Fork seal replacement on r65LS

[jamestnewsonr65]

A pesky small tear in one of my fork oil seals decided to spray sticky fork oil all over my left side...

My question is to replace the seal I can just take off the lower leg, replace the seal and refit... Do I need to take the complete leg off though to fit the lower allen bolt as it won't snug up, just spinning with the internals.

Thanks for any replies. I can't remember what I did when I rebuilt them 5 years ago.

[Barry]

To tighten up the Allen bolt try compressing that fork leg which will press down on the damper rod piston and help stop it from spinning.  If you had a impact gun that would also work.  If all else fails you need to remove the spring and use a socket on a long extention to hold the damper piston still while you tighten the Allen bolt.

Edit:
Even if you use the socket method, overtightening the Allen bolt can have interesting results. One time when I was dismantling the forks, instead of the Allen bolt unscrewing the whole damper rod unscrewed from the damper piston.

[Tony Smith]

13mm socket. 

And hope that the whole top of the damper rod doesn't unscrew. That is a PITA.

[Barry]

You beat me to it while I was editiing Tony.  Yes it was PITA.

[jamestnewsonr65]

Thanks for the replies. I'll try the impact driver on it and if that doesn't work then I'll take the assembly out and get a long extension.

Thanks as always.

[Tony Smith]

Thanks for the replies. I'll try the impact driver on it .

When you say "impact driver" I hope you mean "air impact wrench" aka 'rattle gun'.

If you mean an impact wrench that you smack with a hammer - they are good devices, but this is not their bailiwick, don't even bother - pull the spring and start borrowing socket extensions.

[Tony Smith]

You beat me to it while I was editiing Tony.  Yes it was PITA.

Hello fellow sufferer.   My damper rod tops are now secured with Loctite green.

[jamestnewsonr65]

Yeah I meant Air impact wrench. Not the one you whack with a massive hammer