Fork Seals Help

[AAAltered]

Doing the seals in my RD200.

I have pulled the stancions from the legs, fully exposing the old seal.
It was impossible to pull out other than pry, snip etc little bits at a time.

Now I am at the point where a lot of the old seal is out but a lot of it seems to have become one with the aluminum.  I've got it is a Xylene soak right now to see if that loosens or cleans things up.

Beyond that, any tips?

[m in sc]

you probably need to collapse  it IN thrn pull out. man, that sucks.those forks are really giving you the business

[AAAltered]

They have zero pliability...hard as rocks.  Let's see what the overnight in solvent does...I also have Acetone, right now it's in Xylene.  Hell maybe I'll use a propane torch,

[RDnuTZ]

Did they have a metal band on outer perimeter of the seals? I've bought a few sets of NOS OEM Yamaha seals over the years that have the metal band on them, whereas aftermarket do not. Currently have those for 1976 YZ/IT400 and our RD250/350 models. Still in the original Yamaha bags with p/n labels on them.

[irk_miller]

Take a sharp chisel punch and hit the seal's band 90 degrees to the fork wall, being careful not to gouge the aluminum. It will pull up the band enough to get a screwdriver with duct tape wrapped around the shaft to pry the band into a moon shape you can pull out with pliers.

[RD350NL]

Take a dremel with the thin milling attachment and mill the seal through at one point. Then punch it out with a hammer and screwdriver and a lot of heat. Be careful not topri top much as you will destroy the fork upper ring.

[RD350NL]

Take a dremel with the thin milling attachment and mill the seal through at one point. Then punch it out with a hammer and screwdriver and a lot of heat. Be careful not too pri too hard as you will destroy the fork upper ring.

[m in sc]

heats going to be your friend here.

[AAAltered]

Great advice e everyone, thanks.  (Like the duct tape trick).
Soaking overnight got more rubber out.  I was able to clean out a bit more with a rotary wire brush.

It does seem to have a steel band in there that may be part of the old seal or may be part of the fork inner, I can't tell.

See what I'm pointing at with the dental pick.  The pick isn't strong enough to pull it out, if it's even supposed to come out.  I could grab it with a needle nose but haven't yet.

Since I don't have the new seals in hand yet I don't have a great reference for what their shape is.

Thanks

[AAAltered]

Ordered all the stuff from Yambits...

[1976RD400C]

You still have some work to do. I would sock the heat to it and see if that helps.

[RDnuTZ]

any chance heat will distort the circular shape of the fork tube where the seals live?

[Simoniz]

I had to remove oem fork seals put in at the factory in Japan in 1974 from a Kwak 400 recently, and they were just as tough as these to get out. I used the Dremel cutting wheel in the end, a seal puller didn't touch them at all. I feel your pain.

[m in sc]

nah, heat won't warp them . we'll too much and it goes liquid but, that's extreme and most hand held torches won't do that

[AAAltered]

Well first off, you have to hand it to YamBits.  Parts ordered Sunday night are already in Newark NJ USA and will be at my house tomorrow.

I took the second fork apart today and run it in the heated ultrasonic for a while.  The seal came out with relative ease, a small flat blade tapped in and a little pry. 

I took the opportunity to run everything through the hot sonic, I'll be ready for the parts to land...