My fork seals are leaking on my 86 750. Left side not so bad, right side oozing out pretty good. Defintely need to be replaced. Dealer wants $275 for the job. Does this sound right? Sounds high to me, but I really have no idea. This is one of two Kaw dealers in my area, I'm in Chicago, and is only about a mile from me so convenience is a factor.

Any feedback is appreciated.

Greg

From what I was told, changing the seals on the VN750/700 is not an easy task, the shop here wants over 300 to do the job.

Sounds a lot of money to me to do the job. I have replaced mine a couple times over the past 10 years & it's really not that difficult. You have to remove each fork completely as the new seals have to slide on from the top due to the bushes being a press fit onto the inner tube. I found it best to remove them & work on them one at a time so that there is always one left in the yokes, that way there is no chance of the yokes being out of line when you put it all back together. It would pay you to replace the dust seals at the same time as these are very difficult to remove without damaging them. If you want, I can email you detailed instructions on replacing the seals as I have a Kawasaki shop manual. Just let me know if you want me to do this.

I appreciate the offer Ernie, but it sounds like a bit more than I want to take on.

I want to have them done by a mechanic, but the 275 price really gets me.

I'll try shopping around and see what I come up with.

Greg

Hey Ernie, I will be takling the job in 3-4 weeks and I would appreciate any and all help. My mechanic also wanted something like $250 I think and thats a lot of money. If I can do it, I'd certainly want to try.

Will post instructions on replacing the fork seals later today when i'm back home on my own computer. At work at the moment so it's not so easy. Watch this space.

Hey for whats its worth I replaced both fork seals on my 85 VN700 myself. I am an auto mechanic but not a bike mechanic, per se. I followed the Haynes manual, and all but one of the tools required were common METRIC ones. Definately do one side at a time. The speical tool required was to drive the new seals back on, and I made myself one out of an exhaust pipe adapter. (You know, the 2.5" x 2.25" dealies at Autozone) I wrapped the edges in duct tape to prevent marring the frok tube surface and used a hammer VERY slowly and EVENLY to tap the seal into place, using a circular pattern. Also make very sure that any nicks or whatever on the forktubes are smoothed out with crocus cloth or something. And buy a HAYNES manual, they are invaluable for this and a hundred other bits of needed info, well worth the $20 or so!

for the seal dirver, would pvc pipe or pvc pipe coupler work?

OK guys & ladies, here goes. This is how I have done my fork seals in the past. It is not quite the same as the shop manual method but it works for me. Each time I have replaced them they have lasted nearly 30,000 miles. My bike has covered in excess of 75,000 miles now without major problems. (except the dreaded driveshaft splines but that's another story) I have found the only "special tools" I need are a length of pipe (no sharp edges!) that just fits over the fork tube (for driving the seals into place) and a thin wooden rod tapered at one end to stop the damper rod from turning when undoing the bottom bolt. First obtain a new set of genuine Kawasaki seals & also new dust seals, I have found it very difficult to remove these without damaging them, they also sometimes rust underneath where the water gets past them. (Plenty of water here in England!) Also, having gone to all the trouble of replacing the main seals, you may as well replace the dust seals while you have everything apart.
Place bike on centerstand, place a jack (with a piece of wood on top to protect the sump) under the engine & raise the front of the bike just enough for the front wheel to come off the ground. Remove the wheel, fender, calipers & brake hose guides. Remove the plastic caps on the top of each fork. I have found it best to remove & work on one side at a time (as tonyfan70 says). That way, the yokes have no chance of going out of line. Loosen the pinch bolts on one side & carefully slide the fork assembly out of the yokes. Place the whole assembly in a vice using soft jaws to protect the aluminium, clamp it up on the caliper mounts & don't overtighten the vice! Release any air in the forks by pushing down the top valve (if fitted) althought if the seals are shot there probably won't be much pressure in there anyway. Place a 6" extension bar into a half inch socket and place the socket over the valve and push down to expose the thin snap ring that holds the top in place. If the cap is stuck, give the end of the extension bar a sharp tap with a soft hammer or a piece of wood. While holding the cap down, hook out the snap ring with a thin screwdriver and let the spring pressure lift up the cap. Remove the cap, spacer, washer & spring & take note of the order they come out in. Take the whole assembly out of the vice for a moment & pour the fork oil out into a container, it will probably be very dirty & look a bit like milk if enough water has got in. Place the assembly back in the vice &, using a good quality allen wrench, undo the bottom bolt. If the bolt keeps turning but doesn't seem to want to come out the damper rod is turning inside & needs to be held as follows. Using a piece of thin wood that has been filed to a taper at one end (a thin broom handle will do) push it down into the tube until it pushes against the bottom. Hold it tight & the bolt should undo without a problem. Next, pry off the dust seal & slide it up the tube & off the top. Remove the snap ring that retains the oil seal. Now you need to pull up sharply on the tube to remove the seal, sometimes 2 or 3 goes may be needed but it WILL come out. Once the seal has popped out of it's place you can slide it up the tube & remove it. What you do now is up to you. You can either start putting the assembly back together or (recommended) strip the tube out of the stanchion & give the components a thorough clean. If you decide to strip the assembly, make a careful note of how it all came out so you can put it all back exactly as it should be. Oil everything as you put it back together. Remember, one mistake could seriously upset things as far as handling goes! (Or worse!) When you are ready to fit the new seals proceed as follows. Make sure the ouside of the fork tube is clean, apply a thin film of fork oil to the outside to lubricate the new seal & very gently slide the new seal down over the tube. Now you need your piece of pipe I mentioned earlier. I use plastic pipe that I got from the scrap bin where I work (can't remember the exact size, will let you know later). It just fits over the tube & is exactly the same size as the outer edge of the seals. It is also longer than the tube so that it can be tapped from the top. Place the pipe over the tube & gently tap the seal into place using a soft mallet on the other end of the plastic tube. Replace the snap ring. Now slide the new dust seal over the top. I use a very thin bead of silicone sealant underneath the outer edge of the dust seal which will stop water getting under the seal & rusting the metal reinforcing ring underneath. Don't apply too much silicone or it will go over the fork tube when you tap it down & you don't want to do that. Tap it gently into place & wipe off any excess sealant that gets squeezed out of the edge. Now you can replace the bottom bolt & tighten it to the correct torque (14.5 ft/Ibs). Use a new copper washer if necessary. If the damper rod turns, use your wooden rod to hold it still like you did earlier when you undid it. Pour 362ml of new fork oil in the top, replace the spring, washer & spacer then replace the cap & snap ring & you're done! Wipe off any excess fork oil from the tube & any you spilled anwhere else - you don't want the stuff getting anywhere near the brakes! Replace the fork assembly in the yokes, tighten the pinch bolts & repeat the whole process on the other fork. You can then replace the wheel, fender & calipers etc & the jobs done. Double check everything is in place & tight before you ride the bike & admire your (hopefully) nice dry forks!
I hope this procedure makes sense - if anyone thinks I have missed anything, or needs more information then please let me know. I am also always open to suggestions on anything that might make the job any easier!
Take care & ride safe!

Thanks for the great writeup Ernie.

On some bikes, its easer to undo the bottom bolt with the spring tention still in place but the broom is usually needed to tighten/torque it up anyway.

Yes, that would be another good way of removing the bolts. I have also heard of people using an air impact wrench to undo them & tighten them afterwards. Can see how it could work due to the high torque of the tool but i'm not sure if i'd want to be that brutal. Will keep my air wrench for the car wheels I think!:beerchug:

Dang, I was really tired when I posted earlier and I meant get a Clymers manual not a Haynes manual! My bad. Also I did use an impact to loosen the bottom bolt since the bolt is locktited, but I reinstalled them with the power of my very own arms.

Chad and I just got done with my fork seals on my 1990 VN750.

http://www.bulldogsbike.com/forkseals.htm

Enjoy...

Hey bulldog485. Just checked out your link on changing the fork seals. That is a brilliant write up, much better than the one I posted. The photo's make it so much easier to understand too.
Reckon a lot of folks on this forum will find that useful.
Take care & ride safe!:beerchug:

Hey bulldog485. Just checked out your link on changing the fork seals. That is a brilliant write up, much better than the one I posted. The photo's make it so much easier to understand too.
Reckon a lot of folks on this forum will find that useful.
Take care & ride safe!:beerchug:

I personally love your write-up and if you give permission I would love to play with your write-up and post it to the webpage giving you full credit for your work.

No problem, you're more than welcome to use any of the text from my write up.
Thanks for asking,
Ernie.:beerchug:

Yeap, Bulldog from the VN750 group did a great pictoral write-up on his seal replacement. It can be found here
http://www.bulldogsbike.com/forkseals.htm

And parts list..

Need 2 (two)

Part Number: 92093-1197
Description: SEAL,FORK
Source: KAWASAKI
Price: $9.42


As long as you have it apart.. (two of these)

Part Number: 92049-1230
Description: SEAL-OIL,FORK
Source: KAWASAKI
Price: $9.69


And just in case.. (two of these)

Part Number: 92033-1200
Description: RING-SNAP,FORK
Source: KAWASAKI
Price: $2.56


And of course.. Fork oil.

A few paragraphs would be nice. Would make it much easier to read.

With Ernie's permission, I posted his write-up on my bike page as a "how-to" for fork-seal replacement.

Check it out at

http://www.bulldogsbike.com/forkseals.htm

and

http://www.bulldogsbike.com/forksealhowto.htm

Hope that people find this useful.

Thanks Ernie!!!

Looks good Bulldog !!
And that is a great write-up Ernie !!

Thanks for adding my write-up to your website Bulldog. It is a great site - well put together with some very useful information. Seems that these bikes are much more appreciated over in the USA than they are over here. They never really caught on here in the UK, in fact they were no longer imported after 1995 which I think is a shame. If anything ever happened to my '93 I would gladly have another one tomorrow. I have had great fun over the years touring the UK as well as France, Spain & Portugal & hope to continue doing so for some time yet. I went to Sturgis back in 1999 & seriously looked into shipping my own bike over to do it but it proved to be too expensive so I rented a Harley Electra-Glide instead. Rode from San Francisco to Sturgis & back again over a 3 week period. Had a great time & the Harley was great but it would have been just that little bit more satisfying if I could have done it on my own bike. Would love to do Sturgis again at some time. Have a buddy in southern PA who I visit regularly, thought maybe of doing a trip from there to Sturgis one year when I can afford it. Will have to do some serious saving first though.
Take care & ride safe.:beerchug:

...Rode from San Francisco to Sturgis & back again...
... Have a buddy in southern PA who I visit regularly, thought maybe of doing a trip from there to Sturgis one year ...

WOW, San Fran to Sturgis is about 1600 miles, one way.
Now that's some ridin' !!!
And from PA is over 1400 miles.
Sounds like you like to ride Ernie !!

I'd thought about heading to Stugis but having my bike trucked most of the way, then I'd have more time to check out the local sights.
From PA, I've never been further west than Kentucky.

Yeah, trip from San Francisco to Sturgis took 4 days. Got to Sturgis 2 days before rally started & managed to see Devils Tower & Mount Rushmore & generally got a feel of the area. Stayed at No Name City campground just off I-90 about 4 miles west of Sturgis. Lovely place, nice & clean with plenty of showers + a free bus into & back from town every 2 hours up until 2am. Would definitely stay there again if I go back. Left Sturgis on the last day & took 4 days to get back to San Francisco. Spent a couple of days there visiting Alcatraz & exploring the city before flying home. One of the best trips I ever had - cost me a fortune but what the hell! Only live once so may as well enjoy it.
Enjoy my trips to PA too, very pretty state. My buddy lives in Alum Bank - Bedford county, around 20 miles south of Altoona & 25 miles east of Johnstown. Usually fly to Washington DC & rent a car - only 2 hours drive to his place. My next trip over there is April next year & I can't wait.
Take care & ride safe. :beerchug:

Wow, lots of reading. I didn't have the time nor the money so I morfed it into one. Bought a $50.00 bike lift from Harbor Freight (Pep Boys falls apart), and lifted it high enough so the front wheel is off the floor (make sure you support the bike to compensate for weight taken off in front, put car jack stands under the back frame) take off the front wheel, calipers, speed cable, fender, signal lites, EASY STUFF. Now jack the bike up further and adjust stands to be able to drop the forks. Loosen the tripple tree bolts only to release the forks one by one. Total of 4 bolts.Take note of how far the fork assembly sticks out, which mine is EVEN with the top of the upper tripple clamp. Now you can take both fork assemblies to your motorcycle shop and let THEM take it appart, flush the fluid and reseal it for you. It should take 30min each so thats 65 bucks for one hour in labor over here where I am located. This is your only ride and no friends? Dismantle at night and at morn take the two assemblies on the bus. Be back by 3pm.

thanks to all the info on this board, i replaced my fork seals yesterday. wasn't very hard i suppose. some frustrations here and there but i worked through them.
anyway, i have an '86 vn750... do i NEED to put air back in the forks? there wasn't any in one of them before and the other barely had any in there.

thanks to all the info on this board, i replaced my fork seals yesterday. wasn't very hard i suppose. some frustrations here and there but i worked through them.
anyway, i have an '86 vn750... do i NEED to put air back in the forks? there wasn't any in one of them before and the other barely had any in there.

No, but you could ride awhile with no air, then (after you're used to the feel of them) add some air and see if you like the ride any better that way.

Good to hear ya got through the frustrations.

No, but you could ride awhile with no air, then (after you're used to the feel of them) add some air and see if you like the ride any better that way.

Good to hear ya got through the frustrations.

ah! good idea!
frustrations weren't too bad...

What dimensions of VN750 fork seal-oil (in millimeters)?

ok, just for your information, 38 x 52 x 11 mm

Ernie if you do decide to come over for another sturgis, and if I have "the other woman" on the road by then, and if DMAG doesn't want to ride her, (thats a few ifs) then you can ride one of my Vulcans and I'll ride the other!! I'm not too far from PA.