klr front forks

[dooveman]

Did a post ride inspection this morning and found oil all over my right front fork. I think I must have blown a seal. Never worked on the forks before. I have a Clymer manual and I've been to mark.net site and I'm sure he has something but I am looking for any advice. What supplies do I need to get from Kawasaki? What oil do I use? Any advice is great.
Thanks,
Brian

 

[scotty905]

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Try this. http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Breakers/8462/KLR650/ForkSeal-RR.html

I used this method and it was pretty easy. No special tools required. I just used a large flat head screw driver to carefully get the seals back in place.

 

[joker650]

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I started tryong to do it the" easier way"

After some hassel and frustration I got out the tools I had made to do the job right. Years ago, the first time I had to do the forks, I took one fork to a bike shop and asked them to take it appart..$30. Now I had all the parts and knew what tools to make. Special tool consisted of welding a bolt, that took a 15/16 wrench, on to the end of a 18inch steel rod , and weld a "T" handle on the top.This fit down the tube and held the inner peice while an allan wrench was used to un-do the allan-bolt at the bottom of the fork.

It works great..use a vise also.



I re-assembled using a 15W fork oil instead of the 10W the manual called for. I also added and extra 100cc's, I think it called for 550cc and I installed 650.

I also installed air zerks on the caps and run 5 to 7 psi in the forks.

This set up works prety good on the DR650....now all I need is a fork brace.

 

[okmike]

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I used this method and it was pretty easy...

I tried this procedure yesterday and could not get the fork seals to pop at 100+ PSI. I figured if the seals can handle that much pressure maybe they were still ok, so I just ended up changing the fork oil.

Do you recall how much air pressure you required to get your seals to move?

 

[scotty905]

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I'm assuming you removed the fork seal retaining clips?

I'm not sure of the pressure it took to get the seals to pop but it wasn't a huge amount. Just apply air pressurein small increments and watch for the seal to move.

 

[okmike]

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I'm assuming you removed the fork seal retaining clips?

Heh, heh .. yeah the clips were removed, I almost didn't though, doh!

I added air in 5-10psi increments from 30 up to about 110~120 and couldn't detect any movement in either of the seals (tried both forks). I'll probably have to give it another try if I notice clean fork oil oozing down the fork legs.

 

[dooveman]

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Well, thanks for all the tips but after reading this I decided to just bring it in. The service department said that they may even cover it under my warranty. I think it just expired last week but they said they will beg Kawasaki to cover it. We will see. Otherwise it will cost $150. Less if I take it off the bike first.
Brian

 

[okmike]

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I added air in 5-10psi increments from 30 up to about 110~120 and couldn't detect any movement in either of the seals (tried both forks). I'll probably have to give it another try if I notice clean fork oil oozing down the fork legs.

A long weekend ride to the coast confirmed that I had to replace both fork seals sooner rather than later, so I just gave this job another go.

This time success! I used a decent bicycle floor pump and popped both seals no problem: one at 70psi the other at 100. I suspect the air pressure gauge on my $5 PA 12V compressor isn't ISO9001 certified :tup: