
How do people support the front end while the wheel's off?

[darrsi]

Thanks Dead Eye that's the kind of advice I'm looking for.
So basically I need to take the wheel out, mudguard off, calipers off, loosen top & bottom yoke , then take each shock out?
How do people support the front end while the wheel's off?

Use anything that comes to hand, i use a car axle stand propped against a crash bung personally, but you could even lump something heavy on the rear seat.

[Dead Eye]

Thanks Dead Eye that's the kind of advice I'm looking for.
So basically I need to take the wheel out, mudguard off, calipers off, loosen top & bottom yoke , then take each shock out?
How do people support the front end while the wheel's off?

You're welcome

As for supporting it, I usually use a hydraulic floor jack with a dirty towel / cloth folded over lots and placed on the jack so that it doesn't scratch or damage the downpipes on the bike then jack up the front of the back whilst it is on the centre stand. Need to be very careful though - the pipes will take the weight (trust me) but its not the most stable - neither is putting something heavy on the rear seat.

Ideally you need something like axle stands to support either side of the frame because the forks often need a bit of persuasion when removing from the yokes and you do NOT want the bike to fall over like mine did It slipped off the jack (but that's mostly because the jack failed) and I ended up having to lie the bike on its side and refit the forks and wheel so that I could lift it up and re-mount it.

If you have two jacks, you can use one either side on the frame ^^

[jason1]

I tend to jack up from the down pipes then use two axle on either side of the frame , stuff some rags between stands and frame tho . Then gently lower jack onto stands , adjusting position of stands as you go . Bike sits solid then , works for me 

[Ebme Geek]

When I did mine I put some pading over the back of the seat and sides then tied a large batery dangling on each side (110Ah). One was just enough to hold it down, two therefore plenty. A pile of wood blocks under the exhausts, but not taking any weight, just in case, whilst swinging spanners
In this way there was loads of weight on the center stand - nice and stable.