1981 Maxim fork seal big issues?

So I've been slowly restoring my bike with the help of many people on here i'm currently at a stand still. I was getting into changing out my fork seals before I start riding again as one was leaking bad by the end of last summer and I read up on here on how to do it as well as following my shop manual but I cant figure out if I just have the wrong seal or if something is weird in my forks. It looked like nothing had been off in 20 years the fork fluid is green and grimy and the dust seals look ok but the oil seals fell to pieces as I tried to remove them. Is there supposed to be a metal separator around the edges between the oil seal and the dust seal or is that a piece of the old oil seal? the oil seal I have fits perfectly where the dust seal would go but I cant get it past this little metal seeming ledge to put it where it goes. It seems to me there shouldn't be any difference in size in the oil and dust seals and there shouldn't be a ledge because there's the retainer clip anyway but I don't want to just start hammering away unless I know that is just old stuff stuck in there. Help would be greatly appreciated i'm completely confused I've never even taken forks apart before

 

The Rubber Seal is held in place by a thin, metal surround (collar).

If the Surround is still seated in the Tube, ... the New Seal won't fit.

You do not have to be kind extracting the Old Seal's Surround.

I have favorite Tools I use for the job.
A Medium Phillips Screwdriver that II took to the Grinder and put a Sharp Wedged Tip on its end.

I place the Tool Tip at the Seam of the Surround and Fork Tube.
I apply "Light Impact" to the Tool's Handle and pry the Surround away from the Fork Tube.

Once there is enough of the Surround pried-away from the Tube, ... I grab on-to the Surround with a pair of Needle Nosed Vice Grips.

Once I have a good grip on the edge of the Surround, ... I peel it out by rotating the Needle Nosed lock-on's and twist it like opening an old-fashioned can of coffee.

 

This is a pic of one of my forks you can see the ledge i'm talking about is that even supposed to be there?

 

ok sweet i'll try ripping it out then I just don't wanna ruin something i'm completely new to this

 

so I got them out i'm going to be reassembling tomorrow morning hopefully.. is there any good stuff I should know before I start reassembly? and does anyone know where I can by some internal little clips to replace the oil seal retainers?

 

Clean everything!!! then oil ALL your parts in fork oil a bit first before puttin them back in. as for the clips try your local motorcycle shop, might have to go to a couple depending if they have them on hand or not.

 

whats the best way to clean everything out?? I've got so much gunk built up all over the outside and the inside had all that nasty oil... would it be bad to run some degreaser through them?

 

Alright so I've got just about everything back together on one fork but I cannot find the spindle, taper number 9 on the diagrams for my right fork. I am pretty sure it wasn't on there when I pulled it apart because the cylinder piece slid right out. My question is can I put it back together without that or does that piece have a purpose other than just to hold the cylinder inside the tube, because where it is screwed together upon reassembly I would think It would be fine without and Yamaha wants almost $30 bucks for that stupid piece. Thoughts and advice would be very much appreciated!

 

the piece i'm talking about is like the cap that goes on the end I think it might keep the fork oil from going down past where it is supposed to but i'm not sure

 

Most conventional Front Forks employ a Spindle or some other method of allowing the Fork Oil to flow to the bottom of the Tube when the Front-end rises and then close-off the Upper Tube routing the Hydraulic Fluid through the metering orifices of the Damper when the Forks rebound.

Some refer to this as the:
• Oil Valve
• Check Valve
• Oil Lock Piece
• Taper

Your Front-end would have been exceptionally "Spongy" with a missing Tapper.

 

yes EVERY part of forks needs to be put back in when reassembling. As for cleaning i set my parts in my solution/cleaning tank (a big gas can cut in half for a lid kinda like a pumpkin with old gas i drain out of customers bikes lol) then finish it with brake clean and wipe it all down good with CLEAN shop rags. Then let dry a bit and oil them lightly with new fork oil

 

well this is my first bike it would not surprise me If it was always missing because I wouldn't have known much difference. Does anyone know where I could buy it for cheap?

 

hmm here are a couple places to check.

Ebay
WWW.Bikebandit.com (i use this for all my OEM parts, for customers and myself)
WWW.cheapcycleparts.com (same as bikebaNdit except a little cheaper BUT doesn't have the rewards program that bikebandit has)
http://www.yamahapartsmonster.com/
WWW.motosport.com (possibly)

 

Look in your Yellow Pages for the nearest Bone Yard.

They might have a Bike that sustained a Front-end crash.

You might find a guy willing to let YOU deal with going-after the little guy by yourself.

Bring tools.
Most "Salvage Yards" have a rusty pail of tools they let you use; but its usually only contains:
> Vice Grips (Rusty)
> Screwdriver (Chipped)
> Hack Saw (Won't cut through a No. 2 Pencil)

 

LOL sounds like a back ally organ transplant operation in new york

 

So I ended up ordering the part from my Yamaha dealer for $15 bucks much better than the $30 online. I am also waiting on a seal for my oil filter cover because I just changed the filter and I was leaking oil like crazy all the sudden so we'll see how that goes

 

Go to AutoZone or Advance Auto Parts.

Buy a FRAM Filter.

FREE O-rings for Dome and Bolt come with the filter.

 

yea most oil filters at motorcycle shops come with the O-ring in the box if it is an internal filter.

 

ya it came with the to o rings for the filter and the one for the bolt but I just ended up ordering a new o ring for the cap with everything else since I have to wait on parts anyways. I'm definitely gonna have to just buy a fram filter next time though.

 

well i finally got everything in and installed properly took the bike for a short test ride yesterday, no leaks anywhere that i could find and she ran great. Hopefully this snow subsides soon so i can take it out for a proper ride soon. Thanks for all the help you guys!!