Sealey Ms016 Fork Seal Driver

Product Information

It did take a proper tug (oooer missus) ... thats why I mentiond to "not be afraid to give it some abuse" (or words to that effect). Take off the top cap - Remove inner damping rod – It will slide out as you tip the fork oil out – And remove fork spring. Laser Fork Oil Level Setting Tool Setting the fluid level in front forks accurately is critical to the safe handling of your bike and this tool makes it a piece of cake.

At this point it is important to note / write down how each part fits together – As you will be cleaning them all later on. To drive the seal down I use a cut down plastic drain pipe as a slide hammer. Get a plastic drain pipe at least maybe three times the width of a hand, ideally more.Make sure that it is slightly less than half of one side (obviously) so that you can easily put it around the fork leg. Although I did this on a set of Kayaba UD Forks from a Yamaha WR400 ... I figure the basic principles will work on any fork. Remove forks from yokes and loosen the top cap on the forks – Do not actually remove the top cap at this point. But, there is no need. Follow these simple instructions and its as easy as changing an oil filter ! If I can do it, then anyone can!

Our experience is that the syringes with this product don't last forever with the interaction with suspension fluid and we would advise you to clean it out thoroughly after use. The syringe can be exchanged for a vacuum brake bleeding tool. The syringes on the professional version last much longer, so if you are stripping a lot of forks it is a better buy. Make sure the fork is pulled apart ¾ of the way, and wrap the lower fork with the paper, and tape in place. Ideally you’ll have used a section with a properly flat bottom, in which case you should be able to just drive straight down with a ‘slide hammer’ action (read wanking ), if it’s not properly flat at the bottom, you’ll need to keep turning the fork after each drive to ensure it stays evenly pushed down. Rough guide is that if you can clearly see the top and bottom of the spring clip recess, then the seal is in.As it’s not smaller on the outside and inside, it will easily fall out when the new one is in place. The seal is ‘pressure fitted’ and you are meant to use the correct seal driver or take it to a bike shop. Not all upper and lower fork slider tubes are the same diameter, so this is going to take some patience on your part when in your local hardware store. If you can’t find something off the shelf like I did with the PVC coupler above, there is an alternative.

I have made a small video showing the 'hard bit' ... driving the new fork seal into place ... which shows how easy it is using home made tools. As you will see in the video – the total time spent actually driving the seal into place is no more than 2 minutes. (Studying the video again and it is actually under 1min 30 seconds per seal) Loosen top yoke pinch bolts – Keeping the lower yoke bolts done up – This allows you to easily undo the top cap on the forks.Each fork type needs certain settings of the damping, oil, etc done. Eg: Some forks (Kayaba) require you to loosen off the damper before tightening the top cap. However, in the age of big-box hardware stores, there are definitely opportunities to make your own specialty tool and save yourself some major cash. The seal will start to make a distinct ‘metal tap’ sound as it seats against the metal of the fork upper. On UD forks the fork stanchion itself has the aluminium wheel thingy (technical term) at the bottom ... so you cannot just slip over a full seal or pipe.

Clean forks thoroughly before taking forks apart – This makes it easier to stop mud and grit getting into the fork internals when they are apart.

Take fork upper and coat the seal mating face with seal grease (not normal grease). This is important as it will prevent the seal degrading and also the aluminium of the fork upper corroding.