Front Seals on Honda CB1

Keith186

Hi,

Does anyone have an idea of how much I should be paying to get the front seals replaced on a Honda CB1, just wanna make sure I don't get ripped off.

Will need new oil too as it's leaked all over the place...

Cheers

CourierCollie

Wouldn't want to guess at a price really. But, I'd strongly recommend that you buy original Honda seals. Aftermarket jobbies are usually a little bit cheaper, and totally ****e. And you'll pay the same labour charges for fitting poor quality seals.
Ballpark estimate about €200( €150 labour, €35 seals, €15 oil).

Oryx

Its a labour intensive job, so the cost will be near to or more than the amounts given above. After market seals are 15 approx. If your forks are pitted badly the seals wont last.

Keith186

Cheers lads.

What does pitted badly mean?

They move freely enough, not stuck at the bottom if that's what it means...

Thanks

Run_to_da_hills

By the sounds of things you are wasting your time replacing the seals with new ones. Your forks are probably badly pitted if they have already leaked oil all over the place. Run your finger down the working chrome section and feel for rust pits and bumps. Your new seals would last about a week with pitted forks.

What you probably need is a new set of fork stansions or get the originals rechromed. E&G Manly Ashbourne, Co. Meath 01 8350550. about e200

You will have to have the stansions stripped down completly and all bushings seals etc removed. EP Manly has about a week turn around on rechromed fork tubes. all in all you would be lucky to get out of the complete job for e450 unless you are willing to strip down the fork blades yourself.

omb0wyn5ehpij9

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

By the sounds of things you are wasting your time replacing the seals with new ones. Your forks are probably badly pitted if they have already leaked oil all over the place. Run your finger down the working chrome section and feel for rust pits and bumps. Your new seals would last about a week with pitted forks.

That is not necessarily true. How can you say that his forks are badly pitted? Honda CB1 are old bikes.....who knows the last time the fork seals were changed? The seals get old and can crack without any pitting on the forks at all

Oryx

BrynW wrote: »

That is not necessarily true. How can you say that his forks are badly pitted? Honda CB1 are old bikes.....who knows the last time the fork seals were changed? The seals get old and can crack without any pitting on the forks at all

True. Troublesome pitting (small rust spots and dents) is often visible to the naked eye and can be felt with the hand. Sometimes you can get rid of the worst of them with wet sandpaper, so Id try that if its bad, before a rechrome.

CourierCollie

BrynW wrote: »

That is not necessarily true. How can you say that his forks are badly pitted? Honda CB1 are old bikes.....who knows the last time the fork seals were changed? The seals get old and can crack without any pitting on the forks at all

I'm with BrynW on this one.
My own personal experience with fork seals was on an old Bandit 250. Had em replaced with an aftermarket set, which lasted all of 3 days. Replaced them after that with genuine Suzuki ones, and they lasted more than a year. That was with the same somewhat pitted fork stanchions.

Run_to_da_hills

You may be lucky, putting new seals on pitted / damaged forks is only a half ass job and may get you through a few months but can guarantee you will be doing it again the following year. If your flogging the bike you might get away with it. Its the fluid pis*ing out on to the front disk and calliper is the worrying part more than anything else.

Hotblack Desiato

If the springs are knackered then that puts more pressure on the seals too, as the forks compress more.

No point going to the trouble of stripping the forks and reassembling them if you're going to put the same old crappy springs back in. They go weak with age and a lot of bikes come with weak springs when new.

Keith186

Just checked them there. Pulled handlebars up fully to expose most of the metal.

They're real smooth and rust free. There is a small bit of rust on bars but this is just under the handle bars, i.e. up further than the seals can move (past the stopper).
There's lots of oil because I didn't get it fixed when it happened a few months ago, spent money on new tyres for bike and new clutch system for the car couldn't bear to spend anymore!!

Seals don't look cracked but you can almost see a gap around the edges.

Think the seals went after I hit the back bar of a lorry at about 15mph, back wheel went up a bit so this is probably why they went in the first place I reckon, force would have displaced them slightly.

Thanks anyway lads, hope to get them done for €200 max.

Hotblack Desiato

Not much point is there spending money on new tyres if there's oil dripping on them (or the brakes) from the leaky forks!!!

A 15mph impact usually would bend the forks. Get them properly checked out. Depending on the bike, the steering head or frame could be cracked or twisted too. All of these are serious safety issues if ignored. The steering head bearings could be dented too, if so the bike will never handle right.