Fork Service

[Tefer]

Hi,

One of the dust seals is away on my FZS1000, is this an MOT Fail\Advise?

There is no oil weep on the fork but the bike is due an MOT on 21st April, was thinking of gettinga wee fork service done, as no idea when it was last done. Is this a job for a novice? If not i could probably remove the forks and take them to a garage, that would be cheaper you'd think?

I know you replace dust\oil seal, anything else? Wanted to price the parts up to give me a rough idea of cost.

[markie_wales]

not sure what you mean by the dust seal being "away" but reasons for failure are below. Having said that if a component is missing that the MOT tester believes is needed for the safe running of the vehicle expect a fail under "1. Check the condition, alignment and security of the front suspension assembly." - a missing part could be considered "condition"

http://www.motuk.co.uk/mcmanual_230.htm

cheers

Markie

[Tefer]

it's started to perish and split, as its only a dust seal i did not think it would fail, possibly an advisory. Thanks for the link i cannot see any reason for it to fail due to that.

[Falco9]

I've just serviced my forks over the winter and provided you have a reasonable amount of mechanical knowledge and "know how" they are pretty easy to do.
Removing the stanchion is the trickiest thing to do as you need a tool to hold the stanchion ( I used an old long 3/8" extension bar ground down to a chisel shape and it worked perfectly) whilst undoing the retaining bolt at the base of the forks.
My Fazer has done 25,000 miles and I found both bushes were worn, so I replaced both sets along with the fork seals, circlips & dust covers, I also thoroughly cleaned the valves, oil ways and the inside of the legs. I used 5w oil as I have stronger K-Tech springs fitted and this combination works well for me as I'm a pie eater
Now thoroughly serviced they feel great and I genuinely can feel a big improvement so it was well worth doing IMHO
F9

NB I don't think an experienced MOT tester would fail the bike on a split dust cover  I know my tester wouldn't but you never know............

[PieEater]

Replacing the dust seal would be easy just take off the front wheel & mudguard, undo the clamps holding the appropriate leg, slide it out, replace the seal and refit. Probably take you about half an hour if you took your time. A full fork service is not beyond the capabilities of anyone whose halfway competent with a spanner but there are some aspects that can lead to frustration & swearing, I'd definitely recommend a Haynes manual and if you got stuck several of us on here would be able to offer assistance.