Vintage Dirt Bike Q & A

Is it possible to replace fork seals without disassembling the forks? (75 CR125)
The last time I had my forks apart I loctited the bottom bolt in and I hate the thought of trying to undo it.
Thx.
Mark

Yes, if you have air caps. First pull out the seal retaining ring. Then tie a rag around the fork leg and slide the tight knot down to the seal. Properly support the bike. Pump air in little by little until you can feel the seal start to move up with your hand held on the rag. Use just enough air to get the seal to slowly move up and out until if pfffffff's. Huge mess guaranteed if you overpump. Believe it or not, these instructions came with a pair of fork seals I bought for my yz. With a bit of heat and an air powered wrench, that Loctite shouldn't give you too much trouble.

Enjoy,
Jon

Mark,

I never tried Jon's method, but apparently it can work quite well. I tried removing my CR's seals with a seal puller and then a slide hammer, but they didn't budge a micron. I took them to the Honda dealer and they got them out without damaging anything, but they said it was a nightmare; they were held in with some kind of epoxy (original factory seals!).

I also Loctited my damper rod bolt, but I got it out by screwing a longer 6mm bolt into the drain hole until it bit into the rod a little bit and kept it from turning, then heated the bolt with a heat gun and spun it right out with an impact wrench. It left a small mark in the rod, which came right out with fine sandpaper.

Ray

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'74 CR125M (175cc), '75 MR175, '82 RM250Z, '08 YZ250F, '14 Zero FX electric, '14 Zero MX electric, '18 Alta MXR electric

it´s not necessary to loctite this bolt!

the seal will better come out when you use a heatgun for warming up the section where the seal sit in.

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80 CR250Ra
80 CR250Ra
78 CR250R
80 CR80
82 Bultaco Sherpa 340
78 Bultaco Pursang 250 MK12
76 Bultaco Frontera 370 MK10
76 Bultaco Alpina 250
73 Bultaco Lobito 125 MK6
76 Suzuki RM125A
90 Kawasaki KX250