PLease help if you can

[dai]

I'm trying to replace the fork seal on my Nc30 but it being a right pig.

I've done plenty of fork seals before (I've had a couple of KTM dirt bikes and they pop seals every other bleedin week ) but the problem here is I havn't done a 'right way up' fork for a few years.

does the damper rod have to be taken out to seperate the sliders or will they come appart with it in situ?
the damper bolt is rounded off

the seal itself has been attacked at some point by a blunt instrument damaging the rubber and distorting the metal part which is now corroded to buggery and will not come out.

how have you removed stubborn seals in the past without damaging either part of the fork?

[Sligeach]

hate to be the bearer of bad news but that bolt that is rounded off at the bottom of the fork needs to be removed to disassemble the fork to do the seals.
best to take it to a bike shop, if they wreck it, its up to them to replace it!!

[dai]

are you 100% certain that the damper HAS to be removed.

I have a little devil on my shoulder saying that I did my NC23 forks without removing it but that was a long time ago so could be wrong.

the bolt was buggered before I went anywhere near it and that is exactly what a garage will say and will charge me for work I can probably do myself.

[CMSMJ1]

You will not be able to split them matey... Get an impact driver on it or take it somewhere.

bad luck!

[dai]

bugger.

I've been looking at the exploded drawing of the fork and it looks like if I drill the head off the bolt the damper will come out as its not threaded into the fork leg

obviously I'll need to remove the remainder of the bolt out of the damper assembly but I can easily do that on the bench

[vfr4]

If theres space, try welding a nut onto the rounded nut before trying the drill it out option - its always better to add material rather than taking it away!!

Cheers,
Al

[Sligeach]

bugger.

I've been looking at the exploded drawing of the fork and it looks like if I drill the head off the bolt the damper will come out as its not threaded into the fork leg

obviously I'll need to remove the remainder of the bolt out of the damper assembly but I can easily do that on the bench

that could work, or it could go very wrong!!
can you get any sort of grip with the allen key on the bolt? if so the mpact wrench is a good calll
even if i had all the tools, i'd bring it somewhere and let them make a mess of it

[dai]

welding isn't an option, its just about the only tool I dont have and it is very tight in there.

I have a plan, I'll be back soon to tell if it worked or not.

[dai]

absolutely spot on advice from you both, thank you very much.

with a bit of improvisation and destruction of tools I got the impact driver to work and bingo the forks fell apart.


the seal has been changed and will be back on the bike later.

:D

[CMSMJ1]

Superb. The old whacking trick works most of the time!!

can you replace that bolt now so it works OK next time?