Fork seals

[Ricky]

@Calum can you give me some advice on changing them thanks

[Calum]

Advice I'd give.

It's a simple job, but you want a nice clear work bench and do one at the time.

If you're doing it yourself you will save yourself some dough. That saved money could be invested in some progressive springs and thicker oil to stiffen up the front end. Much more desirable on an SM

[Ricky]

@Calum I was looking at these http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/390929639656

[Calum]

@Ricky I like the fork oil, good choice. No idea about the seals.

Could be amazing, could be terrible.

For confidence go OEM.

If you're happy to do the job twice, grab those and see how you get on.

A chap on here had a garage do it, I suspect they didn't use OEM and it's now weeping. So....

[finnerz89]

I fitted pyramid parts headstock bearings, they seemed good quality from what I could tell. Probably one of the better non-oem parts manufacturers

[jgr72]

I have ordered new fork seals from ebay, and I have 15W fork oil waiting... Now front end feels like there's only springs left Stock oil is 10W but 15W should be little stiffer.

[Calum]

You can get progressive springs that look really fancy. If I didn't go down the USD route then I would have done this myself.

[finnerz89]

I actually need to do my fork seals. Clocked the progressive springs on eBay as well but unsure how good they'd be in a DTX. They're only listed for the DTR

[declan]

@finnerz89 what are progressive springs just stiffer?

[Calum]

@declan Progressive springs are springs that get stiffer as they progress down towards bottoming out. The stock springs can just bottom out quite easily.

Thicker oil will be used to make it stiffer, the progressive springs just help with the dampening.

[declan]

@Calum my front forks must be modified as they're pretty stiff

[Jens Eskildsen]

You need to add stiffer springs if youre bottoming out, using thicker oil just masks the real problem.
Thicker oil slows the damping, which then gives the springs more time to work. Often resulting in the fork not working through the complete stroke, so you use less of the suspension available. Thats fine for street riding, where the brake-dive is reduced, and theres plenty of suspensiontravel compared to streetbikes.

I've always felt that thicker oil makes the ride harsh, in lack of better words. So I use lighter oil (5w-7,5w on theese types of forks.)

At my peak, I was above 110kg in riding-gear, and the bike still didnt bottom out on my stock bike. Make the front end lighter when riding over holes, by using throttle and moving your weight around. Learn how to use small bumps in the terrain as kickers, to get the front end up and over obstacles, wheather it beeing small potholes, or big rocks, logs ect.

Stiffer springs and heavier weight oil wont compensate for drivingskills, no offence ment.

[Calum]

@Jens-Eskildsen I didn't have any issues on my DTRE, but my mates DTR was like a pogo stick. Great fun but definitely would have benefitted from stiffer suspension.

USD's I run are just surreal. Massive difference. My riding would be complete noob as I just commuted. So sitying comfortably etc.

[Jens Eskildsen]

I think his shock was in a bad state, perhaps its lost some of the oil or gas, thus lacking much of the damping. Or it could just be old and worn out. A new stock one would probably be a big upgrade. Setting the sag should tell if the shock is bad or not.

[Irongamer727]

What would you go for in terms of seals and oil if the forks are abused by wheelies often?
Thicker oil?

[Irongamer727]

Would you buy OEM seals and buy oil separately?

[Calum]

@irongamer727 I went for Athena oil seals on my RS.

Really you want to ensure that none of the bushes are excessively worn.

[Irongamer727]

@calum What bushes?

[finnerz89]

@irongamer727 there's guide bushes inside the forks. The Yamaha workshop manual says to replace them every time you do the seals. No need, but you definitely need to check them. If they're worn your fork stanchions will have too much lateral movement and it will knacker your new seals real fast.

[Irongamer727]

@finnerz89 alright. Does that mean stiffer forks will prolong the life of the seals?