Unofficial Royal Enfield Community Forum

Royal Enfield Motorcycles => Bullet Electra & AVL => Topic started by: jrw on July 24, 2014, 01:30:36 am

Title: Fork seal replacement
Post by: jrw on July 24, 2014, 01:30:36 am
2008 classic with AVL.  Front Tire and mud guard are off, all cables disconnected, oil plugs removed and oil drained.  Hitchcock's site and snidal manual say pull down and off...

Each fork leg rotates freely but I can not get them to "pull down".  What's holding them in there?  Love taps with a rubber mallet while pulling down doesn't work.

Thoughts?  Tricks?
Title: Re: Fork seal replacement
Post by: boggy on July 24, 2014, 04:17:19 pm
You need to pull down on the fork legs while you hit the spring stud, otherwise it just moves with it.  Try using a piece of wood against the spring to protect it while you smack it with a mallet.  This for me was a battle - they were insistent on remaining in place.  You may want another set of hands for this.

They were absolute dogs to get off for me too.  What ended up making them stuck for me was where those spring studs come out from the fork legs just beyond the threading where you pulled the caps off was just too damn tight.  When I finally got them off, I used some emery cloth and lightly went around those studs and the inside of the fork legs where the studs poke through. The legs slipped right on after that.

That was the 1st road block I hit. The second was getting the seals out.  I did not purchase the Enfield tool from NField gear.  In hind sight, I wish I had because it then took me several hours to get the seals out.  Not sure how much you already know about this but be very careful not to put any pressure on the fork legs with a screwdriver when prying out those seals or you can crack the fork legs.  Mike (Baird) here gave me the suggestion of putting a hose clamp at the end of the fork leg, sticking up past the end of the fork leg a big. That way, when I pried out the seals, the screwdriver pressure was against the hose clamp - not the fork leg.

Let me know if this helps - There is a pic somewhere here about the hose clamps. I also have notes on this procedure from Baird that were very helpful that I'm happy to email to you.  Just let me know.

Good luck.  Boggy.
Title: Re: Fork seal replacement
Post by: boggy on July 24, 2014, 04:25:23 pm
Here is a link showing one of the two tools that are recommended for the seal removal.  It's just a (expensive) sleeve that goes on the end of the fork leg.  Baird recommended to me using 2 hose clamps. One that was half-on the leg, half stuck up past the leg. The other went just under that first clamp, to support it when you pry against it.

This image shows a screw driver prying out the seal which I did use, but was still extremely hard.  There is another tool for this but if you are careful you can use a long screwdriver.  It's easy to scratch those legs too.

http://www.enfieldmotorcycles.com/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=14709.0;attach=15151;image
Title: Re: Fork seal replacement
Post by: jrw on July 24, 2014, 05:01:57 pm
Good to hear it can actually be done, I was getting worried that there was a bolt or screw that was them in place that I was not seeing.  I'll keep banging away.

I don't have the special tool for removing the seals but have seen a few pics of busted tubes from people doing it wrong.  Hose clamp sound like a good solution.

Thanks for the help, stay tuned.
Title: Re: Fork seal replacement
Post by: boggy on July 24, 2014, 06:04:02 pm
Here is a pic of the double hose-clamp setup Baird sent me.
Title: Re: Fork seal replacement
Post by: jrw on July 24, 2014, 08:43:07 pm
Holy hell!  30 minutes of me pulling down, my son with a piece of wood and hammering on the stud, and my daughter with a rubber mallet on the lower tube....nothing!  This is one frustrating $&@$$!

I did the stud bolt to drain the oil, four bolts to remove wheel, mudguard stay bolts to remove mud guard.  Is that it?  You can see wood bits on the attached pic from where we've been pounding on it...
Title: Re: Fork seal replacement
Post by: boggy on July 24, 2014, 09:32:42 pm
Sounds, and looks, exactly how it went for me.  Took me hours.  I don't believe you are missing anything.  I think remember putting some oil on it and letting it sit and soak some up.  I believe I also tried putting the wheel back on and pressing down on the shocks, just to see if I could get it to budge.  What I do remember is smacking the hell out of it.  Eventually, they both budged. 
Title: Re: Fork seal replacement
Post by: jrw on July 25, 2014, 07:13:32 pm
24hours plus of penetrating oil, 3 days of banging on stud and lower fork leg...nothing.

I'm thinking about removing the whole leg so I can better angles while beating on the stud, maybe even use a vise.  Aside from removing the top hex bolt(clockwise to remove) what else do I need to do?  Pinch bolts?
Title: Re: Fork seal replacement
Post by: boggy on July 25, 2014, 07:36:05 pm
Yes there are some bolts right above your fork gators, where that little Royal Enfield plate is under the headlight.  Those need to be loosened, along with the filler caps on the top of the yolk.

It's a huge bummer man - wait until you try and pry those seals out.  The top ones are tough - the lower ones, for me, were killer.  Jammed as tight as those spring studs are.  If I have to do this job again, I'm going to buy the tools for extracting the seals.  I'd have paid double their price to have them out at the time.

When you finally get them out, definitely give the fork legs a little rub with the emery cloth where the spring stud pokes through.  A little goes a long way.

Btw, I removed them as well, but ended up putting them back on an hammering.  At that point, I was not being careful. I had already conceded that my only choices were (a) damage something or (b) not get them off.  Be very persuasive.
Title: Re: Fork seal replacement
Post by: jrw on July 27, 2014, 05:26:45 am
Coffee in hand early morning went out to the garage and thought I'd give the forks a few token bangs...damn things came right off.

Came back to it a few hours later and 30 minutes tops had all seals removed, everything super cleaned and wiped down and new seals in place.   As we all do from time to time, built a new tool.  I had heard and read about busting the forks while prying the seals out, and all the hose clamps I had were too big, I built this...tent peg and vise.

Poked around the edge of the seal with with small screw driver first to remove any stiction, and pull.  Old seals popped right out.  Thin film of oil on the new ones, pvc pipe just smaller than inner diameter of fork to pound new seals in, done.

Tomorrow we put it all together again.
Title: Re: Fork seal replacement
Post by: boggy on July 28, 2014, 05:50:11 pm
Ah, victory!  Way to stick with it, man.  Such a pita, but how sweet was it when that leg popped off?  Great idea with the seals - Glad that wasn't another battle. 

Nice job,
Boggy
Title: Re: Fork seal replacement
Post by: jrw on August 01, 2014, 09:45:28 pm
Stud on one side wouldn't go through opening in lower leg.  A lot of fine sanding and mallet work later we're good to go.  Thanks, Boggy for the encouragement.  A lot of easy yet frustrating wrenching on this machine but this by far has been the most time consuming so far.