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How do I remove the leaking old seals on the front forks of my 1980 Honda 185 Xl motor bike ? Is there a manual that shows how the seals fit in the forks
Re: How do I remove the leaking old seals on the front...
Join the Honda Riders Club and get access to a generic manual. Get an upgraded membership (pay the fee) and get access to the manual for your Honda XL 125.
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what do you want to do, can you do it yourselves the changing process and do you have the required fork seals, oil and tools to remove fork seals? Do you know how to take and release the forks from your bike?
I would check for a scratch in the outer housing or on fork tube.Someone working on the bike before you may have scratched them removing the seal.Could have a bad new seal.
to remove seals you will need to remove each fork leg from the bike,i put the bike on the centre stand and jack under the motor to get the front wheel off the ground,after you remove the fork leg,remove the dust cover(if fitted),remove the circlip holding the old seal,you may have to stab through the old seal with a screwdriver to remove the seal from inside the leg(be carefull not to damage the chrome on the fork leg),clean around the surfaces and install the new seal making sure it goes back in dead square,refit the circlip,then refit the dust cover,replace fork tube back in bike and top up with new oil,most bikes take between 300 to 500cc of oil,but check with your local shop as all bikes are different,and you can adjust the amount of rebound damping by varying the amount of oil you put back in,..sounds complicated but quite an easy job..hope this helps
you will have to do some leg work to find compatable forks. here in toronto we have a few good places that stock tons of old bikes..im sure you can get a front end that fits, take off the trees with the forks and go shopping
No special tools other than maybe an air-impact whench to remove the Allen bolts in the bottom of the fork sliders. These hold the botom of the metering rods into the forks and will spin if you don't have Honda's special tool which fits down the inside of the fork tube. Air wrench spins them off no problem.
V65 Sabre has fule filter behind battery and fule shutoff valve under seat.
Loosen upper triple-clamp pinch bolt before trying to remove fork cap.
Drain oil out of fork, then remove axle and access the metering rod holder bolt at the bottom inside the area whre the axles goes. Use an air wrench and appropriate Allen bit.
Remove fork cap, being careful of the spring pressure.
Remove fork from bike and take out spring and metering rod. Pry dust seal out of fork slider and use snap-ring pliers to remove retainer from beneath dust seal. Use fork tube to hammer seal and slider bushing out of fork slider.
Replace seal and use old seal to cushion it. Make a fork seal driver from split PVC pipe and hammer seal and slider bushing back in. Remove old seal and replace retainer clip. Install dust seal.
Reinstall on bike and install spring. With bike properly supported, stand on pegs and use ratchet, extension and socket to apply pressure to spring and thread cap carefully onto top of fork tube. Reinstall metering rod holder bolt in bottom of fork using thread-locker and air-wrench. Don't over-tighten; just ue high speed to conteract tendency of metering rod to spin inside slider.
Remove fork cap again and fill to appropriate level with 5 weight fork oil (Pro Honda SS-7 or equivalent). Use turkey-baster to remove excess oil to proper level (5 1/2 to 7 inches fully compressed depending on damping quality desired).
Angela, do you have a Clymer, Hayne, or service manual for the bike? If not you should get one, there is a lot of valuable information in there even if you don't do all the work yourself.
Replacing the fork seal requires putting the front end in the air, disconnecting everything from the front wheel (brake lines, speedometer cable if there is one), and dropping the wheel and fork tubes CAREFULLY to separate the two pieces of the fork tubes. Then grab the old seal and replace it with the new seal.
This short description is a VERY abbreviated and simplified version. It's not hard once you have done it a couple times but be very careful not to bend anything in your forks. They have springs inside them too. Change the oil while you are in there. Usually 10 or 15 weight fork oil but look in your manual. If you can't find a manual post again with your bike's year and we will see what we can come up with.
You just needed to.... remove front wheel, support bike on something, undo retaining bolts on forks, tap out fork legs from the top, using a soft mallet. Take out fork seals with a seal pick, (halfords) Replace old seal with new seals, in reverse order) sliding over the fork leg, tapping into place. Then put replace forks etc in reverse order (from dissassembly). Hope this helps
That the main reason for this type of leak!
replace both seals at once because one new seal will put to much pressure on the other old seal and cause that one to leak soon after you fix the first leak!
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