Fork oil Seals

Evenin' All:)
Now every so often someone posts on this forum and we all fall about laughing,well tonight I'm the idiot because I'm going to ask if someone could help me with a quite frankly laughable question. Here goes...
Decided the lower fork tubes are shiny enough,[and anyway my fingers are different lenghts from all that rubbing]and its time to re-assemble them.
Bought the trapizoidial[whatever!]weirdo tool to hold the CYLINDER-FORK to enable tightening of THAT allen bolt in the bottom of the forks.
It doesn't fit:angry:
Fuck it, do it the old fashioned way. Got a broom handle and a stanley knife out,did a bit of superb engineering and rammed the handle into the CYLINDER-FORK to hold it.
Bolt is now tight. Time to put the new oil seal in...
On close inspection, I see that this thing is meant to go in one way only because there's a circular coiled spring visible on one face and not on the other.So I look in the manual, nothing, no indication of which way round it goes in.
Then to make matters worse... the SPACER-FORK,which is a fancy cup shaped type washer isn't shown in sufficient detail for me to know which way up it goes in[sits underneath the seal].
I knew I should have photographed dis-assenbly but I didn't so now I have two components,each of which can go in two ways, and no idea.
Please can someone tell me which way up these things go in?
Many Thanks in advance for any help with this.

The other sides.

Hi Sparky,

The broom stick method works well for disassembly however part of the routine is that once you have it apart you can see what it will take to hold it from turning during reassembly. If you used a broom stick on reassembly hopefully not too many wood fibers scrubbed off the broomstick to contaminate the fluid afterwards. I've generally found that using an impact wrench alone often results in a chewed up crush washer.

If you would post the year and model of your bike, in your signature line, we'd be glad to look up the parts diagrams and give you advice on the proper reassembly. I know for certain that some bikes need the steel ring above the seal and other need the ring below the seal.

Hope it works for you.

KZCSI

KZSCI,Thankyou for your response,the diagrams I have show the steel ring below the seal but don't describe it's orientation.[It's not flat,kind of like a doughnut cut in half and hollowed out].
Thanks for the info on the orientation of the seal itself,I guess I'm going to have to start using this fancy camera a bit more in future:)
Again, many thanks.

Hi Sparky,

If the diagrams do not show enough detail all you've got is us. Can you post the year and model of your bike? Perhaps someone who has been there can help.

KZCSI

KZSCI,I've just been looking at my details,avatar,etc and don't see how to add my model details underneath the picture, could you possibly give me some pointers wrt this please?
I have to say I'm impressed that I seem to be a moderator though!
Got it! Had to logout then back in.
Still a mod though:silly:

Perhaps i misunderstood, are you trying to install seal with fork tube installed in lower? seal goes spring down towards axle, half donut piece goes round side up towards handle bars, under seal,between seal and axle. fork tube must be out of lower before seal can be installed. hope this helps a bit. jonnybiker

"I have to say I'm impressed that I seem to be a moderator though!"

Here at KZR we've decided that field commissions help with moral a bunch!

Sorry, just a small joke, once Tony, Nate or myself have posted in a thread everybody becomes a moderator.

Johnny Biker's got the right info, Go with it!
Thanks
Bill
KZCSI

jonnybiker,thankyou very much.All is now clear:)
KZSCI, so I'm not a mod:ohmy:
better hang round for a while thenB)
Thanks Guys,could never do this without the knowledge on this site.

A piece of plastic pipe, 1 1/2 dia, I think, makes a dandy seal seating tool with the tubes installed. Be sure to lube the tubes so the seal slides down them easily......Oh, for the challanged individuals, the plastic pipe needs to be longer than the tube so you can hit it with a mallet....chris3

Coppertales..Thats a good method,I used the old seal as a shield and a rubber hammer,[tubes not installed!]but next time,it'll save removing tubes:silly: Thankyou.

The other leg's waiting for the earpaint to dry:woohoo: :silly:

If I'm just doing seals and the fork legs are in good condition. I leave the fork tubes in the triple trees and use a piece of 1 1/4" plastic pipe 4" long that I've split lengthwise as a seal driver. Use two hose clamps to secure the two pieces of plastic pipe to the fork tube. Then just slide the seal onto the fork tube follow with the steel washer then the fork slider and using the fork slider like a slide hammer I drive the seal into the recess in the fork slider.

KZCSI