Anyone change their fork oil at a regular interval?

[TownsendsFJR1300]

Got around to opening the forks this morning. The fluid was pretty clean. I was surprised. The springs were in backwards. At least according to the service manual. The tighter coil was down where logic and the service manual say it should be up. That very well could cause the forks to be soft when they should be firm. Plus the new springs are 318 mm free length. The Service Manual says 354 to 347 spring free length. The ones mounted upside down are 354. So at this point I'm tempted to just put the old springs in right and see if the change is good.
The OIL was so clean that I think the PO had the springs changed not long before he sold me the bike. This way I could send the race tech springs back or put the money toward rear sets. It looks like pulling the damper without the Yamaha 95 $US "Special tool" has the potential to hit PITA levels I don't really want to go to. I have a leaking seal or bushing on the clutch side fork.
It might be smarter of me to just take the fork, the new seals and bushings down to the shop and pay some dude with the correct tool to do it for me. Maybe if I go early in the morning nobody will see me.

You may want to try this tool first, Sealmate:

http://sealmate.net/

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wlzfoVroSY"]Seal Mate the Tool that Fixes Leaking Fork Seals - YouTube[/ame]

From what I've read, its succesfull the majority of the time.

35mm film, trimmed correctly, will work too...

 

[2old2ride]

That might work on my bushings, or at least one of them. My OIL seal is protected from below by the outer fork tube. The Dust seal is above it and sort of protects the top of the OIL seal.
No, I'm gonna run both tubes and all the seals, bushings, etc. down to the dealer tomorrow to see how much they want to swap out the seals and such. I will also talk to them about the springs being in upside down. I'm a tad bit nervous about the race tech springs being so much shorter then the Manual says they should be. It means i will need to go through all the hassle of setting the sag. I don't race so I really don't care if things aren't perfect. My plan was to measure the springs and spacers that were in there and cut my new spacer to match. But that was assuming a few mm difference. 30 mm is a whole 'nother critter. I still have 300 left in my 'fix the front' budget, which should be enough, given I was quoted 430 for replacing the stem bearings and fork springs. Plus parts. Their franchise requires them to use OEM parts, which I didn't want.

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

That might work on my bushings, or at least one of them. My OIL seal is protected from below by the outer fork tube. The Dust seal is above it and sort of protects the top of the OIL seal.

My forks are the same and crap does still get past that dust seal to the oil seal.

I have two Sealmates and used it once (tool junkie), just as preventive maintainance. I do keep a close eye on any crap on the fork legs and keep them pretty clean. 2007 model, 17,000 miles on the bike.


Yamaha Motorcycle Parts 2007 FZ6 - FZS6W FRONT FORK Diagram

If you do a search, here on the forum, others have used it and have been successful, but of course its your choice, just another option..

If you already have the seals/bushings ,etc, shouldn't be too expensive. My local shop (private) shop sends them out to a guy who only does forks. They pull the fork tubes and re-install, he does the re-build. I believe he said it was about $100 with the parts to the fork guy.

Please post how the forks turn out, re-spacing, etc..

 

[2old2ride]

My forks are the same and crap does still get past that dust seal to the oil seal.

I have two Sealmates and used it once (tool junkie), just as preventive maintainance. I do keep a close eye on any crap on the fork legs and keep them pretty clean. 2007 model, 17,000 miles on the bike.


Yamaha Motorcycle Parts 2007 FZ6 - FZS6W FRONT FORK Diagram

If you do a search, here on the forum, others have used it and have been successful, but of course its your choice, just another option..

If you already have the seals/bushings ,etc, shouldn't be too expensive. My local shop (private) shop sends them out to a guy who only does forks. They pull the fork tubes and re-install, he does the re-build. I believe he said it was about $100 with the parts to the fork guy.

Please post how the forks turn out, re-spacing, etc..

I took them in and paid 100$US to get the seals and bushings replaced. I have decided to put the same springs I took out back in. Only right side up. That way I can reuse the same spacers. I am putting in 10wgt fork oil. The Race Tech springs being 30 mm too short left me queasy.
I got them from Bike Bandit, so I will send them back for credit on something else. I have big feet and since this will be my last bike I was thinking about rear sets. And the battery is original. It was checked a couple of weeks ago when I had the valves done. They would have loved to sell me a new battery so I believe them when they said it was OK but 8 years is 8 years. If I put it in now I won't have to sweat it in the future. I have always felt it's better to be ahead of maintenance then behind it.:cheer: