Re: Am I losing my mind? Or can fork seals be replaced without a snap ring retainer?

Krazywolf8169 · Post by **Krazywolf8169** » Tue May 08, 2018 9:50 pm

Removed left lower leg after drilling out stripped damper bolts on both legs and removing the quite obvious snap ring retainer however the right side doesn't seem to have a snap ring retainer at all

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Used a pic on what seems to be the seal looking for a snap ring. Any ideas?

Krazywolf8169 · Post by **Krazywolf8169** » Tue May 08, 2018 10:07 pm

Can't upload pics for some reason

DaveO430 · Post by **DaveO430** » Wed May 09, 2018 6:27 am

Both side are supposed to have a snap ring. How the seal could stay in place without it would be a mystery.

thrasherg · Post by **thrasherg** » Wed May 09, 2018 9:35 am

I am 100% sure there is meant to be a snap ring above the fork seal on both forks!! I suspect a previous owner/mechanic failed to put one in, but how the seal did not get blown out amazes me!! Unless you are not running any fork oil in that leg then it wouldn't blow the seal out, but the internals will be well worn and handling would not have been as good as it could be!! I would be ordering a new ring from Honda and fitting it when you reassemble them!!

Gary

Krazywolf8169 · Post by **Krazywolf8169** » Wed May 09, 2018 2:17 pm

My concern was trying to yank the lower leg off and beating it to death because I missed a hidden snap ring of some sorts

Krazywolf8169 · Post by **Krazywolf8169** » Wed May 09, 2018 6:23 pm

I've still have not gotten the right lower leg to seperate. Starting to wonder if seal was installed on top of snap ring as it seems it's not moving at all.

Krazywolf8169 · Post by **Krazywolf8169** » Wed May 09, 2018 6:24 pm

Well at least now I can post pics

DaveO430 · Post by **DaveO430** » Wed May 09, 2018 7:01 pm

Looks like someone glued it in. Could it be one of those wire rings instead of a flat clip.

Krazywolf8169 · Post by **Krazywolf8169** » Wed May 09, 2018 7:23 pm

All I can say is wow. Previous owner or POS mechanic wannabe drove a second seal down on top of the snap ring. I was finally able to pry the second seal out from on top of snap ring by using a pick tool to pull the rubber from seal piece by piece so I could get under it to pry it out

Krazywolf8169 · Post by **Krazywolf8169** » Wed May 09, 2018 7:31 pm

Gonna wait until tomorrow to take the heat gun to leg and seperate. Sooner or later I'll get around to finding all the half assed **** and fixing it correctly. Still can't complain too much for 500 hundred bucks. Thank you all who tried to lend a helping hand

Stew · Post by **Stew** » Wed May 09, 2018 8:28 pm

Good grief! Hopefully there's not an even bigger mess below all that that he was trying to band-aid over with the second seal.

Krazywolf8169 · Post by **Krazywolf8169** » Wed May 09, 2018 8:37 pm

I will say that this side wasn't the side leaking lol the left fork was leaking oil onto the brakes and I want my front brake to work properly again. I also was replacing front tire and wanted to take it apart once and ride the whole season instead of wrenching lol