Sam's ZXR 400 H1 Restoration - Front forks

Part 2: Time to get to work

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Here is the latest episode in the Sam's Ninja story - check out the link if you want to read how it all started.

So - after quite some time standing around looking at the un-usable Ninja, I decided to get to it. My normal way of working on bikes is to start from one end and work my way through to the other. The front fork seals were my first goal, and this was essentially the biggest job on the front end, “That should be easy Peasy.” I thought – famous last words! I picked up some new fork oil seals and dust seals from Wemoto before borrowing two axle jacks from a friend and lifted the front end off the bike in a secure and safe manner.

Off came the front callipers, wheel, and the forks themselves soon after. However, this usually quite simple, however biggest job, soon became the most costly. As I discovered why the oil seal had failed so badly It appears that whoever had replaced the seals (or did whatever with the forks) before had kindly used some form of grip on the chrome stanchion itself, after dismantling and inspecting the tube, I uncovered numerous deep gouges and scoring on the metal surface.

Typically these damaged spots happened to be situated directly on the run of the oil seal, the thin rubber inner couldn’t have stood a chance against the damaged areas and had failed on almost the whole inner diameter of the oil seal itself. This meant that a whole replacement stanchion was needed, turning a £20 fix into a £130 fix. Also adding a week onto the time the bike was off two wheels.. I was not impressed.

Who knows how long it had been this way too. As whilst draining both fork legs, The far side fork had exactly the right amount of Fork oil and was also relatively clean. However the bad fork leg was almost empty of oil. Instead of oil it was full of stagnant liquid, presumably years old rain water that came out yellowish and looked like pus from an infected wound (no joke). It absolutely stank so badly we actually had to leave the garage and allow it to air out for half an hour before going back in.

Once the new Stanchion had arrived I fitted the fork mechanisms back together and replaced the oil and dust seals. As you can imagine, after reassembling the whole lot, there was a big sigh of relief, albeit I was a bit short on pocket money after my discovery, but now knowing it was safer and one step closer to passing that all important M.O.T test. I could now get on with the next job on my Agenda.. Next weekend, maybe…
Sam Carpmael
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