Front Forks Sidelined My Holiday

Guessing I should have posted this under suspension in the first place...

Since summer officially arrived, we've been ridin' a lot, and that's not left me much time for writin', but my 15 year old fork seals have taken care of that for the time being. When I went around the front of the bike to get on and ride to work last Thursday, I noticed something black splattered on my radiator and cover. I went out at lunch to look, thinking it was just something I'd ran through, only to find out that I had a ring of the same grime around my left fork top shaft. At closer inspection, I figured out that the fork oil had been leaking out of the top of the tube, and apparently blowing back on the radiator and chrome cover, and road dirt had been collecting in it, causing the black smears!  Of course nobody near me carried them at a reasonable cost, and it had to be just before our "Independence Day" weekend; the high-point of our summer and riding season, (No offense intended, and hopefully none taken on the other side of the pond! ) I was able to actually order them and the 10W fork oil from Summit Racing Equipment on Saturday, and should be picking them up tomorrow, but then; still ahead lies the laborious task of tearing my front end apart and getting them fitted properly. Luckily, I was able to download the service manual on here, (says 85-97, but believe everything looks identical to my 2001 as far as suspension goes anyway), and they held out long enough to get through the 3rd week of June that I took off from work for out anniversary, because we had travel plans and practically lived on the bike for the entire week! Long story short, I'm parked until I figure out how to swap out the seals and dust caps, and the fork oil I'm sure would be due for a change regardless. If anyone has any tips or tricks I should know about, I'd love to know before I dive in . Otherwise, it looks like a pretty straight-forward job, and at least I've made time to get on here and post the pics in the aftermarket section of the running lights I added a couple months ago! 

Good luck with it Barry ..... You should be OK with I'm sure

This video could give you some tips Barry.

Thanks for the excellent video link Sim! Just wish I'd logged in and watched it before I spent 5 hours and in the garage last Friday night doing my seals, but with the help of a 6-pack of Labatt's Ice tall-boys, I managed well enough! I'd gotten some ques from a few guys at my shop, (like the suggested PVC waste pipe for a seal driver; mine was the perfect size to fit right over the upper tube!), and all in all, it was pretty straight-forward and basic. It just took a while from pulling the wheel to getting it all back together by myself, but once I'd worked my way learning through the first fork, the second one went much faster. By that time, I just hung both forks hand tight in the triple yoke, and waited til morning to make sure I got everything cinched back up properly. The manual mentioned the measuring technique used in the video to check the oil level by depth, but it also said there should be 12.5 ounces in one fork, but 12.1 ounces in the other?(suggested using a baby-bottle to measure, so I bought one just for the project). I just went with 12.5 ounces in both, and left it at that without the depth check with a measuring tape like the video. The front end feels a lot more responsive and tight, so I'm guessing it's fine for the pneumatic function, and hasn't leaked a drop! I'm glad I did actually have to replace the seals tho, because the fork that wasn't leaking oil obviously had some moisture contamination in it when I took it apart, (the oil was very brown compared to the other fork, and there was some surface pitting on the spring spacer at the top, which I cleaned up thoroughly before reassembly). I feel much better and educated for having the experience now!

I am having problems removing the lugs off the stantion to have the lower tube re chromed, the bike has sat for a while and needs work doing but have managed to have the engine running, finding replacement forks for the same year and model is proving to be long