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Fork Seals, 85 XJ700N, picture heavy

Discussion in 'XJ DIY How-To Instructions' started by tabaka45, Dec 23, 2015.

  1. k-moe

    k-moe Pie, Bacon, Bourbon. Moderator Premium Member

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    Post a want ad in the FOR SALE sction of the forum. Ebay is a good source of parts as well.
     
  2. chacal

    chacal Moderator Moderator Supporting Vendor Premium Member

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    We should have a good used complete front suspension and wheel, etc. Send an e-mail or use the "conversation" feature on the website to contact us. Also, let me know whether yours is the air-cooled or water-cooled version of the XJ700.
     
  3. chazmati

    chazmati Member

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    I am halfway through the process on one fork. I have the damper rod out, but I'm stuck with the fork seal - it won't budge. There a photo of a technician in my reprint manual with the fork in a vise, pulling on the inner tube (elsewhere in the shop manual it says "never touch the inner tube", lol).

    Any advice on removing a stuck fork seal without damaging the fork tubes? Can I pull it out with the inner tube if I apply more force to it? Maybe I'm being too gentle, but hate to have it fly apart and get bent somehow.

    Ok, reviewed Chacal's section on suspension - there's a quote there that says "Trying to remove the oil seal from the lower tube while the inner tube is still installed risks damaging the lower tube, since it is very difficult to remove the old oil seals from the lower tube while the chrome upper tube is still in place." So how do you get it out? Video linked there says (at about 10:55) to use the inner tube as a driver (battering ram?) to get the seal out. Hmm... anyone done this?
     
  4. tabaka45

    tabaka45 Well-Known Member

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    Are you sure the snap ring has been removed. If so, you should be able to slide the inner tube in and out gently using it as a battering ram and the seal will come out. (Picture 29). Never put the inner tube in a vice. I have heard of folks putting the lower section in a vice with wood or something to protect it but it shouldn’t be necessary.
     
  5. McTavish

    McTavish Active Member

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    like a slide hammer. pretty easy actuality.
     
  6. XJ550H

    XJ550H Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    heat the seal up with a heat gun. also bolt it to a piece of plywood using fender mounting holes
     
  7. chazmati

    chazmati Member

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    Right on, slide hammer technique worked great - just wasn't sure what I was banging and possibly denting/deforming in the outer tube. Like Chacal says, not being able to see what's going on inside makes you second-guess yourself!
     
    XJ550H likes this.
  8. XJ550H

    XJ550H Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    whats an XJ550XN?
     
  9. chazmati

    chazmati Member

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    It's a typo! That was supposed to be my 700 Maxim-X. Fixed - thanks for catching that!
     
  10. XJ550H

    XJ550H Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    I am confused enough :confused: thanks for changing it. I thought i was going to have to find one;)
     
  11. tabaka45

    tabaka45 Well-Known Member

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    I think I still have the pictures that came with the original write-up if you can use them. I have them on my computer I think. Let me know if you want me to send them.
     
  12. Dan Gardner

    Dan Gardner Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    @tabaka45 - I'm planning on doing some XJ700 forks this winter. If you've still got the photos I would appreciate being able to see them! Thanks.
     
  13. tabaka45

    tabaka45 Well-Known Member

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    I’m prett sure I have them.
    If you will pm me with your email i’ll try to send them. I don’t know how to put them back on this site.
     
  14. XJ550H

    XJ550H Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    I would ask one of our administrators if they can put the pictures back in they seem to have the ability to do stuff like that. It would make a good write up in PDF format as well
     
  15. k-moe

    k-moe Pie, Bacon, Bourbon. Moderator Premium Member

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    Any photos that were hosted by a 3rd party site are beyond our ability to control. The only person that can manage them is the person who linked them in the first place, since that person is the only one who can access their account on the hosting site.

    At this time I recommend using imgur.com
    They have been very good about not messing around with changing their hosting policies and forcing people to pay in order to share photos, or putting their brand of watermarks on them.
     
  16. XJ550H

    XJ550H Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    if Tabaka45 puts photos on imgur can you edit them into the correct locations an admin?
    or would it be best if he created a new thread with the photos?
     
  17. k-moe

    k-moe Pie, Bacon, Bourbon. Moderator Premium Member

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    Both options are a bit of work. Either will do. I'd prefer that the originator of the work do the work though, just to make sure that there are no mess-ups as to photo order.
     
  18. Dan Gardner

    Dan Gardner Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    @tabaka45 provided me with the original photos and permission to re-post. I just completed this procedure so I may add some of my own notes. There can only be 15 pictures per post, so I will break into 4 parts.

    [Part 1]
    The following are pictures of the process of changing fork seals on an 85 XJ700 N. This is a parts frame so no new parts were used. The intention was to simply show the process I used with lots of pictures since I'm a visual learner. I'm sure some of the pictures are unnecessary but more never hurts.

    The pictures you see are of my XJ700n parts bike and since this is just a demonstration the old parts, etc. were used so that’s why they look old and dirty. The numbers refer to the pictures.

    Put the bike on the center stand and place a support under the engine so the front wheel can be removed. Disconnect the speedometer cable. Remove the brake calipers and use some wire to hang them from the bike so that they are not hanging by the brake lines.


    1. Loosen the pinch nut and remove the front axle and remove the wheel.
    1 pinch nut and axel.JPG

    2. Be careful not to lose the spacer in the hub.
    2 spacer.JPG

    3. Store the spacer and axle in wheel
    3 spacer and axel stored.JPG

    4. Pry off the cover for the top cap. Yours will probably have a metal covering over the rubber.
    4 top cover removal.JPG

    5. The hex cap bolt
    5 top hex cap bolt.JPG

    6. Use the proper hex wrench or hex socket to loosen, but not remove, the cap bolt before removing the forks
    6 hex wrench or hex socket.JPG

    7. Remove the cross brace
    7 fork cross bracket.JPG

    8. Remove the plastic caps on the lower pinch bolts
    8 plastic hex covers.JPG
    9. Lower pinch bolts exposed
    9 fork hex pinch bolts.JPG

    10. Use proper hex wrench or hex socket to loosen, but not remove, the pinch bolts.
    10 hex wrench or hex socket.JPG

    11. Loosen, but not remove, the upper pinch bolt and slide the fork tube out. If the tubes have any surface rust now is a good time to clean that up to help prevent any damage to the oil and dust seals.
    11 top pinch bolt.JPG

    12. Using the proper hex wrench or socket remove the cap bolt. Although not shown here, I keep downward pressure on the cap bolt and turn the tube to avoid damaging the fine threading in the tube.
    12 remove top hex  cap bolt.JPG

    13. Remove the spacer
    13 remove spacer.JPG

    14. Remove the spring washer
    14 remove spring washer.JPG

    15. Note the washer flange that goes into the spring
    15 spring washer.JPG
     
  19. Dan Gardner

    Dan Gardner Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    [Part 2]

    16. Remove the spring.
    16 remove spring.JPG

    Now is a good time to pour out the old oil.


    17. Use a small screwdriver that gently go around the dust seal to pry it loose.
    17 pry off dust cover.JPG

    18. Remove the dust seal. If the metal cap comes off the dust seal it can be cleaned and re-glued if you intend to reuse the dust seal.
    18 slide off dust cover.JPG

    19. Locate one of the ends of the snap ring
    19 locate end of snap ring.JPG

    20. Starting at one end with a small screwdriver lift the snap ring out
    20 remove snap ring.JPG

    21. If your snap ring is rusty like this one you probably should replace it.
    22 socket to hold inside cylinder.JPG

    21. If your snap ring is rusty like this one you probably should replace it.
    21 snap ring.JPG

    22. You will need a 22m hex socket or an inverted spark plug socket and several extensions to secure the damper rod in order to remove the damper rod securing bolt.
    22 socket to hold inside cylinder.JPG

    23. I bought this hex socket because my spark plug socket has a rubber insert for the spark plug and I didn’t want to remove it.
    23 socket or spark plug socket.JPG
    [The inverted spark plug trick that works for (at least some of) the Xj650 forks did NOT work for me. You need the 22mm hex key. The tool shown above works well and is not expensive.]

    24. The damper rod securing bolt you are trying to remove
    24 bottom cylinder securing bolt.JPG

    [This is where I had the most trouble. The damper rod bolt is an 8mm hex. The 8mm hex I was using had a rounded type of end. The first one I tried to remove stripped the bolt, and I had to drill it out. On another thread somebody suggested grinding the end of the hex key socket flat so that it seats completely in the bolt - that worked for me. Drilling the one out worked fine, and fortunately it is not expensive to replace the one damper rod bolt.]

    25. Insert the 22mm hex into the tube with your extensions and a ratchet, and use the proper hex wrench and ratchet on the damper rod securing bolt and remove it. It probably isn’t very tight.
    25 remove bottom securing bolt.JPG

    26. The damper rod securing bolt removed.
    26 bottom securing  bolt.JPG

    27. be careful not to lose the washer on the damper rod securing bolt.
    27 bottom securing bolt with washer.JPG

    28. Tilt the tube and the damper rod will slide out. I’m not sure what this is actually called but everywhere I looked it was referred to as the damper rod.
    28 cylinder comp..JPG

    29. Pick up the fork and slide the inner tube in and out and it will gently pull out the oil seal and bushings.
    29 seal broken loose.JPG

    30. Tilt the lower fork housing and the taper spindle should drop out.
    30 taper spindle.JPG
     
  20. Dan Gardner

    Dan Gardner Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    [Part 3]

    31. This shows the relationship of the damper rod and the taper spindle when installed. However, note that the taper spindle is inserted into the bottom of the inner tube rather than directly onto the damper rod.
    31 taper spendle and cylinder comp.JPG

    Now, clean everything and inspect and replace any damaged parts and reassemble. I found spray brake cleaner to do a great job. Buy two cans. Coat everything except the dust seal with a light coat of fork oil.


    32. Insert the taper spindle in the bottom of the inner tube.
    32 taper spindle insertion.JPG

    33. Taper spindle fully installed.
    33 taper spindle full seated.JPG

    34. Insert the damper rod. Use your hex and extension to push it through the bottom of the inner tube and the taper spindle.
    34 inserting cylinder comp..JPG

    35. If the taper spindle comes out put it back on the damper rod.
    35 taper spindle to cylinder comp.JPG

    36. Correctly installed taper spindle
    36 taper spindle fully seated.JPG

    37. Insert the inner tube with the damper rod and taper spindle installed into the lower fork housing. I used the hex socket and extensions to hold the damper rod in place and slowly pushed it all in to avoid have the taper spindle coming loose. Ignore the seal in the picture, it will be installed later.
    37 inserting inner tube with cylinder comp and spindle .JPG

    38. Insert the damper rod securing bolt and get it started by hand while using the hex socket and extensions to keep the damper rod in place.
    38 inserting cylinder seuring bolt.JPG

    39. Once the damper rod securing bolt is started several turns by hand, use the appropriate hex wrench or hex socket to tighten it.
    39 tightening cylinder securing bolt.JPG

    40. Install the metal slide and washer. I coated the slide with some fork oil to help it seat. Be sure the washer is on before trying to seat the slide.
    40 installing metal slide and wahser.JPG

    41. My home made seal driver, a 1 ¼ pvc coupler and a section of 1 ½ schedule 40 pvc pipe
    41 pvc seating tool.JPG

    42. Place the coupler on first and gently tap it with the pipe until it fully seats.
    42 seating metal slide and washer.JPG

    43. A lousy picture of the fully seated slide and washer.
    43 slide and washer seated.JPG

    44. Put fork oil on the new oil seal and use something like a thin plastic bag to protect it from any rust or imperfections on the tube and slide it on the tube. Once the seal is far enough down the tube remove the plastic, being sure to get it all out, and lower the seal.
    44 installing oil seal.JPG

    45. The oil seal in place before seating. Put fork oil around the edges.
    45 oil seal before seating.JPG
     

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