[Twinboom]

Hello all, My front seals leak. 1996 Aspencade. I was told by the folks that service my bike, it would be around 500.00 bucks to replace the seals. That seems a bit pricey, and I have been doing mechanical work since I was a kid. I take my bike to a local shop as I don't have time to change tires ect. Winter the bike sits probably until around April, do I need any special tools to service the fork tubes? What about "progressive" springs? Thanks,

Doug Blackburn
Yucaipa Ca

 

[detdrbuzzard]

hello twinboom, welcome to GWOF. if you are going to change fork seals get a shop manual and use the honda seals which you can get from the daeler

 

[budoka]

Welcome Doug. Like detdr says get yourself a shop manual for sure. There's a couple guys on the site that have done major work on their bikes, (Dookoo comes to mind, he did a full Racetech suspension install) so yeah you can do it.

 

[86GW1200]

You could also cut the price a bit by removing the forks yourself and having the shop just do the seal job.....

 

[DreamWeaver]

Before you go ripping your forks off and apart, check this out. I had a leaky fork on my FJR and used this product and stopped the leak. I did go ahead and change the oil but fork repair was not needed and saved a ton of money with this. If it works, don't knock it I always say....
http://www.sealmate.net/ Isaac

 

[Tatanka]

Before you go ripping your forks off and apart, check this out. I had a leaky fork on my FJR and used this product and stopped the leak. I did go ahead and change the oil but fork repair was not needed and saved a ton of money with this. If it works, don't knock it I always say....
http://www.sealmate.net/ Isaac

Well, I'll be! Pretty slick, Isaac!

I'd try this first, in fact my right fork weeps a bit and just replaced them in Feb! I'll bet this will work for me.

If it doesn't work for you, then you can pull the forks and have them done, so your dealer/shop needs to quote just that work. Or, you can rebuild them yourself easy enough. The toughest part is removing and replacing the top nut. Having a heavy-set friend (perhaps a wife?) lean onto the socket or wooden dowel will make removal without squirting washers and such all over easy as well as installation.

The next time I'm in mine, I'm definitely installing Progressive Springs. Heard too much good about them not to. Good luck!

 

[DreamWeaver]

When I ordered mine, I got about 4 sets. They are pretty thin and can be damaged and I used 1 per fork. Turns out that it was just dirt causing the weeping. The shop wanted $250 to do the forks if I brought them in. All total, I saved about $235 dollars although the fork oil was a little expensive. I have put about 800 miles on the bike since then and they are working like new. Highly recommend using this as a first try at stopping the leaks. Beware of the oil that is in the forks if you do change it. I have never ever smelt anything that bad. Don't know why it stunk so much but dang, it made a pole cat seem like Channel #5. Isaac

 

[DreamWeaver]

By the way, if you decide to drain and re-fill the forks with new oil, I suggest that after you start to drain the oil, hang the forks upside down on something, work the cylinder several times and let it drain overnight. It takes a long time for all that oil to seep out. And it is not a job you want to do very often so take the time and do it right. Measure the amount of oil you get out of each fork and check the specs to see if that is the amount recommended. Then put back exactly the recommended amout of new oil. I drained mine through a coffee filter just to check for metal filings and stuff. Found none so I am convinced that the fix was a good one. Isaac

 

[Cantankerous]

Before you go ripping your forks off and apart, check this out. I had a leaky fork on my FJR and used this product and stopped the leak. I did go ahead and change the oil but fork repair was not needed and saved a ton of money with this. If it works, don't knock it I always say....
http://www.sealmate.net/

If you want to to save a little, try this link:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MOTION-PRO-...Parts_Accessories&hash=item20c9a69ad7&vxp=mtr

 

[Twinboom]

Well, I'll be! Pretty slick, Isaac!

I'd try this first, in fact my right fork weeps a bit and just replaced them in Feb! I'll bet this will work for me.

If it doesn't work for you, then you can pull the forks and have them done, so your dealer/shop needs to quote just that work. Or, you can rebuild them yourself easy enough. The toughest part is removing and replacing the top nut. Having a heavy-set friend (perhaps a wife?) lean onto the socket or wooden dowel will make removal without squirting washers and such all over easy as well as installation.

The next time I'm in mine, I'm definitely installing Progressive Springs. Heard too much good about them not to. Good luck!

Thanks for all the advice. My ride is very poor at best. The rear shock also bottoms out. Without running out to look, I have put around 21,000 miles on the bike since I bought it April of 2011. I bought it to ride to work, 84 mile round trip every day. Because of the mileage, I'm thinking replace everything. Make that 14,000 miles. I went out to get my Clymers manual and checked the mileage. Do you all think a Clymers is good enough? So far it seems to be spot on for the few things I have worked on. I'll probably start ater Christmas, and rebuild it with some of my tax monies. Thanks again for all the response. I will be happy to add photo's for the repair as I go, it may help someone down the way.

Doug

P.S. I lost my Golden Retriever a couple of years ago. This one is named Elvis. He belongs to a friend of mine. He jumped right up there when I said "Get Up". I was surprised. Going for a ride, that might be another post some day...................

 

[Twinboom]

You could also cut the price a bit by removing the forks yourself and having the shop just do the seal job.....

86, that will be option #2 for sure, thanks for your input!!

Doug