Fork springs and seals. How difficult is it?

Ok, I just ordered some new springs and seals from z1 and I'm wondering just how difficult is it going to be for me to do this by myself?

I have the manual and have wrenched on cars most of my life, so I thought it would be no problem, but the two people I've asked so far have told me to have the shop do it, citing how important it is to be done properly and the possibility of screwing up my forks.

Is it really that big of a deal? I've done the research here and it seems like the two biggest hangups are stubborn seals and not having the "special tool" to unscrew the inside bits.

I really don't have the money to splash around, so I was hoping I could gain a little more insight before making my decision.

I think you have to have a fork compression tool to dismantle the forks themselves. I attempted this once on my last bike (it wasn't a kz) and ended up taking it to my local shop as I didn't have the proper tools.

Sorry, I know that isn't much help other than advising having a bike shop do it.

According to the fsm, you'll need a front fork cylinder holder and an adapter.

del

del

Fantastic, between the manual and your pics I think this is going to be doable. Worst case scenario, I take it into the shop in pieces, right?

Much obliged, guys.

I just performed the same job on my 750E. Like you I was somewhat hesitant but in the end it was no big deal.

The manual should have an exploded view of the forks which is very valuable.

A couple quick suggestions from my (limited) experience:

1) Don't fret over any special tool to hold and remove the inner cylinder. I got lucky and the first scrap of wood I grabbed worked nicely. Use a long enough piece that you can insert one end into the fork and have enough length left to clamp/screw the other end to your work table.

2) Removing the seals. I tried making a "seal remover" out of nuts/bolts/washers. Don't waste your time on that or a seal puller. My seals were really shot and rusted. I ended up tapping the face of the seal with a punch to loosen it and then levered the seal out with a wrench. Took me 45 min for the first, about 30 sec for the second.

3) Setting the fork oil level. I needed 232 mL oil in each tube or almost exactly 1/2 of the amount in the bottle. The forks were still off the bike so I laid them against the wall approximating the same angle that they'd be on the bike. I ended up using a busted carbon arrow shaft I had close by. The vanes on the shaft kept it centered and I had the levels exact after 10 min.

Hope this helps

Fork oil level tool . . .

if you have an air ratchet you can normally do it without the holder,measure your springs before you order new ones to make sure you need them.i use to like 40w motor oil for forks back when i was into riding wheelies but now im having pretty good luck with 30w synthetic motor oil ,works a lot better than that thin ass 10w fork oil in my experiance anyway.

I just attempted this on my KZ440. In general, it wasn't too much trouble. The only trouble I had was trying to remove the top circlip that holds the cap on. But, once that was off, the rest went well. In fact, I didn't even need a holder or air ratchet to remove the bottom hex bolt. I didn't bother with a seal puller either, I just levered the seal out using a box wrench.

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JMKZHI wrote:

The 81 750-4 caps thread into the upper tubes (no circlip there).
10W fork oil is too light - IMO - Anyone need a quart of 10W? :pinch:

If my caps were threaded onto the upper tubes, I would have been able to complete my fork project in one afternoon (lucky bunch of ... ). Anyway, since the rest of the parts look close enough to what I have on my bike, I would agree with the original poster that his task is doable.

Good luck with it.