fork seal field engineering

I changed out my fork seals this weekend and discovered a couple things that may be helpful to someone in the future.
I have a 1980 440 ltd. both seals were leaking. I bought new seals and a few other parts from Z1 (less than 1/2 the price the local shop was asking.
I pulled the forks off and found that I was stuck.

Beneath the plastic caps on top of each fork is a concave/dimpled cap held in place by a retaining ring. I could not push that cap down and pry the ring out on my own. So- I slid a calking gun down over the end of the tube. I placed a rubber footed clamp down near the end of the barrel, so the gun could not slide back up the tube. Then, as I pulled the trigger on the calking gun, the rod extended and pushed the cap down, so I was able to easily pry out the retaining ring.

My next problem was the fork seals that I couldn't get out. I built a really simple puller at no cost that worked great.

I found a washer that was the same size as the seal diameter( and the inside diameter of the fork tube.) I could lay it on top of the seal and it would not push through. I cut of two sides of the washer so It looked like a rectangle with rounded ends and slid it onto a 4" long carriage bolt. I then slid the washer into the fork tube(it fit now as I passed it through at an angle because of the sides I had cut off) and fit it under the bottom edge of the seal. Then, I took the threaded end of the carriage bolt and ran it through a washer that was larger than the diameter of the tube and finished it off with a nut.
As I spun the nut tight, the top washer held the device in place while the other washer pulled the seal right up to the top of the tube where I could pop it out.

I know these are not super innovative methods, but they worked great and cost nothing because I had all these things in my garage. I thought maybe this would benefit the poverty stricken garage mechanics lurking in the fringes.

Good Luck!

How'd you get the tubes out without pulling the seals with them?

When I took out the allen head bolt at the base of the forks, the two sections slid apart. The inner part slid right out through the seal. The seal stayed in place where it was set within the outer/lower tube. It was also held in place by a retaining ring clip, but that came out quite easily.

Is that what you're asking?

Sound just like mine, yeah they are a bit odd aren,t they.

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