How to service oil seal in Showa inner chamber

[NO HAND]

Hi guys, I would like to know if it's hard to service the oil seal of the inner chamber of my Showa. I see some peen marks right at the lower end of the cartridge. Is that it? Do I have to drill peen marks :ohmy: to get there?

Well first I'm not even sure, I noticed when I serviced the damper that one of the cartridge has no stiction anymore, I mean I feel no seal drag like it used to be and the shaft is more wet than the other side. That means the seal in there is shot right? :ugg:

Now both forks are assembled and the feel is very different from one to the other. The one with the weak seal feels loose on rebound. Now if the seal is gone and I ride it like this, the oil is gonna escape to the spring chamber, and no oil left means I'm about to wreck the inner chamber right?

Im still hoping everything's all right and it's all in my head. I would really appreciate your opinions on this, I feel paranoïa taking over!
Thanks in advance :worship:

 

[NO HAND]

Well I'll try and make it simpler, my question was is it possible to change that seal. It's not availlable from honda, and it is not shown on the microfiche. It is the seal of the damper rod. It looks like it can't be changed. Does anyone has info on where they could repair this? Or is it easy to do it at home?
Thanks

 

[marcusgunby]

I think it can be done but i havnt done one, i think it will be a case of drilling the peens, i would ring up jer and see if he sells the part.

Did you protect the threaded part of the rod with ptfe tape? as this stops the threads ripping up the seal.

 

[NO HAND]

..Did you protect the threaded part of the rod with ptfe tape? as this stops the threads ripping up the seal.

I did not remove the rod myself, but I will remember this trick. This is genius!
Marcus, I also tried your trick of using hot water on the seal cage before separating the tubes. It worked awesome!

 

[shockdoc]

Yes, that seal can be replaced. If it is bad once you bleed and install the comp. valve assy the rod will not extend back out by itself once you bleed off the excess oil.

You will need some soft alum clamps to hold the cartridge then use some heat and a allen wrench.

Try Factory Connection for the parts.


doc

 

[NO HAND]

Thanks, this is going to help me alot. The seal was pulling air in the compression stroke. After I had been trying to bleed the air in the damper for 15 minutes, there had to be something wrong. I noticed the rod was all wet and dripping even on the reboung stroke. I should have known because it felt like it had no resistance from the seal anymore, so different from the other side where it has so much stiction. It really is crazy the amount of stiction they have when they are working properly. Thanks again!

 

[bobbygrin22]

No hand, did you ever get your inner chamber seal replaced? I would be curious as to how this went. Thanks.

 

[NO HAND]

Yeah, I had it replaced, I had no choice really it leaked so much. Since I had the fork revalved by Mx-Tech in Toronto just before, Jeff offered to replace the seal for me labor free. I just had to pay the seal. He had to order the seal from Factory Connection as it is the only place you can have them. To remove the seal you have to drill some peen marks but not too deep or you will go through the cartridge. Then use some heat to unthread the seal housing. Now that I've seen how it's done, I would be confident to replace it myself the next time. Do you have the same problem Bobby?

 

[NO HAND]

Just a note, when you put the damper rod back in the chamber, use teflon tape on the damper rod thread to protect your new seal from the sharp thread.

 

[bobbygrin22]

Yeah, I've got the same problem. I still need to get it done. Thanks for the info.

 

[Danger]

Guys, the top few threads on the damper rod are sharp as razor blades and even protude above the diameter of the rod at times. They have been that way on Showa forks for years. Before removing the damper rod from the cartridge take a fine file and take the top edge of the top few threads. You can feel them with your finger like checking how sharp a knife is. Then I like to put one layer of thin masking tape just on the threads and grease it before removal and reassembly. The PFTE tape (we call it thread tape here) can break into small pieces that can float around in your valving, not good).
Now someone will chime in and tell you not to file your threads but it does no harm as the jamb nut does not even thread onto this portion and there is plenty of available thread left.
Hope that helps someone.

 

[KTM-Lew]

If you file it before you remove the jam nut the nut will "correct" and misfit created too.

Nice tip Danger!