Fork dust covers, removing them with the tube installed?

[DavidATL]

I want to follow Martin's lead and pack the volume between the seal and dust cover with a silicone-based grease. Bike has 27k miles, no idea of the history before 14k or so. No records indicating any maintenance on them. Seem to be working quite well. No leaks, no pitting on the tubes. Not ridden in a dusty environment. Tubes are wiped down after every warm weather ride (Georgia bugs, nasty).

My covers on my 92 75 RT look like this:


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So before I force and break something, can these be pulled up with the chrome upper tube in place? Any tips to avoid damage to the lower fork tube painted surface?


and while I am at it, another question. Some covers look like this:

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Pretty sure my 88 K75S had that larger type but not sure after 20+ years.

Which bricks have those?

[Martin]

Dave you can just pop them up by gently prying. You can clean them in place and any muck on top of the inner seals should be cleaned off. You can buy a tool called a Seal Mate or make one out of a soft drink bottle . Once everything is clean pack between the seals. I change the grease every 12-18 months, but probably it should be changed more often in dusty conditions. You might want to pack silicone grease under your rear master cylinder boot it will stop the ingress of road crap and water.

Regards Martin.

[DavidATL]

Dave you can just pop them up by gently prying. You can clean them in place and any muck on top of the inner seals should be cleaned off. You can buy a tool called a Seal Mate or make one out of a soft drink bottle . Once everything is clean pack between the seals. I change the grease every 12-18 months, but probably it should be changed more often in dusty conditions. You might want to pack silicone grease under your rear master cylinder boot it will stop the ingress of road crap and water.

Regards Martin.

Thanks for the quick reply! Figured you'd be asleep right now :-)

Thinking of using Honda silicone grease:

https://www.hondapartsdirect.com/oem-parts/honda-grease-silicone-087989013?origin=pla&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIgoHqtLOg4AIVEIGzCh0OGg4hEAQYASABEgI74fD_BwE

I've found it very useful and I already have it. Any thoughts?

[Martin]

Dave I haven't tried Honda silicone grease. I either use the Dow Corning high vacuum grease $50.00Au left over from doing my Fluid Bloc, or now Herschells silicone grease $8.00Au from my local auto shop. A local medical supply place sells these huge cotton buds (Q Tips) really good for cleaning nooks and crannies the standard size good for smaller crooks and grannies. I normally get up around 0400.

Regards Martin.

[DavidATL]

Well, that was silly easy.  I just cleaned and renewed both fork seals - a thirty minute job.

I chose to buy tools to make the job a bit easier. The dust seal remover from Unit made short work of prying them off though a careful hand and wide screwdriver would work almost as well. Instead of 35mm film, I bought the over priced but effective and easy to use seal mate cleaner from motion pro.

After prying up the dust covers, I cleaned everything with alcohol then treated all the exposed rubber with ATP AT-205 auto transmission sealer. As the ATP sat on the seal, I ran the seal mate cleaner around the fork tube. Wiped up the excess then packed with the silicone Honda grease I had. A couple of jounces on the bike forced the excess grease out of the dust covers. I wiped that clean and we are good to go.

 



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