Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

I've got the bike going in for a minor service this coming week "a one off first time thing" so I decided to pull the lower fairings and have a look around myself. Looks like the RH fork seal is stuffed, oil has been leaking down onto the guard etc. Also the oil cooler was leaking. Just a little it seems, from the LHS and from the top it looked, possibly at the pipe connection. I pulled it and gave it a rince off with kero then gently hosed out the fins and tweeked out the stones. I thought "Hoped", that perhaps it was a bad seal at the pipe connection and I plan to refit it and wait and see. The oil had leaked over nearly half the face of the cooler and run down onto the fairing. Also the odd bolt was missing here and there. Nothing critical, BUT...

Anyone with opinion on the cooler and the processes involved with redoing the forks please speak up. I don't have any specialist "oneoff" tools for doing the forks but would do the job if they were not needed. Otherwise I would pull them and drop them at a shop for an overhaul.

Thanks!

Oil cooler banjo fitting leak is common, just replace the two compression washers, she should be fine.

PC

chameleon wrote:... I don't have any specialist "oneoff" tools for doing the forks but would do the job if they were not needed. Otherwise I would pull them and drop them at a shop for an overhaul.

Its probably better if you take the forks in to a shop, if you don't have the tools to split them. There are some *dodgy* ways of replacing fork seals without splitting the forks, I would not recommend them here... At least if you drop off just the 'loose' forks, the costs will be much reduced (should only be 1hr labour charge )

fork seals isnt a very hard job on regular forks... bugger upside down forks tho and i doubt ZZR1100 forks would be anything but regulars

helps to have a service manual... but really its not that hard... ya just gotta:

jack the front end up
take off the calipers
take out the front axle and take the wheel off
take off the front mudguard
loosen the fork caps (but dont take em off)
undo the bolts on the triple clamps holding the forks in & remove forks

take the caps off the forks now and remove the springs... drain the oil out and leave them to drip for a while, pumping the legs to help get the oil out of the damper... perhaps even give them a flush with kerosine or something. pop the dust covers off, slide them off.. then you should see a clip above the fork seal, take that out. now give the fork legs a bit of a pump till the seals pop out. throw the old ones away, then slide the new fork seals on... a piece of 50mm PVC drain pipe is handy at this point, slide it over the fork and hit it with a rubber mallet to drive the fork seal down into position...

now put everything back together in reverse order, stopping to put new fork oil in just before you put the fork caps back on... you'll have to look up the required level or how many ml's to put in... and what grade of oil etc


well thats how its been for all the bikes ive had to do it on (cbr250, zx9r) so cant immagine the ZZR would be any different... good luck!

Ronster, rght you were there, I cleaned the cooler and reinstalled it and it was leaking "WORSE" right from the banjo! Just washers eh? Good, I'll get 2 sets and keep an eye on the other side since I have messed with it.

I'll have to think about the forks now. The shop sounds like the go if it's that cheap Goz. I'll ask the mec. for a price and if it's mello then I'll go that way. Thanks for you method S-Security. I'll save it for future reference if the shop wants $100+

$100 should be about what a shop would charge if you take the forks to them... 1 hour labour and about $40 for a set of seals

If that's the case then they can do it this time. I got enough on my plate this week anyway.

thanks again for the quick responses boys!

chameleon wrote:Ronster, rght you were there, I cleaned the cooler and reinstalled it and it was leaking "WORSE" right from the banjo! Just washers eh? Good, I'll get 2 sets and keep an eye on the other side since I have messed with it.

I'll have to think about the forks now. The shop sounds like the go if it's that cheap Goz. I'll ask the mec. for a price and if it's mello then I'll go that way. Thanks for you method S-Security. I'll save it for future reference if the shop wants $100+

Mate, anytime you disturb a banjo fitting, always replace the comp washers.

cheers

PC

will do. now the trick is finding them? tried some aftermarket stuff, sizes wrong. call the dealers, SYD mate! Be here wednesday... I'm getting used to that now
What the hell, I might as well go to work for a few days hey! Getting stuff all done preening this bike. Thanks for the replys.