Fork Seal Install with Fork In Bike - How?

[WingMan71]

I need to replace a leaky left fork seal before I ride this spring. I have a factory shop manual and a Hayes manual and both show the operation with the fork tube removed from the triple-tree.

However, I want to replace the seal with the fork tube in place on the bike. The only thing I can’t figure out is how the heck to install the actual seal itself WITHOUT having the fork tube in the slider at the time. How to you use a seal driver without the fork tube in the slider to center the driver?

If you put the slider and driver onto the tube before driving the seal in, then how do you get the seal driver off of the tube once you're done? Do you pull the slider back off, remove the driver, and then put the slider back on the tube? If so, how can you do that without damaging the seal?

Color me confused! Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[Ed Z]

One way would be to make a seal driver that splits in half... You could use a couple hose clamps to keep it together for driving the seal and then just split it back in half to remove it from the bike... I'd line the inside of it with something soft to protect the fork tube from damage... Mine were not to hard to drive into the lower fork... You may want to order a couple replacement "C" clips forthe seals... Mine were quite rusted and I just didn't want to trust them to stay in place...

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[GoneFishin]

Use a length of 1 1/2 in. PVC cut in half lengthwise and hold it on the tube with hose clamps. Makes a great seal installer.