86 250r fork seals..Please help..

[250rrider]

Hello, I have a set of 1986 250r forks. I bought new oil seals from dennis kirk to replace the old ones, i have a clymer manual but it doesnt seem to help me much. So i got thedust seal and snap ring out and thought i could pull the fork tube out, but it wont come out. and the allan head screw in the botom of the fork is stripped so that wont move. i started to pick at the old oil seals to try to get them out but they sre coming hard, so i ruined them and there still in. what should i do. please help me..

[Xowner]

you gotta get that allen head out at the bottom of the forks ! sry to tell yah :?

[skippy]

he's right.. 100% that allen bolt needs to come out.. that is where most people have problem w those shocks,, so do what it takes!

[ange]

Just went through this on my T3. If you can't get the bottom allen bolts out, this is the only way to do it.

Take a drill w/ a bit that is just a little bit smaller than the head on the allen bolt. Drill the head off the stripped/stuck allen bolt. (this is real easy to do, while drilling, as soon as the head on the bolt starts spinning, you have gone far enough)
Fork comes right apart afterwards. To get the rest of the bolt out, just grab it w/ some visegrips and unthread it.

W/ the fork tube out, you should be able to get the seals out pretty easily. A hooked "seal puller" is the best way to do it. If you dont have one, be carefull w/ the screwdriver prying them out, so you dont scratch up the inside race... if you do it will scratch the hell out of your fork tube in the long run.

Buy a new allen bolt (Hondas use a common metric size) and put them
back together.

[250rAL]

You don't have to pull the seals; just yank the fork slider down repeatedly like a slide hammer and the seal will pop right out. This is after you conquer that bolt of course!

[Dirtcrasher]

If that bolt cannot be removed by jamming something in there, then it must be drilled out. You can't heat it or anything else. But then the tubes yank apart with dust seal, oil seal, spacer and clip attatched to the upper tube. Fixing it....

Easy ways

Use a Dremel with the good fibergass reinforced wheels and slice a groove in that bolt head centered the best you can. Yes you will cut the lower tube aluminum just a bit but it won't harm it. Then you need an impact screwdriver and a good flat bit to get it loose (usually a pretty tight bolt).

OR

Put spring back in and find someone with a lathe. Chuck the top fork tube in the lathe and use a drill or better yet - an end mill to remove the bolt head. About 30 seconds on a lathe but you gotta know someone with one.

Once it's apart then you can deal with the rest of the bolt in the lower damper rod which will probably spin right out.

End mills are flat on the bottom and work great in this scenario.

Hard way

Do the same but use a hand drill etc. Allens are usually quite hard so get good bits.

Good news

The head of those bolts isn't real thick and about 7/16 outside diameter, The threads are 8mm or about 5/16 outside diameter. To get the fork apart you only need to get that bolt head drilled or milled off. And it has a copper washer below the head so you have a buffer before you hit the lower aluminum slide.

Or just beat the snot out of it and ruin it :-D

[max]

250ral is correct. just grab the fork tube like it is a slide hammer and pump it and it will come out. there is lock tight on the allen bolt, youll either have to heat it or use an impact hammer on it. any questions, just pm me.