1996 ZX6R Fork Seals. How easy???

[wullieb1]

Don't mind getting my hands dirty so how easy is it or how much would it cost to get someone to do them???

[zx6rider]

When I had my 96 ZX6R (12months ago) it cost $200 to do the fork seals with new oil, and all I did was ride the bike in, they did the rest. (Local Yamaha dealer here in Bendigo)

[mike-s]

I've done it on the old "right way up" forks and that was tricky enough. Upsidown forks would be about as fun to do (no idea if worse).
Given the amount of farking about to do it took from me to save myself the money, just be done with it and pay the man and be done with it. One of the big show stoppers is having the correct tools for the job, on r-w-u forks the valve is secured in the bottom and a real pain in the arse to get out without a rattlegun, i have no idea if this applies for upside downers.

Some things are worth doing yourself, this is not one of them. I only did it as i wanted to say i had done it myself at least once.

[the kid]

As Mike said , a rattle gun is the go , and a set of half inch drive allen key extensions . Have never done USD forks but just pulled a pair of conventional ? forks apart last night and they took about 15 minutes to strip . They were out of the bike to start with . I was lucky the securing bolt through the bottom of the fork leg spun out very easily . Some times you need a special tool to hold the inside of the damper rod , and then things can get a bit more difficult .
Holding your bike up to get the forks out can be difficult without a headstem stand . Check out if there is a copy of the workshop manual listed on the site and download that first .
$200.00 is pretty good value to ride in and ride out , especially if you dont have the gear .

[photomike666]

When I did the fork seals on my Yamahaha years ago (conventional forks), the pressure in the fork helped my undo the bolt at the bottom, but this is not the case putting them back together. If you can get the forks out, just take them into the shop and ask for the seals to be changhed. It's worth every cent.

[mike-s]

That last idea is probably the best compromise really. Save yourself some cost and you don't feel like a total twat rolling your bike in for them to do all the work.

As to the "special tool" we put the fork lowers in a vice on a big fuggoff bolted down bench, the mechanic got me to push an old broomstick as hard as i could on the valve and that stopped the valve turning enough for the bolt to be removed. There is no way in hell i could do it myself, though that doesn't mean i didn't try. Took me a good 5 hours of trying before i gave up and took it to the shop to do it.

Mech also suggested that if your in a position to do it, then just draining the forks (stops it getting messy once the bolts give) and keeping them in the bike and having the front brake on and compressing the forks as much as possible usually gives enough resistance for the valves to stop spinning.

[zx6rider]

That last idea is probably the best compromise really. Save yourself some cost and you don't feel like a total twat rolling your bike in for them to do all the work.

I never felt like a twat, I never even felt like a total twat for that matter

[the kid]

I felt a Twat once , it was sort of like feeding a horse .

[zx6rider]

What sort of horse? Shetland pony or draft horse?

[wullieb1]

cheers guys

garage it is.

[wullieb1]

Got my forks back today, $100 for the job.

[mike-s]

That last idea is probably the best compromise really. Save yourself some cost and you don't feel like a total twat rolling your bike in for them to do all the work.

I never felt like a twat, I never even felt like a total twat for that matter

*reads all the other comments* oh dear.

I was referring to the "i should know how to do this, but i want you to do it instead" factor. Me, i've done it the once, cbf doing it again, hence i'll now pay for someone else to deal with the arseache.

and $100 for the OP? brilliant!

[matt6]

I know this is a holy thread revival, but does anyone happen to know what size the internal hex is for the damper rod on a zx-6r F1? I would like to give my forks a freshen up at some stage and it would be good to pre-make the tool if possible. Thanks in advance for any info.