MOT well failed - advice please

My '95 GS500ES has just failed its MOT on several counts
of chassis rot:

a) Worn rear wheel bearing

b) Excessive lateral play in rear suspension linkage

c) Blown fork seal (damm thing blew on the way to the test station).

"Time to spend some money on it" said the MOT man. Well
quite. But not too much; given that with looks etched
by 32K miles of commuting, this "good runner" is not going
to fetch much. I'm not looking to bodge things, but do need
a bit of advice before getting stuck in with the spanners.

New wheel bearings and a fork seal have arrived from www.suzuki-spares.co.uk
(who provide a very good web order service in my opinion). Replacement of the
wheel bearings seems straightforward enough. However, with a blown fork seal, is
it possible to replace one without stripping the fork down? I.e drop the
stanchion, remove dustcover, retaining clip and then somehow extract
the old seal.

Lateral play in the suspension linkages - does this mean all
of the bushes (there are about six at ~15GBP a throw) and inner
sleeves (8GBP) need replacing ? Or is there some way I can measure
these parts for wear.

DaveN
x- Ducati 748R, GS500ES, Laverda 650 -x

 

This "somehow" might cost you more time than taking the forks apart.

However.
With the SoSR I learnt a trick to do it that way (but you will have to
change the fork oil afterwards):

- drop stanchion, remove dustcover and retaining clip.
- fill stanchion with (old) oil to the brim.
- put a rag aroung fork seal (tight).
- put stanchion on wooden plank.
- fix another piece of wood on top of stanchion.
- get someone to hold stanchion upright and
- put a mallet to good use on top of wood-covered stanchion. Hard.

The seal will pop out with a liberal amount of oil (hence the rag).

Go bite the bullet and change them all. It ain't worth the time
measuring them. Even if some have "neglectable play only", they will
wear extra quick if the rest is replaced.

--
Tom :{)
BOTAFOT#105 COFF#02/ OSOS#15 KwaSoH#2
SR500(.de), SRX-4(.jp)
Make it idiot-proof and someone invents a better idiot...

Hiroshima pics: http://makeashorterlink.com/?C12E12B97

 

Not tricky

Get the bike on the centrestand and put a trolly jack underneath to lift
the front wheel after you've loosened the axle. Remove the front wheel
and remove the damper rod bolt. Piggle the dust cover up and remove the
circlip. Remove the top bolt from the stanchion. Get someone to hold the
rear of the bike and slam the slider down. This usually results in the
seal coming out and you getting a face full of oil. Grease the new seal
and slide it up onto the stanchion, refit the slider and get the damper
rod bolt back in. Now, you have to tap the new seal in to place. When
thats done, circlip back in, top bolt back in and tighten the damper
bolt. Top bolt back out, refill with oil, reassemble and job done.

Works for me anyway.

Replace them all. Trust me on this, it is a waste of time and money just
replacing half of them. Use liberal amounts of moly grease on reassembly.

 

You're better off stripping them, they're very simple on a GS also
replace the dust cover and of course the oil.

You won't know until you've striped it. If one's gone you bet the
other one has also.

 

No online catalogue, but they generally respond to price enquiries
promptly: my orders from their secure form have arrived next day. This
system works well - so long as you can describe what you want.

Thanks for all the replies - best to avoid
penny pinching then and hope to double the value
of my GS to ~200GBP.

DaveN.