Fork Seals: 1983-85 200X

[Glenn]

Parts needed:
Metric sockets
6mm allen wrench
Snap ring pliers
Fork seals from Dennis Kirk. Get the good ones! They're only a bit more than the regualrs.

A factory service manual. This guide is helpful, but you’re still going to need the manual. Don’t bother waiting for one on E-Bay….servicehonda.com sells them brand new for $32 + shipping. There’s a two-week lead, but it’s worth the wait.

This was done on a 1985 200X. You’re machine may be different, so don’t hold myself or Dan responsible.

[Glenn]

Step 1:
Remove your front wheel. Make sure you support the front caliper after you unbolt and remove it! Have the caliper hanging off of 20 year old brake line is asking for trouble. If you look closely, you can see I put the caliper on the kick starter.

[Glenn]

Step 2:
Unbolt the forks from the trees.

[Glenn]

Step 3:
Make sure you have one hand on the fork before unbolting the last two bolts. There’s a chance the tube could slide right out and hit the floor. That’s not good and will probably really tick you off. It’s not good to be ticked off in step 3 because we still have a ways to go.

[Glenn]

Step 4:
Before removing the tube, I decided to loosen the cap on the top of the tube. I slid the tube down, then retightened the tree bolts to hold the tube in place. I slid the tube down because it was easier for me to access the top of the tube from that location…the handle bars where in the way when the tubes are in their regular position.

[Glenn]

Step 5:
Once you have the fork tubes out, and the top caps loosened a bit, you can remove the top cap by hand. Be careful because the springs will put some pressure on the cap. It’s not going to fly off, bust just be mindful that there’s going to be some pressure there. Once the cap is off, you can remove the springs:

[Glenn]

Step 6:
Drain the old fluid. As you can see by the color of this fluid, it was about 5+ years overdue for a change. Yuk!

[Glenn]

Step 7:
I gave each fork some extra time to sit upside down and drain:

[Glenn]

Step 8:
Use your 6mm allen wrench and unbolt the bolt at the bottom of the tube. Oil will come out, so be prepared for that. Remove the dust seal, and then remove the snap ring that holds the seals in. That snap ring was a real PITA to remove. Make sure the kids aren’t around because there’s a good chance a few 4-letter words will be flying. Once the snap ring and bolt are out, you can pull the fork apart. It’s going to take a few pulls, but you’ll get it.

Note: Pay attention to how these parts come apart! The factory manual tells you to make sure a certain washer is installed a certain way, but it does NOT bother to show you which way is correct!

[Glenn]

Step 9:
Inspect the bushing. The ol’ manual says if this is more than 75% worn, replace it. You can tell how worn it is by checking how much off the Teflon coating is worn off. Luckily, mine was hardly worn at all. You can see a small bit worn off at the leading edge, but that’s it.

[Glenn]

Step 10:
Once you have everything cleaned off, you’re ready to drive in the new seals.
(Note: Clean everything really well! Including the springs. My fluid was really dirty and I wanted to remove as much of the old stuff as possible before putting it all back together. )

Coat the seals and surfaces with automatic transmission fluid. This will help the seal seat easier and hopefully make things easier for you.

Instead of a fork seal driver, I used a piece of PVC piping. As long as the pipe has an and inch and a1/4 inside diameter, you’ll be set. In hindsight, I should have picked up a 2.5 foot piece of PVC. That would have allowed me to tap the top of the PVC pipe and drive the seal in. The small piece I had required me to tap around the edges. I’m sure this took longer than it should have for me. Let my minor “oops” save you some time.

[Glenn]

Step 11:

Put everything back together and fill each fork/tube up with 211 milliliters of automatic transmission fluid. Yes, that’s what the manual recommends! In my opinion, there’s no need to go out and spend big bucks on fancy fork fluid. You’re only helping the owner of your local dealership pay for his kid’s college tuition.

[Glenn]

Throughout this whole procedure:
Take your time and have fun. If you’re anything like me, you’re going to make a hell of a mess and you’re wife will take the camera from you, laugh at you for making the mess and using 2 rolls of paper towels, then take your picture.

[ATCnut]

Great Writeup Glenn

I will only suggest one change to the procedure. Just like you loosened the top cap before you got the shock all the way out, you might want to loosten the allen bolt in the bottom of the shock before you start with anything else. The bolt can be stuck in the bottom of the fork tube, and the whole mess can turn. If you use a tie down strap or two to compress the front end down, then the allen bolts can be broken loose easily.

As I said at the beginning, great writeup

[Glenn]

Thanks! I hope it helps folks out when they decide to do something like this.

That's an excellent suggestion. I had a difficult time with one of the allen bolts, but was able to break free after using a larger ratchet.

The manual states that you can use a vice to hold the shock once it's removed, but I don't have a vice in the ol' garage.

I'm going to double check on the size of that allen bolt, I'm not 100% sure if it's 6mm or not.

[gorbyback]

To rebuild shock for 250sx is really close to the 200x, three things on info or tips is
1. the snap ring doesn't need ring pliers, a small screwdriver will make it come out.
2. fluid amount is 180cc in each shock, use atf fluid that is what the manual says.
3. and you need to put tension on the bottom to get the allen bolt to thread on the bottom of the shock by putting it back together to put tension on the bottom to get the bolt to thread in, do this before installing the new seal.
Hope this help some out on a 250sx shock.

[Glenn]

Cool, that's good to know!

[hectoris]

I have some seals that I bought for an 85...Tehy look the same...What PARTS do I need to fully rebuild them. Do I need another set of differnt seals and is there more then one seal in each fork that I have to replace?