1 K100LT - Fichtel & Sachs Fork Oils seal replacement Sat Apr 26, 2014 9:31 am
Born Again Eccentric
Life time member
During my fantastic tour of Ireland over a long Easter weekend (more praise for the Irish Eccentrics for being such a sociable, helpful crowd and for laying on perfect weather and near empty roads for me), my left hand fork seal started to weep. As an interim measure I inserted a piece of carefully rolled toilet paper into the seal recess and a further piece into the dust cap - this temporary "gland packing" was extremely effective and prevented any further oil loss during my 1300 mile tour.
However, a leaking seal is not going to get better and I needed to restore the fork oil to its proper level...and with the annual MoT inspection just a couple of months away (leaking fork seals is a common reason for failure), it made sense to order up new seals and just get on and do it.
Anyway, so far so good, stripped the fairing off (I note previous posts that say this isn't necessary, but I wanted to tackle a couple of other jobs on the front end, so it made it easier to remove it), slackened the yoke clamp bolts, removed the forks (slipped out as easy as a easily slipping out thing) and drained the oil. Incidentally, I measured the volume of oil drained from the leaky fork - just 260ml compared with 350ml in the right fork! (recommended volume is 360+/- 10ml) - that could account for my increasingly nervous cornering.
So the question to you knowledgeable and experienced people - how do you remove the circlip that retains the seal in place? I have tried gently levering with a small flat blade screw driver, but can't get it to spring out. Obviously I am taking necessary precautions to avoid damaging the alloy housing or scratching the steel piston, but it just ain't playing nice. Circlips that I have come across before have always had drilled lugs on them at the free ends to allow either compression or expansion (depending on type of circlip) with circlip pliers.
In the time honoured tradition of STOP and ask, I am taking this opportunity to take a break (and lunch) before blundering on and going permanent damage. Any suggestions?
However, a leaking seal is not going to get better and I needed to restore the fork oil to its proper level...and with the annual MoT inspection just a couple of months away (leaking fork seals is a common reason for failure), it made sense to order up new seals and just get on and do it.
Anyway, so far so good, stripped the fairing off (I note previous posts that say this isn't necessary, but I wanted to tackle a couple of other jobs on the front end, so it made it easier to remove it), slackened the yoke clamp bolts, removed the forks (slipped out as easy as a easily slipping out thing) and drained the oil. Incidentally, I measured the volume of oil drained from the leaky fork - just 260ml compared with 350ml in the right fork! (recommended volume is 360+/- 10ml) - that could account for my increasingly nervous cornering.
So the question to you knowledgeable and experienced people - how do you remove the circlip that retains the seal in place? I have tried gently levering with a small flat blade screw driver, but can't get it to spring out. Obviously I am taking necessary precautions to avoid damaging the alloy housing or scratching the steel piston, but it just ain't playing nice. Circlips that I have come across before have always had drilled lugs on them at the free ends to allow either compression or expansion (depending on type of circlip) with circlip pliers.
In the time honoured tradition of STOP and ask, I am taking this opportunity to take a break (and lunch) before blundering on and going permanent damage. Any suggestions?
Last edited by PaulLipscomb on Sat Apr 26, 2014 10:14 am; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : added right fork oil volume)
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Paul
"Heidi" K100LT 1991 (Grey) (VIN 0190172 Engine No. 104EB 2590 2213) - 5th owner. January 2014 (34,000 - 82,818 miles and counting....)
"Gretel" K100LT 1989 (
"Donor" K100LT 1990 (Red) (VIN 0178091 Engine gone to Dai) - 6th & final owner (crash write-off now donor bike). June 2012 (73,000 miles) to November 2013 (89,500 miles)