This is the last real repair needed for my old K100RT. My left fork has been leaking fork oil since I've had it, making a complete mess of the fork and wheel. The previous owner was hesitant to repair it himself stating that you have to pull the front fairing off and take the fork completely off the bike.

This is not so. I ordered two fork slider seals (figure I'll change both since the tire will be off anyway) and some fork oil from bikebandit. The seals were around ten dollars apiece.

I first drained the fork oil then sat on the bike, pressed the front brake and pumped the bike up and down to expel any remaining fluid. There was some serious junk in the left fork!

I placed the bike on it's center stand and then using a block of wood and a jack in front of the center stand to keep the front tire off the ground. Take the fender and reflectors off, then the brakes. Hang the brakes from the handlebars with bungee cords and be careful not to depress the handle bar brake while their off. That way you can just slide your brake caliper right back over the rotor.

Take the tire off. In the bottom of the fork slider there is a 6mm (I think) allen head bolt. I have standard allen head wrenches so I just clamped a pair of channel locks on the short end and inserted the long end up through the end of the fork slider. When you try to loosen the bolt you will notice that the slider tube moves with you. I wrapped a rag around the slider tube (to protect it) and held it in place with a large pair of channel pliers while I broke the bolt loose. It didn't take that much pressure.

Once you remove the bolt, the slider fork will come right off the fork assembly. To take the old seal out I used a large flat screwdriver and a small piece of plastic. You want to pry the old seal out from the inner diameter of the seal and to do that you have to use the top of the fork slider for leverage so you place something between the fork slider lip and the screwdriver to keep the screwdriver from damaging the top edge of the fork slider. I just used a small piece of plastic. It didn't take that much pressure to pop the old seals out.

I then took my slider tubes to the kitchen sink (don't tell my wife) where I used hot water to flush out all of the junk and clean up the forks a bit. When they were clean inside I stuffed em full of paper towels to dry them. Real technical, huh? I then let them air dry for awhile till I was certain there was no more moisture in them.

The new seals were easy to install. Place a little fork oil around the inner diameter of the fork slider and around the outer diameter of the new seal. The instructions say to use a big socket to knock the seal in but I didn't have one big enough so I laid the seal on the porch, placed my fork on top of it and put a block of wood on top of the fork slider and one good whollop with a hammer set it pretty good. I flipped it over and used the block of wood and hammer to even out the seal. Just slide the fork slider right up over the fork and reverse the process! All that's left to do is fill your forks up with fork oil. 12 oz for mine. I used a baby bottle for measurement!

slowride

Great tutorial, Slowride. One thing to remember before removing the mudguard (fender) is to slacken the allen head bolts which holds the slider onto the fork leg, the brace and mudguard will hold the sliders in alignment for you. Or after taking all of the previously mentioned stuff off, replace just the axleshaft and there's your resistance to easily remove the stubborn allen head bolts. I spray a bit of brake parts cleaner down the sliders to flush out any stubborn debris, then blow them out with a blast of compressed air. One other way to remove a stubborn fork seal is to immerse the end of the slider in a tub of hot water. You'd be surprised how easily they'll pop out and you don't run the risk of damaging the sealing surface of the slider with the pry tool. Thank you for writing out for all of us how easy this can be accomplished.

That's a good point Two Wheel! I didn't think about loosening those bolts while the fender was still attached. Would have made it easier. That's what I get for following the directions in the book! By the way, I've been riding hard for a week since the repair and no leaks.