Fork seals

[richard100t]

When I change my fork oil lets say I need new seals . Is that a dealer item? I've noticed my throttle body...hose/seal/connector I dont know what you call it is cracked a little & dry rotted somewhat. The bike sat untouched until I bought it this february, so its possible the seals may be bad.

[Guest ratchethack]

Richard, if your seals were bad you'd probably know it by finding oil spots where you park and on your fork lowers. If not, there's not much reason to replace them unless you find when you get in there that they've actually started to harden up from storage as you mentioned. I think this is unlikely. I keep a spare set of fork seals for my bikes just to have on hand 'cause I consider it good insurance against being caught without. If you disassemble your forks according to the shop manual to change your fork oil - that is, if you take them all the way down to the cartridges (some don't go this far and this seems acceptable as long as you can pump something close to 400ml out of each leg). But going by the book, you have to re-insert the tubes into the seals. There's always a risk of damaging them in the process (ask me how I know ). They're relatively cheap. You might pick up a set next time you're close to your dealer before you have at it. BTW - I've found that the safer way to install new ones without folding the lip seal back is to coat them liberally on the inside lip with oil (of course), but then install the scrapers on the tubes and rotate the seals into position over the fork tubes BEFORE you install the tubes into the fork legs.

 

Like others on this forum who've chimed in on this, my rubber intakes have shown slight surface cracking for over a year, but haven't actually started drawing air. I check them periodically and likewise have a set of new ones on hand for when the time comes.

 

Happy

 

Rgds.,

 

Ratchethack

[richard100t]

Thanks Ratchet, thats a good piece of advice! I'll have to call him up & ask if he has any seals in stock just in case...I'm not as good a wrench as Luigi

[DeBenGuzzi]

Yeah even the dealer doesn't always know what they are doing I found that out on the way home a few blocks from my house POP spray, squirt, drain alllll over the place. Whadda mess. I guess they damaged the fork seal like you say. I don't even want to talk about what happened after that.

[BrianG]

I just re-did my V-11 forks.... new springs, and cleared out the old oil..

 

Guess how easy it is to ding the fork seals when they are 5 years old!

 

I think REAL easy!!

 

Now I'm waiting for new seals AND dust covers to arrive .... and nobody to be pissed at !!

[richard100t]

I just re-did my V-11 forks.... new springs, and cleared out the old oil..

 

Guess how easy it is to ding the fork seals when they are 5 years old!

 

I think REAL easy!!

 

Now I'm waiting for new seals AND dust covers to arrive .... and nobody to be pissed at !!

50123[/snapback]

That does it :!: I'm not touching that bike until I get some extra seals

[richard100t]

I just re-did my V-11 forks.... new springs, and cleared out the old oil..

 

Guess how easy it is to ding the fork seals when they are 5 years old!

 

I think REAL easy!!

 

Now I'm waiting for new seals AND dust covers to arrive .... and nobody to be pissed at !!

50123[/snapback]

I'm starting to wonder if I should even take this job on myself lol

[BrianG]

It's not complicated, really, and you don't even need a special tool to install the fork seals becasue you insatall them with the stantion tubes out, unlike a regular right-side-up fork. You just have to be careful, and I believe that having fresh fork seals would facilitate the process.

 

Just pump the old oil out completely. a few strokes inverted and a few right side up and a few more in each direction to clear them. Then add about 200 ml and stroke the damper rod a dozen times and then another 100 ml and another dozen strokes or so, and then the last 100 ml.

 

If you have the spring off, and the fork colapsed there will be about 320 mm of space from the oil surface to the top of the tube.

 

Just DO IT!

[DeBenGuzzi]

It's not complicated, really, and you don't even need a special tool to install the fork seals becasue you insatall them with the stantion tubes out, unlike a regular right-side-up fork.  You just have to be careful, and I believe that having fresh fork seals would facilitate the process.

 

Just pump the old oil out completely.  a few strokes inverted and a few right side up and a few more in each direction to clear them.  Then add about 200 ml and stroke the damper rod a dozen times and then another 100 ml and another dozen strokes or so, and then the last 100 ml.

 

If you have the spring off, and the fork colapsed there will be about 320 mm of space from the oil surface to the top of the tube.

 

Just DO IT!

50151[/snapback]

You make that sound so much easier than it really is, I'll pay the $300 to have the dealer do it right than to have me do it wrong 3 times. Even if THEY do it wrong then they make it right free. Plus it helps keep'em in bi-ness.

[Guest ratchethack]

I'm starting to wonder if I should even take this job on myself lol

50141[/snapback]

 

Richard, if you're at all handy with things mechanical, I'd encourage you to go ahead and teach yourself how to do this properly. You learn by doing. It's really not difficult. Beyond that, it's incredibly liberating. The satisfaction of freeing yourself from the nagging doubt, the excessive (and often entirely unnecessary) lengths of time without riding, and the general heartache of relying on the risk of incompetence of the local, least-capable new wrench-maven can't be beat. Your local dealer (there ARE exceptions!) may very well be, and in my experience, they often are - using YOUR bike as THEIR training platform. Why give them the benefit of learning things on your dime? Once you can do it yourself, you know EXACTLY what's going on with your bike - and you'll ALWAYS take the time to DO IT RIGHT with those extra-effort touches. You ain't NEVER gonna get this in any shop.

 

With Guzzis, mastery of a few relatively simple procedures puts you a surprizingly long way toward becoming your own self-sufficient Moto-Unit, capable of nearly any maintenace hurdle that comes your way. Most of the long-term highly satisfied Guzzisti I've come to know consider this a primary philosophy of Guzzi ownership.

 

Rgds.,

 

Ratchethack

[richard100t]

Richard, if you're at all handy with things mechanical, I'd encourage you to go ahead and teach yourself how to do this properly.  You learn by doing.  It's really not difficult.  Beyond that, it's incredibly liberating.  The satisfaction of freeing yourself from the nagging doubt, the excessive (and often entirely unnecessary) lengths of time without riding, and the general heartache of relying on the risk of incompetence of the local, least-capable new wrench-maven can't be beat.  Your local dealer (there ARE exceptions!) may very well be, and in my experience, they often are - using YOUR bike as THEIR training platform. <_ why give them the benefit of learning things on your dime once you can do it yourself know exactly what going with bike and always take time to right those extra-effort touches. ain never gonna get this in any shop.>

 

With Guzzis, mastery of a few relatively simple procedures puts you a surprizingly long way toward becoming your own self-contained Moto-Unit, capable of nearly any maintenace hurdle that can come your way.  Most of the long-term highly satisfied Guzzisti I've come to know consider this a primary philosophy of Guzzi ownership. 

 

Rgds.,

 

Ratchethack

50157[/snapback]

Ok yes I'm going to do it myself. However I'm going to get the extra seals just to be on the safe side.

[Guest ratchethack]

Ok yes I'm going to do it myself. However I'm going to get the extra seals just to be on the safe side.

50162[/snapback]

'Atta boy. You're gonna make a big mess, so have lots of old towels and an extra bottle of fork oil on hand along with the new seals - just in case. You may not even get it perfectly right the first time. But if not, I'll bet the NEXT TIME, you WILL! You'll never have to roll the dice again. Get yourself a new pair of the best riding boots you can find with the money you saved.

[BrianG]

GO !!! Ben!

 

Let us know how it turns out!

[richard100t]

I'll let you guys know how it turns out when I finally get around to it. First I have to get the seals wich means a 70 mile trip to the dealer...or I can just have em shipped to me I suppose. Maybe next weekend, unless the weathers real nice lol