Bike sailed through the MOT on Saturday with compliments of smooth ride from the mechanic. So have decided to keep her for the time being and enjoy what's left of the summer. The fork seals do need replacing though. They are not leaking but have splits on the outer section and very untidy. Is this an easy job to do? Any tips or just follow the Haynes manual? I have never stripped down a set of forks before.
If you can see splits that must be the dust seals the fork seals are under those and if you do the dust seals I am sure you will have to do those too and renew the oil
If your fork dust caps need replacing, that is basic, just drop the forks from the upper and lower yokes, and pry them off and refit. Servicing the forks is quite a process, some special tools needed too. An Important factor to consider is, when you split the fork there is a 50/50 chance that you will damage the inner fork bushings, the teflon coating gets scraped off. Then new ones need to be sourced, and you cannot get from Ducati, Racetech can supply. See attached rebuild pdf
Its about a 45 min job per side to drop the fork, remove and replace dust cap and refit, just mark the fork and handle bar positions before removal, makes refitting easier. Re torque your bolts to correct value.
How hard it is to replace dust seals and oil seals depends on which forks.......... Marzocchis are significantly easier than Showas........... No 'special tools' or a second pair of hands required for the Marzocchis, although you can make the 'special tools' for the Showas, or just bodge the job using screwdrivers and a lot of sweat.
But if you are doing the dust seals you still have to renew the fluid and why would you try to put old fork seals back in as you can ruin new ones if not careful when fitting them and if it hasn't had a decent fork service before possibly bushes .
Thanks. Are you saying the dust seals can be replaced from the top end of the fork by simply sliding them down the fork outer tube to their position over the out/inner point?
On the Showa forks you have to split them, easy enough If you have the tools, otherwise you have to fab the tools. If you going that route you might as well replace the fork oil, seals and dust caps, and you will probably have to replace the inner fork bushings, as they will probably get damaged when splitting the upper and lower forks, so a bushing kit, inner and outer would be the way to go... Only my 2c worth though...
mmmmm......... might not bother and live with the untidy dust seals. Forks work fine and no leaks. Seems a lot of work for something nice to look at.
I have both types of forks, they look to come to bits in basically the same way, do the whole lot including removal in about an hour, but my forks are non adjustable though.
IMO the fully adjustable Showas can be a pig to get apart......... But a word of warning to anyone (Grandma and eggs acknowledged) stripping adjustable forks......always back off the adjusters fully before attempting the strip.
