650 CSR fork seal

H1Vindicator wrote:

were the fork seals from a bonafide kawasaki dealer? new in package? wondering if they might be for an earlier 650. those are slightly taller which could account for the fitment problem. and it's possible the po swapped out the washers. but that seems unlikely to me. but you never know. 
earlier 650 10.5mm >> www.z1enterprises.com/fork-seals-36x48x105-kawasaki.html
csr 8/9.5mm >> www.z1enterprises.com/fork-seals-36x48x8-95.html

You may be on to something here...

H1Vindicator wrote:

were the fork seals from a bonafide kawasaki dealer? new in package? wondering if they might be for an earlier 650. those are slightly taller which could account for the fitment problem. and it's possible the po swapped out the washers. but that seems unlikely to me. but you never know. 
earlier 650 10.5mm >> www.z1enterprises.com/fork-seals-36x48x105-kawasaki.html
csr 8/9.5mm >> www.z1enterprises.com/fork-seals-36x48x8-95.html I 

I bough them from 2 different ebay sellers in 2 different parts of the country, and both came in older Kawasaki bags with the correct part numbers printed on the bag. Both contained KYB seals with identical part numbers, although those can't be cross referenced. They are less than 10mm tall with my cheap HF caliper so I think they are probably 9.5 mm just like the Z1 page shows. In short, I am as sure as I can be that they are in fact the correct OEM seals. 

I'm going to go with no washer and see what transpires. Martin was the expert on these 81 CSRs and he didn't seem to use one, nor did the guy in the most reliable video I found.

I already flipped the one, and the snap ring fit perfectly. Now I just need to see if the bolt and nuts I bought today will work as a tightening aid. I didn't have any trouble getting the allen bolts out with an electric impact wrench. 

I bough them from 2 different ebay sellers in 2 different parts of the country, and both came in older Kawasaki bags with the correct part numbers printed on the bag. Both contained KYB seals with identical part numbers,... I'm going to go with no washer and see what transpires... he didn't seem to use one

so, are the seals oem or kyb? I would assume he installed the washers. that's what an expert would do. ha ha.

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationNo eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configuration

H1Vindicator wrote:

I bough them from 2 different ebay sellers in 2 different parts of the country, and both came in older Kawasaki bags with the correct part numbers printed on the bag. Both contained KYB seals with identical part numbers,... I'm going to go with no washer and see what transpires... he didn't seem to use one

so, are the seals oem or kyb? I would assume he installed the washers. that's what an expert would do. ha ha.

 

My best understanding is that Kawasaki used and still uses KYB for some of its OEM seals. This is the same seal   so is this there are a half dozen or more others listed, all with the same KYB numbers and Kawasaki labels that look old and legit. Of course I am far from an expert, this is my first fork seal replacement but I just don't see anything fishy about the seals themselves. 

Some of the 750s use the same seal, and no washer, eg the 1980 750E1  and possibly others.   
www.kawasaki.com/en-us/OwnerCenter/Downl...50-E1&modelyear=1980


Edit: OK multiple links to the same seal for sale apparently deleted by software, but if you look at the auction site you can find them and see they are all the same KYB seals

My 1998 RWU ZX9R forks have the washer which they share with 67 other models. The correct number for your forks is shared with a huge number of models from KX80 all the way through 100,125,250,550,650,700,750 models so I would suggest they are there for a reason !!!

Well adding another tiny piece to the puzzle I confirmed with a Kawasaki dealer that the seals they have in stock are the same KYB seals that I have, down to every letter and number on the seal. They had them on hand and looked at them. 

However....thanks to everyone's doubts causing me to keep double and triple checking everything, I've come to realize I may have the wrong washers.  Still quadruple checking that. 

I temporarily misled myself into thinking I had the wrong washer, but in fact I think these are the ones that the parts diagram calls for. However...

Once in a while, and it doesn't happen often because I'm a mechanical dummy (but a verrrry careful one!), but once in a while my gut feeling is right. I was secretly coming to the conclusion that the parts diagram for my bike is wrong, and it is. I just didn't want to say it out loud until I had evidence. 

Turns out I overlooked a page or 2 in the back of my FSM (dummy) and it not only doesn't mention a washer, it has an exploded view of the front fork and there is no washer, just the seal and retainer. I found this after I had put the forks back together and back on the bike without the washer, because by that time I knew it was the only way it could possibly work. But I thank everyone for helping me question myself and triple-quadruple check everything, because I need that kind of feedback. 

And now I'm not afraid of forks anymore either. 

It’s always best to triple check everything especially with suspension, the last thing you want is a component failing whilst riding, great that you have got it all sorted.
Rich.

kimchella wrote:

It’s always best to triple check everything especially with suspension, the last thing you want is a component failing whilst riding, great that you have got it all sorted.
Rich.
 

Indeed. I don't take chances with machines with only 2 wheels. Knowing that this bike was in an accident had me thinking that the wrong fork parts were installed when someone tried to repair the bike afterward. But now I wonder if they were the cause of the accident. You can hardly blame someone for trying to use washers that don't belong there, given that Kawasaki still shows them as the correct part. If I hadn't seen that same parts diagram myself I never would have gone down the same rabbit hole. 

Anyway all's well that ends well. I didn't find any fork damage, all the parts are there now, the springs are in spec, I'm no longer a fork virgin and if I can get the carbs on and working this weekend I might have a bike again before it snows. But carbs still scare me more than forks.