11 replies to this topic

[petej]

I'm now replacing the aged fork seal assembly on my tlr200e. Having been through a tlr200 workshop manual I've discovered that one side appears to have an extra washer/shim that I didn't expect (see fork on left hand side of photo). Can someone tell me if that washer should be there. I suspect someone has used it in place of the proper backup ring. Also, any ideas how to get it out as its well in?

[petej]

And here's the photo...

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[Big John]

Gently heat the top of the fork leg with a hot air stripper (don't get it too hot!) and then turn the fork leg upside down and give it a firm dunt onto your workbench. That should dislodge it!

The alloy will heat up faster than the steel washer in theory.

Cheers...

Big John

[james111089]

how do you get the forks apart because i want to replace my seals is it a big job?

What tools are needed?

James

[petej]

Many thanks Big John. I don't have a hot air stripper at home and didn't fancy using the wife's hair drier so I dribbled some hot water from the kettle over the outside of the fork. Two dunts later - hey presto!

Approx. measurements:

47 mm o.d.
36 mm i.d.
3 mm thick

Anyone notice these in their forks or am I the lucky one?!

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[petej]

James - its not a big job and you don't need special tools. I followed the front fork disassembly steps in a Honda TLR200 US service manual.

1. Remove front wheel and mudguard
2. loosen fork tube cap
3. loosen pinch bolts and remove fork tube
4. remove fork tube
5. remove fork tube cap, spacer, spring seat, fork spring
6. drain fork oil into tray
7. remove socket bolt at base of fork slider (held carefully in a vice)
8. remove fork tube from slider
9. remove oil lock piece, fork piston, rebound spring, dust seal and snap circlip
10. Honda use an oil seal remover at this stage but you can use the same technique Big John just described. Others, I believe, use screwdrivers

David Silver has an oil seal and dust cap kit. There's also a chap on eBay selling stuff for twinshock/pre65 trials bikes and he sells seals for the D/E and G/H range of TLR200's.

[james111089]

so you dont need a special tool to get down the fork like on the Yamaha ty 250 monos where we had to make a hex on the end on a long bar to go down the tube.

James

[petej]

Nope. The equivalent TLR bit is the bolt on the bottom of the fork leg. Easy to damage but easier to get to.

[petej]

Just in case anyone is following this thread, I found out that the washer is the backup ring on the bigger diameter forks on the TLR200D/E models. I was missing one from the other fork...

[frontroomautos]

I have just joined and just noticed your question so i might be a bit late with any help offered by now. Yes the washer is the back up ring as you say there should be one in both fork sliders though (as is obvious). I have noticed that it looks from the photo that who ever changed the seals at some point in the past hammered them home quite hard as i remember when i did mine that there was a bush that pertrudes about 1mm (approx). When i took mine apart the back up ring sat on this and the seal on the backup ring. (The back up ring lip side faced upwards). The circlip then seated in the slider groove & butting against the top of the oil seal. However when i took the right fork apart the same was true except it appeared that the bush lip that the backup ring was sitting on had been knocked or shunted down 1mm-the result being that the backup ring and therefore oil seal had also shifted down 1mm which left a 1mm gap between the top of the oil seal and the circlip. I dont think this had been a problem, i would never have known unless i had taken them apart but i dont know how to raise the bush 1mm & didnt consider it drastic enough to do so so i put in new seals which of course sat the same. I suppose i could have shunted the other bush down to match but didnt. I thought that if need be in the future that i could machine up a washer to sit on top of the oil seal and make up the 1mm gap between it and the oil seal. This is how i found mine, im just mentioning this out of interest as i noticed that in the picture you provide of the inside of the fork sliders it seems that the bush lip has also been driven down slightly. I'm sure there is no great problem with this unless anyone knows otherwise? Regards frontroomautos.

[Steve NZ]

I have purchased a TLR 200 approx 86, have not had enough time to research yet. I need to do the fork seals as you have recently attempted. I do not have a manual and was wondering what the Oil Charge per leg is - can you give me an idea of what yours was?

Also trying to locate a manual.

Steve

[Hans]

Hi Steve, its not approx an 86, its a 83 or 84 which is better than 86 also forks are different.
Cheers
Hans