Fork seals

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welcome to the forum from another Okie... I have not done this on my 1200, but I do recall on my 1000 and was VERY hard to get the dumb seal out. If you haven't already, purchase a haynes or clymer manual. Remember, the forks have air pressure so bleed it off before removing the drain plg. Also, the caps are under a lot of pressure and will want to fly off when removed. You might want to consider replacing the springs with porgressive springs. When replacing the caps, I too a 2x4 drilled a hole to put my socket extension through, and then had a helper apply downwaard pressure whilst I ticgtened. never could have gotten it started without that help.

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Another key too is to polish the by-jeezuz out of your tubes while they are apart. Any kind of pitting, scratcheswill make the seal replacement a waste of time. There are lots of threads on this...do a search....Also the boys have indicated that one of those "manuals" is incorrect and indicates puttingthe seals in wrong!!!!!!DO A SEARCH, as I see you are new to the forum and may not realize all the valuable infothat is available....simply type in "Fork Seals" in the search box at the top of this page.

By the way ......WELCOME TO THE FORUM.....

Kyle

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suks2bu37 wrote:

I purchased a 1986 Goldwing Interstate 3 weeks ago. The bike had been parked for two years in a heated garage. After the test ride, I checked for oil leakage around the fork seals and there was none. After riding the bike home 350 miles, I noticed a small amount of leakage. Now after a thousand mile trip, the oil is pouring out. Now for the question. How hard is it to replace the seals? I am experienced in automotive mechanics and can do most all automotive repairs. Several places I have checked have the seals and the price varies from 10 to 30 dollars. Plus, does anyone know of an easy way to get that glue called fork oil off everything. The bike is deadlined until I get it fixed.

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Suks2bu, if you want to give me an E-Mail I will return E-Mail youthe Honda procedure for R & R on the forks & replacing those seals..

[email protected]

Twisty

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not too hard a job. a couple of things, loosen the top caps(after bleeding the air off) after you loosen the top pinch bolts, andBEFORE you loosen the LOWER pinch bolts. also, loosen the bolts(one in each fork) in the axle bore before you take the caps off, the spring pressure will hold the internal parts from turning. when the caps come off, they come off with force so wrap the top of the fork with a bath towell to keep flying parts at bay when you unscrew the top caps.

when you reassemble, use locktight blue(242) on the bolts in the axle bore, and tighten them to final torque after the springs and top caps are on. you can start the top caps by grabbing the fork tube and cupping the cap in your palm(fork resting on floor) and turning both at the same time while compressing the springs.

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:cheeky1:Replaced the seals and what a difference!!! The front end now doesn't wander like it did when I hit a bump. Used ATF for fork oil and it handles much better. Took me and a neighbor to get the top caps back on. While I had it apart, I retorqued the steering head and greased all the caliper slides. They were rusted and sticky. This website is the greatest and has more knowledgable people willing to help!!!!!!:cheeky1:

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Well done suks2bu37. If the fork springs were really hard to press down when refitting, I wonder if they are Progressives? The stock springs are easy enough to compress.