Left fork tube leak at dust cover.

[Tupperj]

Today I built the tool suggested above by Tupperj. It came out very well. Rather than weld, I pinned both the bolt and the T to the central pipe/shaft in order to prevent rotation of either on the shaft.

 

 

I'd love to hear any other suggestions on how to hold that taper spindle and washers in position as I install the outer fork tube. (Light grease, maybe?)

 

Tony,

 

Glad the tool is working for you. Thanks for pointing out you need to secure the long piece into the T. Forgot that detail.

 

On your re-assembly dilemna, I've heard of people using grease to hold things together, but I'm personally wary of that. You're introducing strange stuff into a fairly complicated system, and I'm not sure what it would do swirling around in the forks and anti-dive system.

 

Keep up the good work!

 

Paul

[Tupperj]

I'm pretty sure it was 5" but I can't locate the progressive installation sheet. Somebody else know for sure??

 

Condor,

 

Found mine out in the garage. Surprising! to quote Progressive:

 

Due to the design of a progressive wound fork spring it will displace more oil thus requiring a maximum oil level of 5.5" (140 mm). Caution: This is not a recommendation, it is only a precautionary statement.

 

Oil level is the distance from the top of the fork tube to the top of the oil with the fork completely collapsed and the fork spring removed.

 

With regard to the spacer, they suggest the top of spacer should be at least flush with the top of the fork tube with the forks fully extended.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Paul

[Tony1M]

Tony,

 

Glad the tool is working for you. Thanks for pointing out you need to secure the long piece into the T. Forgot that detail.

 

On your re-assembly dilemna, I've heard of people using grease to hold things together, but I'm personally wary of that. You're introducing strange stuff into a fairly complicated system, and I'm not sure what it would do swirling around in the forks and anti-dive system.

 

Keep up the good work!

 

Paul

 

Thanks, Paul. As far as the tool goes, never has a tool so big and heavy done so little (but important little).

 

I'm now leaning toward holding those damper-rod parts in place using a single length of 18 gauge, plastic-coated, solid core, copper wire, rather than a wooden dowel with a paper clip attached. After the wire is poked through the inner fork tube, the upper end of the damper rod and then, finally, through the hole in the bottom end of the damper rod, I'd install the three washers and taper cylinder onto the damper rod, then bend a nice "L" or "J" in the end of the wire to hold everything in position. Then, as the outer tube is installed over the damper rod and inner fork tube, the damper/wire will finally make contact with the bottom of the outer tube. At that point I'd simply pull up on the wire, straightening the bend, releasing the taper cylinder and allowing the end of the damper rod to mate with the hole on the bottom of the outer tube WITHOUT allowing any of those parts the room to fall off the damper rod. Theoretically, as the wire unbends, releasing the taper cylinder, the taper cylinder will no doubt drop, but only a fraction of an inch - NOT enough for taper cylinder (or the washers above it) to slip off the damper rod. If 18 gauge wire is too stiff, I'll use smaller. This should work.

 

Condor,

 

Found mine out in the garage. Surprising! to quote Progressive:

 

Due to the design of a progressive wound fork spring it will displace more oil thus requiring a maximum oil level of 5.5" (140 mm). Caution: This is not a recommendation, it is only a precautionary statement.

 

Oil level is the distance from the top of the fork tube to the top of the oil with the fork completely collapsed and the fork spring removed.

 

With regard to the spacer, they suggest the top of spacer should be at least flush with the top of the fork tube with the forks fully extended.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Paul

 

It does indeed help.

 

So, after the components of the fork tube are re-assembled, with the spring still outside the tube, I push up on the outer tube until it hits the stop, then I fill the fork to say 5.5" from the top of the tube. Then I fully extend the fork (dropping the oil level dramatically), put the spring in the tube, install the spacer and, finally, screw down the cap.

 

Sound good?

 

I'm going to have custom spacers fabricated from aluminum. The spacer will be "flush with the top of the fork tube with the forks fully extended".

 

Thanks, Paul.

 

When I ordered the parts earlier today, Yamaha told me that they should be here by next Wednesday. So, hopefully I'll be riding again by next Thursday or Friday.

 

 

Tony

 

[6m459]

Hi,

 

I would suggest that you also replace the upper bushings in the fork tubes while you are doing this job. I hope that this doesn't come too late as you seem to be making good progress, congrats on that btw.

 

The part cost is not much and it might prevent premature wear on your new seals. As I understand it the bushing takes the major bearing force of the weight load. As they wear the centre tube is allowed slightly off centre, inappropriately putting more load onto the seal which distorts it. I believe that the part number is 3JJ-23125-00-00

 

On advice from someone here, I did this the second time I replaced my blue bike's fork seals and it has been clear sailing since.

 

Hope this is of interest.

 

Cheers,

 

Brian H.

[Tony1M]

Hi,

 

I would suggest that you also replace the upper bushings in the fork tubes while you are doing this job. I hope that this doesn't come too late as you seem to be making good progress, congrats on that btw.

 

The part cost is not much and it might prevent premature wear on your new seals. As I understand it the bushing takes the major bearing force of the weight load. As they wear the centre tube is allowed slightly off centre, inappropriately putting more load onto the seal which distorts it. I believe that the part number is 3JJ-23125-00-00

 

On advice from someone here, I did this the second time I replaced my blue bike's fork seals and it has been clear sailing since.

 

Hope this is of interest.

 

Cheers,

 

Brian H.

 

It is of interest.

 

I've added two of those to my order. They're $19 bucks apiece. Yikes.

 

Is the part being pointed to by the yellow arrow the one you're talking about and the one I've ordered?

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y35/Tony1M/metalslide.jpg

 

When I called Yamaha to make the change, I was told that the order will be "called in" today. So I'm looking at next Thursday () at the earliest to receive the parts.

 

Thanks for the advice, Brian.

_____________________________________________________________

 

Because I'm working on a tube that is still in the bike, I've already got the dust seal and oil-seal-washer temporarily taped to the outside of the upper part of the inner tube. Today I plan to slide the oil seals up from the bottom of the (nitrile-wrapped-and-oiled) inner tube, up and onto the smooth, sealing part of the inner tube where it will remain until I get the rest of the parts. When that day finally arrives, I'll install the parts and do the rest of the assembly.

 

I have questions about assembling.

 

I had to do that "slide hammer" technique to remove the outer tube from the inner. Is there any particular technique to get the outer tube EASILY installed over the inner?

 

I plan on using a piece of pvc pipe that has been split longitudinally down the middle to seat the oil seal in the outer tube. I'll bevel the inside bottom edge of the pipe so that that part of the pipe edge that contacts the seal will press down ONLY on the flat outside edge of the top of the oil seal, NOT on the upwardly-angled edge of the seal's "wiper". Does this sound like a good method? If not, I'd be grateful to hear any advice on seating the seal in the outer tube.

 

With two progressive/dual-rate springs, what is the approximate amount of 10-weight fork oil I should buy to adequately fill the two tubes?

 

Thanks again.

 

Tony

[Tony1M]

I now have two custom-made, 7/8" high aluminum spacers. The machinist just happened to have some 1-1/4" aluminum rod, so the job was very easy and pretty cheap.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y35/Tony1M/spacer1.jpg

 

When I got home with the spacers, I installed the spring and spacer. As I thought, the top of the spacer is even with the top of the tube. Just for the heck of it, I placed the cap bolt in position, pressed down and screwed it all the way in. Compressing the spring the first fraction of an inch to engage the thread properly was a piece of cake. Should I find it desireable to have an even higher spacer, I can just insert some washers between the spacer and cap bolt.

 

[MiCarl]

Spacer should be hollow. If you keep it solid you might consider lowering the fork oil level by the length of the spacer (You've just made a smaller air pocket).

[Tony1M]

Spacer should be hollow. If you keep it solid you might consider lowering the fork oil level by the length of the spacer (You've just made a smaller air pocket).

 

Will do.

 

Thanks.

[Tony1M]

I'm sitting here stunned after just getting a call from Yamaha telling me that ALL of the parts that I ordered are "ready to be picked up".

 

Before I leave I'd like to ask the forum a couple of questions.

 

I know I should wrap the lower part of the fork with nitrile and coat it with oil in order to slide the seal on without damaging it. When I'm ready to finally seat the seal inside the outer tube, can I apply fork oil to the inside surface of the outer tube into which the seal will be sliding, or should both that surface and the seal be dry as the seal is pressed in?

 

What should I use to press in the seal? The OD of the inner tube where the seal normally slides up and down is 1.57". The ID of the outer tube where the seal will seat is 2.04". As of right now, I plan on using a short piece of PVC pipe 1-1/2" nominal (actual: 1.592" ID and 1.900" OD) to press the seal into position. I might get away with making one cut logitudinally down the length of the pipe and then bend open the pipe in order to get over the inner tube. If it won't open up enough, I can either widen the cut until it does, or cut the pipe in half longitudinally and put both halves on the inner tube and use them together to press in the seal. I'd welcome any suggestions on how to do this more effectively.

 

Thanks for any advice.

 

If things go well, I should have the bike on the road tonight.

[MiCarl]

Oil the bushings and the seal before you install them. It's a good idea to lube both sides - makes them easier to drive home.

 

You must have your measurements listed incorrectly if you need to cut your PVC. The ones you listed should fit. I use seal drivers which are 2 pieces and pins to keep the halves aligned. With PVC I'd consider a kerf on both sides about 5" long - leave the other end together to hold things in place.

 

The top of the oil seal has a lip. You don't want to bang on that. I'd suggest chamfering the inside diameter of your PVC.

 

Drive the bushing home first, then install the seal and washer.

[Tony1M]

I replaced the seals using the PVC pipe to seat the well-lubricated seals.

 

I used 20 ga. single-strand aluminum wire to hold the the washers and taper cylinder in position while I installed the outer tube. My wife was the wire and steel-rod operator. When the wire/damper touched the bottom of the outer tube, she pulled up on the wire while holding the damper downward using the rod. After the wire was pulled up and out I could feel the outer tube move upward a bit as the damper rod made its way right to the bottom of the tube. Then I started the 10 mm bolt. Then my wife put the custom tool down the tube to secure the damper rod and I torqued the bolt to spec.

 

I raised the outer tube to its uppermost position, added fork oil to 6" below the top of the inner tube, lowered the outer tube to full extension, installed the spring, installed the custom spacer, then, finally torqued the cap bolt to spec.

 

Then I assembled the rest of bike, added some coolant, and took it out for a test drive without adding pressure to the front. Ride is noticeably firmer than before, but that is just fine with me. The bike takes bumps beautifully, with less "wallowing" than before.

 

I tried a few emergency pulls of the front brakes and the anti-dive performed very well.

 

So this is how a new front suspension is supposed feels, eh? Fantastic!

 

I'm very pleased with just about every aspect of this job, including the service I received from Argyll Motorsport , the local south-side Yamaha dealer here in Edmonton. I ordered the parts last Wednesday, they called in the revised order last Thursday, and I received the all the parts today, Tuesday. Again, great service, Argyll Motorsport.

 

Thanks again to everyone for helping me with this project.

 

Sunday my wife and I will ride the bike (behind some friends' who are taking the same trip in their car) through the world-famous Icefields Parkway that runs between Jasper and Banff, Alberta. Breathtaking scenery and vistas. We'll stop for the night at "The Crossing" hotel, about mid-point down the Parkway.

 

We took the same trip four years ago and it was fabulous in every respect. I hope that this weekend goes just a smoothly.

 

Here is the bike as it sits in our garage tonight:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y35/Tony1M/complete2.jpg