My right fork seal began leaking during our most recent trip. Attempts at cleaning out any debris with a Risk Racing Seal Doctor, while a nice tool, was unsuccessful.
Time to replace the seals after only 110,000 miles on the original OEM seals. There is lots of information here on ST suspension, really an overwhelming amount, and after lots of research and a call to Mellow I finally decided to replace the OEM springs with a set of Sonic springs while I had the forks apart. The Sonic springs come with lots of positive reports and for $79.95 plus $13 shipping I thought they were worth a try. I did have a sense that the front end was a little soft.
There are lots of good tips on seal replacement and the service manual is actually very good. I just wanted to add a few pictures, a few suggestions and and my Sonic springs installation numbers.
There are excellent pictures here.
https://picasaweb.google.com/116177976159614867888/ForkSeals?authkey=Gv1sRgCN6t6cbsmrTogwE#
My contributions:
Here is the problem when risers are installed as many of us have, you cannot remove the caps or get to the caps to remove them without either removing the risers or dropping the forks down lower.
Here are the lower fork clamp bolts, easy to see and loosen with the Tupperware off.
Now with the fork down and reclamped with the lower bolts tightened you can easily get to the cap. The cap definitely needs to be loosened while in the fork clamps as it may be very tight.
Here is the 17 mm Allen socket in the cap.
Now you can get a 17mm wrench on the socket and even a cheater bar if needed, the Tupperware will need to be off for this technique. Alternatively an extension on the 17mm socket may give adequate access from above.
Here is the fork removed.
Now to get the fork apart.
Following the book at this point is really very good.
A few other tips, the 1 1/2 PVC coupler needs to have the center stop/ridge removed so that it slides easily on the fork. A drimel tool works well for this.
Here is the modified driver( the 1 1/2" coupler ) and the hammer, a 16" piece of 2" PVC. These allow setting the new seal without any problem.
Put some fork oil on all sides of the new seal and it will slide right in.
Here is the Saran Wrap trick to get the new seal on without damage.
Now for my Sonic springs numbers. I weigh about 175# so I choose a 1.1 spring. The Sonic suggestions were for a spacer of 130 mm and fork oil of 125-130mm. I have apparently lost my metric tape measure so I used 5 1/16" spacer (about 129mm). I used one of the washers that came with the springs between the spring and the spacer and choose no washer on top with the spacer resting against the cap itself.
Here is my tool for measuring my oil level, I choose 130mm, the little circle at the bottom allows you to see when the wire just reaches the oil.
Hopefully these pictures along with all the info on this site will help the next owner get it done.
Time to replace the seals after only 110,000 miles on the original OEM seals. There is lots of information here on ST suspension, really an overwhelming amount, and after lots of research and a call to Mellow I finally decided to replace the OEM springs with a set of Sonic springs while I had the forks apart. The Sonic springs come with lots of positive reports and for $79.95 plus $13 shipping I thought they were worth a try. I did have a sense that the front end was a little soft.
There are lots of good tips on seal replacement and the service manual is actually very good. I just wanted to add a few pictures, a few suggestions and and my Sonic springs installation numbers.
There are excellent pictures here.
https://picasaweb.google.com/116177976159614867888/ForkSeals?authkey=Gv1sRgCN6t6cbsmrTogwE#
My contributions:
Here is the problem when risers are installed as many of us have, you cannot remove the caps or get to the caps to remove them without either removing the risers or dropping the forks down lower.
Here are the lower fork clamp bolts, easy to see and loosen with the Tupperware off.
Now with the fork down and reclamped with the lower bolts tightened you can easily get to the cap. The cap definitely needs to be loosened while in the fork clamps as it may be very tight.
Here is the 17 mm Allen socket in the cap.
Now you can get a 17mm wrench on the socket and even a cheater bar if needed, the Tupperware will need to be off for this technique. Alternatively an extension on the 17mm socket may give adequate access from above.
Here is the fork removed.
Now to get the fork apart.
Following the book at this point is really very good.
A few other tips, the 1 1/2 PVC coupler needs to have the center stop/ridge removed so that it slides easily on the fork. A drimel tool works well for this.
Here is the modified driver( the 1 1/2" coupler ) and the hammer, a 16" piece of 2" PVC. These allow setting the new seal without any problem.
Put some fork oil on all sides of the new seal and it will slide right in.
Here is the Saran Wrap trick to get the new seal on without damage.
Now for my Sonic springs numbers. I weigh about 175# so I choose a 1.1 spring. The Sonic suggestions were for a spacer of 130 mm and fork oil of 125-130mm. I have apparently lost my metric tape measure so I used 5 1/16" spacer (about 129mm). I used one of the washers that came with the springs between the spring and the spacer and choose no washer on top with the spacer resting against the cap itself.
Here is my tool for measuring my oil level, I choose 130mm, the little circle at the bottom allows you to see when the wire just reaches the oil.
Hopefully these pictures along with all the info on this site will help the next owner get it done.
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