[Tbird]

I'm sure some of your have experience with these two tasks.

1) I have a fork seal to replace. I plan on just dropping the slider off the leaking side...sliding the lower slider off the upper fork. Do you know if it's possible to slide the lower fork off the upper fork without having to lift the bike for ground clearance? If so, do you think I could use an engine hoist? or any better idea you might have.

2) I've seen pics where folks have pulled the canister and all vacuum hoses off the throttle bodies replacing them with vacuum plugs. Once you do that and disconnect that electrical connector, what do you do with that electrical connector? Let it hang?

Thanks for the help...I hope it benefits others as well. I'm getting closer to getting BaDsalt back on the road and the excitement is welling up.

Tom

 

[mneblett]

I'm sure some of your have experience with these two tasks.

1) I have a fork seal to replace. I plan on just dropping the slider off the leaking side...sliding the lower slider off the upper fork. Do you know if it's possible to slide the lower fork off the upper fork without having to lift the bike for ground clearance? If so, do you think I could use an engine hoist? or any better idea you might have.

2) I've seen pics where folks have pulled the canister and all vacuum hoses off the throttle bodies replacing them with vacuum plugs. Once you do that and disconnect that electrical connector, what do you do with that electrical connector? Let it hang?

Thanks for the help...I hope it benefits others as well. I'm getting closer to getting BaDsalt back on the road and the excitement is welling up.

Tom

Hi, Tom -- sorry I forgot to reply to your PM!

As soon as I get home tonight, I will take a tape measure to my old fork tubes and give you a definitive answer on the lower leg removal.

As to the solenoid electrical connector, I just zip-tied it out of the way on with an adjacent harness -- pointing the connector down to prevent any chance of water collection in the connector. Also, FWIW, once you remove the solenoid, you can remove the plastic arm that hangs from from the air box -- not necessary; just one less thing in that area to block your view/fingers.

 

[mneblett]

Do you know if it's possible to slide the lower fork off the upper fork without having to lift the bike for ground clearance? If so, do you think I could use an engine hoist? or any better idea you might have.

The short answer is no -- the tube is about 22.5" long from where it meets the bottom of the steering head. The fork lower is about 26" long. Here's the hard spot: On my '05 (with Wilbers), the tube and leg overlap about 17", and there's about 11 inches from the bottom of the leg (at the axle) to the ground -- so you would need at least another 6" of room below your lift table to get the leg off.

Having thought about this a bit more, I believe I would approach the job by removing the upper side panel and the handlebar/steering head covers to gain access to the top of the fork tube, release the top of the tube from the upper steering head (you need a thin 22mm open-end wrench to keep the tube from rotating when removing its top retainnig nut).

From there I would either release the fork leg from the lower bridge and take it to the bench for the seal replacement, or loosen/free the top of the other fork tube to permit the entire fork assembly to pivot a few degrees so that the fork tube on the leaking side could be moves to the side of the steering head and pulled up and out of teh bike (leaving the lower fork leg still attached to the bike. I probably would do the former.

HTH!

 

[Tbird]

*BIG* thanks Mark

That was what I was thinking too...NOT enough clearance to slide off the bottom. I will almost certainly just release the entire right fork for the seal replacement and leave the rest of the front assembly alone...per your first suggestion. Wouldn't you know...I just reinstalled the steering covers after putting in the new style throttle cables yesterday.

I'll let you know how it goes. It'll be a few days before I get the chance to tackle it (Wed/Thu).

Again, I very much appreciate your help. Your expertise rocks! :yeah:

 

[cyclecamper]

You forget that the fork legs are not mounted rigidly to an upper triple clamp with one ball joint like on the other telelever BMWs. The LT's two upper male fork legs are EACH connected to the upper triple-clamp with their OWN ball joints...so after you disconnect the fork leg from the fork bridge and axle, then the single leg can swing FORWARD AND SIDEWAYS several degrees and independently of the other leg. When the wheel is turned to lock, between the sideways swing (which then has a forward component in relation to the turned fork) and the forward swing, it JUST ABOUT makes it. You need to weight the back or unweight the front (ie. by removing the front wheel) and you need to turn the handlebars so that the leg you're removing is in the correct position (but I'm not sure what the correct position IS anymore...LOL consult the Kama Sutra). I had my tupperware all off my naked honey anyway...now let me recall...last time was before I moved the lift out of hte ex's house...hmmm, I shoved an ammo can under the front of the engine but that was mostly just to stabilize it off the front wheel (before I removed the front wheel)... But I'll bet that if you just park it with the centerstand on two pieces of plywood you'll get the fork leg off without much trouble or hoisting anything...in fact I think it can be done without ANYTHING extra besides the centerstand. But don't strip out the heads of the screws that hold the brake lines on; use heat if necessary. Same for the fork pinch-bolts.

When you put it together, you MUST carefully measure the axle spacing as per the book. If you don't before you tighten the bridge bolts the seals will just fail again because the fork ower will be rigid without being parallel, and suspension movement will damage the seals and sliders. Use the book. Don't just snug teh leg up on too close on the axle...MEASURE just exactly like the book says.

And if your seals have problems make certain you replace the sliding bushings at the same time too, they're a copper or brass-colored ring that looks kind of like two bearing shells stuck together to form a full circle but with a light-colored teflon coating on the inside bearing surface. And of course both the seals and dust-wipers. and do both sides. and paint the house. and take out the garbage and move the laundry. uh, nevemind those last few...just my senility.

 

[Tbird]

Seal Replacement Underway

Despite working a string of midnights...and walking around like a zombie...I decided I couldn't stand to let the bike just sit with new parts sitting on the bench. I pulled the fork and took it apart last night. I didn't work too hard at it...but my inital attempts at freeing the seal were unsuccessful. I'll get back at it today.

Cyclecamper...as instructed:
I also painted the garbage, took out the laundary, and moved the house.

For sure I'll do the measuring of the forks as both of you guys and my manual tell to do.

The ONLY thing that still has me a bit confused is when it says..."Bleed telescopic fork in no-load position". That's that mean??? (the bleed screw is out at this point in the assemby. Is no load position with the tube extended...or at some equilibrium level? If extended...how do you know how much?

 

[mneblett]

...but my inital attempts at freeing the seal were unsuccessful. I'll get back at it today.

I will photograph the seal bits this evening to help you visualize the parts. Did you get past getting the top wiper ring out? If not, the wiper is fairly thin, so you may have been leveraging on the seal ring beneath it -- which of course won't come out until the wire snap ring is removed. You'll see what I mean when I get the pics together.

The ONLY thing that still has me a bit confused is when it says..."Bleed telescopic fork in no-load position". That's that mean??? (the bleed screw is out at this point in the assemby. Is no load position with the tube extended...or at some equilibrium level? If extended...how do you know how much?

As I understanding it, that's the fork-installed, bike-on-centerstand position.

This should aid your understanding: The reason is to ensure the proper volume of air is present over the oil in the tube. The air adds a bit of spring rate. Moreover, if you had the tube fully compressed, when you tried to extend it to reassemble the front end, you likely wouldn't be able to overcome the vacuum that would result as you try to pull the tube out.

 

[Tbird]

Hey Mark,

Just woke up from my nap and went out and was successful in gutting the slider. I had already removed the wiper...I was just trying to baby the seal out and it really needs a little careful forcing. As I stated, I had barely even tried. From here on out it's all reassembly. Thanks again for your help.