fork seals

J

jacob11379

Banned
SO in keeping with my run of luck lately I went outside to check fitting of a new front fork socket and found fork oil all over. Fork seal leaking pretty good.

Since my luck is so great I checked my other bike and what do you know, same side is leaking just as bad.

Im leaving friday for 4 days of riding so I dont have time to fix these.

First question is, can I get away with riding bike like this safely for those days(track)?

I have GP on one bike and ohlins on the other. Does anybody have threads or links to videos that might cover the tools, parts, and repairs I will need to do?

Thank you.....Ill be looking to see what i can dig up on my own while waiting to see if anybody here has info....
 
zammer

zammer

Tripler
Pretty sure seals won't be different regardless of what carts are in there. No, tech won't let you ride with leaky seals, gets on the rotors you're in bad shape.

It's not impossible to do yourself but it takes some patience and some specialized tools. I bring mine to superplush and they do rebuilds for $100 plus parts, also done it myself but it'll take some advance purchasing for tools/parts (oil, fork spring holder/compressor, seals themselves, drivers, etc)
 
Gixxer343

Gixxer343

slow as shit. No really
Dont have the link this minute but Dave Moss (of course) has a couple videos on rebuilding or just refreshing forks on a couple different bikes. Might have to pay since most his full length stuff is premium now but its well worth it my opinion, his knowledge is unmatched.http://davemosstuning.com
 
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J

jacob11379

Banned
jaybocc2 said:
Saw your bikes at the shop the other day when i dropped by... Jesus will get you taken care of.
Click to expand...

He picked up a few things when I dropped them off. Seems to be on his A game. If so itll be nice cause im sick of taking my bikes somewhere that does shotty work. And while I dont mind learning and trying to do my own work its still nice to be able to defer certain things that i dont feel comfortable with or dont have the time to do....
 
S

somesuch

Well-known member
too late this time, but maybe it will help someone in the future...

most fork seals on typical forks are super easy to do....there is a bolt at the bottom that secures fork lower to the cartridge. It is usually an 8mm Allen.
- turn the fork upside down
- use an impact to take that bolt out and keep track of the copper washer that's there
- pull the lower leg out
- pop the scraper out
- remove wire seal retainer
- heat the area around the seal slightly with the torch
- pop the seal out with a screw driver
- put the new seal in and using the old seal tap it in
- put the wire retainer back in
- push the scraper in
- put the lower tube back into the upper tube
- reinstall the bolt

this took much longer to write than it takes to do...once the forks are out of the bike, I've replaced the seals in about five minutes....

you do need to check what caused them to leak, and if there is burr on the tube from a rock, sand it down with some fine sand paper, I like 1500

you can obviously do a fork oil change at the same time
 
J

jacob11379

Banned
Honestly, what I think happened is I trailered the two bikes behind an RV and it rained slightly and dried over and over again.

I drove to San Jose for two days, then out to willows for two days, then back up to Sonora.

During those trips they got fairly dirty and I suspect that the forks got dirt and dried over and over again to the point the seal went over some dirt and created the leaks.

Just seems incredibly odd that both bikes would have seal leaks that came out of no where and are now leaking so bad the rotors are covered in oil.

At least in my head that's the only thing that makes sense.
 
thedub

thedub

Octane Socks
somesuch said:
too late this time, but maybe it will help someone in the future...

most fork seals on typical forks are super easy to do....there is a bolt at the bottom that secures fork lower to the cartridge. It is usually an 8mm Allen.
- turn the fork upside down
- use an impact to take that bolt out and keep track of the copper washer that's there
- pull the lower leg out
- pop the scraper out
- remove wire seal retainer
- heat the area around the seal slightly with the torch
- pop the seal out with a screw driver
- put the new seal in and using the old seal tap it in
- put the wire retainer back in
- push the scraper in
- put the lower tube back into the upper tube
- reinstall the bolt

this took much longer to write than it takes to do...once the forks are out of the bike, I've replaced the seals in about five minutes....

you do need to check what caused them to leak, and if there is burr on the tube from a rock, sand it down with some fine sand paper, I like 1500

you can obviously do a fork oil change at the same time
Click to expand...

Who WOULDN'T do a fork oil change at the same time? Like, do people actually pour the old fork oil back in? wtf.
 
S

somesuch

Well-known member
thedub said:
Who WOULDN'T do a fork oil change at the same time? Like, do people actually pour the old fork oil back in? wtf.
Click to expand...

when you just service your forks, and on the next ride you get a rock nick your tube that cuts the seal, you might just want to polish the tube, and replace the seal. Since you never drain the oil, you don't have to pour it back in....

happened more than once...

obviously was not obvious...
 
MX500

MX500

Pooter
thedub said:
How the fuck do you replace a fork seal without draining the oil out of the fork?
Click to expand...

Better question why would you do that? new oil is cheap!

Edit: I guess in an emergency like you mentioned it's fine, but I'd rather have new oil and cleaner internals. :)
 
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