I know this was made 2-1/2 years ago, but this vid will be relevant as long as GL1200's are on the road! VERY glad you posted this vid! I am sure you have already saved many folks many hundreds of $$$ by now! :-D
@@kylehammer4695 my reply was from 3 years ago. Since you are enjoying looking at time stamps, look at WHEN I posted the reply. At the time of reply, yes , it was 2-1/2 years ago :-P
I enjoyed the video but there were a lot of things left out. I just did mine yesterday and it was very trying! I found out (with the help of a friend) you can hold the drain bolt in the bottom of the casing and pour the fluid in the tube and then insert it on to the fork. Then tighten up the bolt snug. Had very little leak out while doing this and it's a whole lot faster! I tried removing the air valve and attaching a tube and applying vacuum to it and it would only work on the side where the air valve is. There must be a one way valve between the forks. Also the old seal was very hard and unless you have some huge snips, you will not be able to cut through it. I used a Dremmel Tool with a cutting wheel and had them both off in about 7 mins. I also used a piece of the gray electrical pvc pipe to drive the seal all the way down. Used a great big adjustable wrench to hammer it in. Opened it up enough to go around the fork and it worked great. Spent most of my time coming up with ways to get this done but if I ever do it again it will go a lot faster! Thanks for the video.
Man this is awesome, I was just looking at my wing thinking it should be able to be done this way vs. taking them all the way off like I did on my shadow. Thanks!
Finally got round to doing it today. A garage supposedly did it for me 2 years ago but they started leaking last year after only 500 miles. Upon emptying the old oil and seeing the colour of it I highly doubt they ever did them. All went ok, one side a lot faster filling it up than the other as there seemed to be a lot of trapped air in one side but I simply left the bottom bolt loose enough for air to escape whilst only losing minimum oil out the bottom. I was a bit confused when seating the circlip as I thought that there would be a recess for it to sit in and was knocking the seal down trying to find it but it doesnt appear to be the case . I bought a seal driver, expensive but its worth it and also meant I could remove the old seal without having the hassle of cutting it off etc. Thanks again, such a time saving method.
Paul M the air ride system allowed the air to escape one shock and flow into the other that had no fluid , if you disconnect the air hose and even pull a vacuum the wait time is much shorter, and I remember a slight groove the ring set in
A few items not included is a dust cover seal cleaning tool (easily made from a milk jug) AND a seal damage preventer (same milk jug) and a Seal seating tool (made from 2 pieces of pvc pipe with a slit in each side and a U-Bolt clamp for to seat the seal with) By sliding the inner piece below the top piece it seats the seal properly) all of 10 bucks at he local hardware store) Very nice video of the process
Replacing the oil thru the top like you say it took 40 minutes. Using the old seal to drive the new one didn't work and I stopped before creating damage. 21$ tool to drive the seals. Good info overall but lacking very important details
Got a question..Confused... Was your fork springs removed first from the bike before this process? I thought that the spring had a lot of tension on it, and it was hard to put the nut back on top of fork and press spring in at the same time. thanks a ton!
How do you get the fluid into the fork? I have a syringe, but it's taking forever. I can only put in about 10cc's at a time then have to wait for the level to go down. Thanks.
for air ride disconnect the hose from the valve and suck the air out, for basic, remove the valve cores from the top and a teach a vaccine hose to suck the air out. either way it will help pull oil in through quick
Thanks for the reply Justin, I hate to admit it but I'm a novice at this. I have an Interstate with air ride, but I don't know where the hose and valve are located. Can you clue me in? Thanks again!
Memory, remove the right lower fairing cover, you'll have to loosen the center cover. Basically from the switch straight down behind the vent and plastic, you'll have to remove the lower fairing
Are you talking about the valve you use to add air pressure to the forks? Is so, are you talking about the metal lines that connect to the valve? Also, how do you "suck the air out"? Sorry for the stupid questions, and thanks again for your help! I'm afraid I'm in over my head here...
+Robert Woodruff ok so you only have rear air ride, at the top of the forks, remove the valve cores, if that doesn't allow the oil in then stick a vacuum line or hose over the stem and use your mouth to pull the air out, do not inhale
Tried this way, could not add oil easily, top old seal was impossible to cut off afterwards, not wanting to damage the coating of the fork. Could not move new seal down into position below clip position. Removed fork from bike to complete. Granted I have no air compressor fitted to bike. Hey I tried it.
Rob Tollick the Chrome on the fork is many times harder then the steel of a pair of side cuts physically impossible scratch, but yeah without the air ride system you have to take the valve out of the top of the tube and pull the vacuum up there with all the rust on my Forks up top I didn't want to pull my front end apart and damage those o rings for the air ride,
It's been a few years but I believe I used my stubby pry bar to hammer down the seal all the way around, most people use a cut PVC pipe and hammer on that to get it down all the way
Hey there ..... I just noticed my front fork seal leaking on my 84 Goldwing.... The shop wants like $400 (If the bushings are ok....) I'm thinking that they WILL "up-charge" my bill, no matter what ....) So, I am thinking of doing them myself now.... Liked your vid, and APPRECIATE you sharing what seams to be the "simplest" way to replace front fork seals !!! Rick S. Massachusetts
the hardest part will be getting oil back into the forks what takes a long time and waiting like hours per side or just minutes see if you have a way of putting a vacuum on the pressure hose to the front forks
I had a feeling that the difference with the AIR ASSISTED Forks might be a headache ...... Hence why I was "on the fence" about it, before watching your video ... I have the service manuel, but it shows the LONG ASS VERSION of this repair .... LOL I'm gonna do it like YOU SHOWED .... Rick S.
Quick question Justin. By the way, thank you for posting this. I thought the top end had to be removed. Now I know why it didn't take the mechanic that long to replace mine. lol Anyway, have to replace another set. I am thinking, a turkey baster syringe, and rubber hose over the air pressure inlet valve to apply a vacuum to speed up adding the oil. Obviously loosening the valve stem a little first. Would you think that would be effective enough?
thanks that makes it easy BUT CAN YOU SHOW HOW TO GET THE UPER SEALS OUT, or is it just to easy to show. NOT BEING SARCASTIC . JUST, I AM A DUM A$$. WHAT YOU DID SHOW WILL HELP ME ALOT. THANKS!!!
Just got an 85 running again and it’s got a slow leak on these seals. This video is great
I know this was made 2-1/2 years ago, but this vid will be relevant as long as GL1200's are on the road! VERY glad you posted this vid! I am sure you have already saved many folks many hundreds of $$$ by now! :-D
7 years later
@@kylehammer4695 my reply was from 3 years ago. Since you are enjoying looking at time stamps, look at WHEN I posted the reply. At the time of reply, yes , it was 2-1/2 years ago
:-P
I enjoyed the video but there were a lot of things left out. I just did mine yesterday and it was very trying! I found out (with the help of a friend) you can hold the drain bolt in the bottom of the casing and pour the fluid in the tube and then insert it on to the fork. Then tighten up the bolt snug. Had very little leak out while doing this and it's a whole lot faster! I tried removing the air valve and attaching a tube and applying vacuum to it and it would only work on the side where the air valve is. There must be a one way valve between the forks. Also the old seal was very hard and unless you have some huge snips, you will not be able to cut through it. I used a Dremmel Tool with a cutting wheel and had them both off in about 7 mins. I also used a piece of the gray electrical pvc pipe to drive the seal all the way down. Used a great big adjustable wrench to hammer it in. Opened it up enough to go around the fork and it worked great. Spent most of my time coming up with ways to get this done but if I ever do it again it will go a lot faster! Thanks for the video.
Great stuff. Dont know why I haven't found this method elsewhere, not even mentioned on Steve saunders.
Man this is awesome, I was just looking at my wing thinking it should be able to be done this way vs. taking them all the way off like I did on my shadow. Thanks!
Nice video! I'm about to do mine on my 84 gl1200 and this will really help!
Finally got round to doing it today. A garage supposedly did it for me 2 years ago but they started leaking last year after only 500 miles. Upon emptying the old oil and seeing the colour of it I highly doubt they ever did them.
All went ok, one side a lot faster filling it up than the other as there seemed to be a lot of trapped air in one side but I simply left the bottom bolt loose enough for air to escape whilst only losing minimum oil out the bottom.
I was a bit confused when seating the circlip as I thought that there would be a recess for it to sit in and was knocking the seal down trying to find it but it doesnt appear to be the case .
I bought a seal driver, expensive but its worth it and also meant I could remove the old seal without having the hassle of cutting it off etc.
Thanks again, such a time saving method.
Paul M the air ride system allowed the air to escape one shock and flow into the other that had no fluid , if you disconnect the air hose and even pull a vacuum the wait time is much shorter, and I remember a slight groove the ring set in
A few items not included is a dust cover seal cleaning tool (easily made from a milk jug) AND a seal damage preventer (same milk jug) and a Seal seating tool (made from 2 pieces of pvc pipe with a slit in each side and a U-Bolt clamp for to seat the seal with) By sliding the inner piece below the top piece it seats the seal properly) all of 10 bucks at he local hardware store) Very nice video of the process
I'm glad you got it done, I just used cheap steel that was softer than the chrome to drive the seals in
Replacing the oil thru the top like you say it took 40 minutes. Using the old seal to drive the new one didn't work and I stopped before creating damage. 21$ tool to drive the seals. Good info overall but lacking very important details
Good job
How did you drive the new upper bushing into place?
Hola! Que cantidad de fluido lleva cada amortiguador delantero??
Saludos desde mexico.
Got a question..Confused...
Was your fork springs removed first from the bike before this process? I thought that the spring had a lot of tension on it, and it was hard to put the nut back on top of fork and press spring in at the same time.
thanks a ton!
the springs are still in place,
+Justin Mccarter I see, the spring pushes the inner shaft down, which bottoms out. then the slider/bottom of fork doesn't have tension on it.
+Big Mac (Southern Militia) correct, and no reason to do extra unless you want to replace the spring or rebuild the damper
How do you get the fluid into the fork? I have a syringe, but it's taking forever. I can only put in about 10cc's at a time then have to wait for the level to go down. Thanks.
for air ride disconnect the hose from the valve and suck the air out, for basic, remove the valve cores from the top and a teach a vaccine hose to suck the air out.
either way it will help pull oil in through quick
Thanks for the reply Justin, I hate to admit it but I'm a novice at this. I have an Interstate with air ride, but I don't know where the hose and valve are located. Can you clue me in? Thanks again!
Memory, remove the right lower fairing cover, you'll have to loosen the center cover.
Basically from the switch straight down behind the vent and plastic, you'll have to remove the lower fairing
Are you talking about the valve you use to add air pressure to the forks? Is so, are you talking about the metal lines that connect to the valve? Also, how do you "suck the air out"? Sorry for the stupid questions, and thanks again for your help! I'm afraid I'm in over my head here...
+Robert Woodruff ok so you only have rear air ride,
at the top of the forks, remove the valve cores, if that doesn't allow the oil in then stick a vacuum line or hose over the stem and use your mouth to pull the air out, do not inhale
Tried this way, could not add oil easily, top old seal was impossible to cut off afterwards, not wanting to damage the coating of the fork. Could not move new seal down into position below clip position. Removed fork from bike to complete. Granted I have no air compressor fitted to bike. Hey I tried it.
Rob Tollick the Chrome on the fork is many times harder then the steel of a pair of side cuts physically impossible scratch, but yeah without the air ride system you have to take the valve out of the top of the tube and pull the vacuum up there with all the rust on my Forks up top I didn't want to pull my front end apart and damage those o rings for the air ride,
Doing mine now. Can't driv the seal down far enough doing it this way
It's been a few years but I believe I used my stubby pry bar to hammer down the seal all the way around, most people use a cut PVC pipe and hammer on that to get it down all the way
Hey there ..... I just noticed my front fork seal leaking on my 84 Goldwing.... The shop wants like $400 (If the bushings are ok....) I'm thinking that they WILL "up-charge" my bill, no matter what ....) So, I am thinking of doing them myself now.... Liked your vid, and APPRECIATE you sharing what seams to be the "simplest" way to replace front fork seals !!!
Rick S. Massachusetts
the hardest part will be getting oil back into the forks what takes a long time and waiting like hours per side or just minutes see if you have a way of putting a vacuum on the pressure hose to the front forks
I had a feeling that the difference with the AIR ASSISTED Forks might be a headache ...... Hence why I was "on the fence" about it, before watching your video ...
I have the service manuel, but it shows the LONG ASS VERSION of this repair .... LOL
I'm gonna do it like YOU SHOWED ....
Rick S.
Quick question Justin. By the way, thank you for posting this. I thought the top end had to be removed. Now I know why it didn't take the mechanic that long to replace mine. lol
Anyway, have to replace another set. I am thinking, a turkey baster syringe, and rubber hose over the air pressure inlet valve to apply a vacuum to speed up adding the oil. Obviously loosening the valve stem a little first.
Would you think that would be effective enough?
thanks that makes it easy BUT CAN YOU SHOW HOW TO GET THE UPER SEALS OUT, or is it just to easy to show. NOT BEING SARCASTIC . JUST, I AM A DUM A$$. WHAT YOU DID SHOW WILL HELP ME ALOT. THANKS!!!
just a screwdriver will pry up the dust cover, just like a regular seal they have a shoulder you can pry up on,
what about the seal just pry it out to
+Kevin Jolly the dust seal gets payed up and the inner seal is removed after the snap ring at 3:56
OK I got it now. thank you