Hi all, i have been attempting to do my fork seals on my 315r (99) today. I have got to the point where the new seals are in. Now when i try to put the forks back together i am struggling. When i try to put the forks back together there is like a split washer (dont know the exact name for it) but it wont stay in place. It says in the manual that there is a sepcial tool required as the washer keeps sliking up the forks when it should say in place. has any one got any ideas of what too you use to do this?? hope you understand as my explanation is probabily not the best, cheers matt

Are you talking about the split bush or the wire circlip that holds the seals in?

Ya what he said?! If your seals are in your upper and lower legs should ALREADY be together!

If you talking about the retainer ring above the seal...not sure what the problem is.

its the split bush thats on the damper section. I cant get it to stay where it is, everytime i go to put the forks back together the oil seal pushes it up the damper.

Edited March 9, 201115 yr by swinny

Your putting it together in the wrong order.

1. slide upper and lower together with bushing at the bottom of the inner tube in place

2. drive the outer bushing into the top of the lower leg

3. flat washer

4. drive in oil seal

5. dust seal

pvc pipe works a treat to drive bushings and seals. I taper the inside edge so as not to mess up the oil seal.

Have a look here, at bottom of the page. Yours are the Paoli forks - Apex. That should give you an idea although I reckon it makes it look more complicated than it really is.

sherco29's right it sounds like you've got something in the wrong order.

That split bush should be at the bottom of the bits on the stanchion as you put it together, so it goes into the top of the slider (lower leg) first. It then sits there in it's recess providing the top bearing point for the slider on the stanchion. The cupped metal washer, oil seal, circlip, outer dust seal then go in in that order.

Now I'm looking at it a bit more I think someone has got those drawings on the Apex site a bit cocked up. The seal assembley on my Paoli forks are actually those shown on the Showa forks. Anybody care to comment?

The way I posted is how every conventional fork goes together.

You DO NOT put the upper and lower together after putting in the bushing and seals.

Slide the forks together, than put the bushing and seals in. You will destroy your seals trying it like your doing.

cheers for the replies, the info is brill. i have done exactly as you said. put all the bushes etc together in the bottom part of the forks, then tried to put them together. even tried with the pvc pipe that was mensioned, but that is where im going wrong...... tried 5 times so far with no luck...... only problem now i have put them all together is that i took everything back out (seals etc) but the bottom bush is now stuck in the fork.. So not a clue how i will get that out now :-(

I should have looked in to it more first than trying myself.

Can ya post a pic(s)?

Right think im back on track now. The bush that was stuck in the fork was brass, so i put it in hot water which made the aluminium fork slightly expand so i could tap the bush out. :-) so back where i first started now. going to follow your advice above now and see if i can get it right this time. cheers for advice, will keep this updated, cheers matt

followed all you info and brill all sorted, cheers :-)