Fork seals needing done

kiddums

I just noticed on a spin out yesterday that one of my forks appears to be weaping. Nice day out and no sign of anywhere wet. I assume this is the fork seal?

Ive never tackled those before. Any tips? I figure it's better/cheaper to do them myself? Or if I'm new to that work should I just take it and get it done elsewhere?

CJhaughey

Try running a thin piece of plastic down the stanchion past the seal and moving it around the leg.
It might just be a bit of dirt causing the leak.
Film negative used to be the hot ticket but not easily found these days!

spiggotpaddy

Dont buy cheap spurious seals, they leak. Original seals are the best and not expensive.

H_Lime

kiddums wrote: »

I just noticed on a spin out yesterday that one of my forks appears to be weaping. Nice day out and no sign of anywhere wet. I assume this is the fork seal?

Ive never tackled those before. Any tips? I figure it's better/cheaper to do them myself? Or if I'm new to that work should I just take it and get it done elsewhere?

OK ima gona guess it's a set of ohlins ttx forks with custom valving and of course you have all the factory tools for removing the tops, cartridge and no doubt you have a seal driver yes?
Lol it really seems to be a boards thing for fellas to ask for advice on something technical without telling us what the bike is:eek::pac:
When you visit the doc do just you sit down and say I feel sub optimal and stare at him?

Sorry I couldn't help myself:D

kiddums

H_Lime wrote: »

OK ima gona guess it's a set of ohlins ttx forks with custom valving and of course you have all the factory tools for removing the tops, cartridge and no doubt you have a seal driver yes?
Lol it really seems to be a boards thing for fellas to ask for advice on something technical without telling us what the bike is:eek::pac:
When you visit the doc do just you sit down and say I feel sub optimal and stare at him?

Sorry I couldn't help myself:D

Fair point. :pac:

2012 Yamaha XJ6 Diversion with stock forks.

And I don't have any specialist tools.

kiddums

CJhaughey wrote: »

Try running a thin piece of plastic down the stanchion past the seal and moving it around the leg.
It might just be a bit of dirt causing the leak.
Film negative used to be the hot ticket but not easily found these days!

I'll see what I can scrounge up similar to film negative and give this a shot

Max Headroom

Can be tricky enough at the best of times even with the right tools...just be careful pushing the new seals over the bush recesses,,the the edges can be like razors and nip a seal without you knowing...;)

Fabio

There's some great vids on Youtube of how to do this. You'll need some PVC pipe and those clips that you can tighten to hold hoses together, that'll act as your seal driver.

It's a messy enough job I find, cleaning out the fork and all of that, it can be messy but very satisfying when finished.

Now is a good time to do any suspension upgrade you wanted to do like upgrading the fork springs or something or changing the fork oil weight.

If you bring it in to a shop plan on spending €150-€200 to have it done, it's easy on an XJ6 but ring ahead so they can get the seals in, they probably don't hold them in stock.

Fabio

kiddums wrote: »

I'll see what I can scrounge up similar to film negative and give this a shot

Plastic milk bottle, cut it, slide around the seal carefully, clean the stanchions, ensure there's no corrosion or rust on them where they slide in through the seal.

That might actually solve it for you. Otherwise, the seal is shot and needs doing. No harm anyway, fork oil turns to water after a few years and should be considered a service item.

Vikings

As someone who replaced fork seals for the first (and probably last) time in the last few years, you will not save much money by doing it yourself.

I would echo the previous poster who said not to buy spurious seals. My old blackbird had 3 sets of seals in 18 months before I bought it. And needed doing after I bought it. All because previous owner skimped and bought cheap seals off eBay and brought to a cheap garage to get them fitted.

I paid €80 for OEM seals and did it DIY. Didn't leak again.

When you factor in buying the seals, fork oil, potentially some tools if you don't have what you need, potential heartache of making a mistake...

If you want to do it to learn and do a proper job then I'd say go for it, I even painted my fork legs while I had them stripped to clean them up.

But it's a job I'll probably take it to a dealer to in future. Didn't save any money and the bike was off the road for a couple days instead of a couple hours.

Steve012

kiddums wrote: »

I just noticed on a spin out yesterday that one of my forks appears to be weaping. Nice day out and no sign of anywhere wet. I assume this is the fork seal?

Ive never tackled those before. Any tips? I figure it's better/cheaper to do them myself? Or if I'm new to that work should I just take it and get it done elsewhere?

I just got mine done last week on Yamaha Fazer 07 Changed the springs at the same time, Robbie in Mototechnic. Tried everything to sort it myself... pissin against the wind tbh

Richard tea

Changed the fork seals in my NC at the weekend. Google delboys garage on youtube for advice. Its straight forward enough. Just work out how you will drive the seals in beforehand. It was about 40 quid for seals and oil.

listermint

Vikings wrote: »

As someone who replaced fork seals for the first (and probably last) time in the last few years, you will not save much money by doing it yourself.

I would echo the previous poster who said not to buy spurious seals. My old blackbird had 3 sets of seals in 18 months before I bought it. And needed doing after I bought it. All because previous owner skimped and bought cheap seals off eBay and brought to a cheap garage to get them fitted.

I paid €80 for OEM seals and did it DIY. Didn't leak again.

When you factor in buying the seals, fork oil, potentially some tools if you don't have what you need, potential heartache of making a mistake...

If you want to do it to learn and do a proper job then I'd say go for it, I even painted my fork legs while I had them stripped to clean them up.

But it's a job I'll probably take it to a dealer to in future. Didn't save any money and the bike was off the road for a couple days instead of a couple hours.

If you plan on biking for life. It's a skill easily picked up and used often.

honda boi

Did my first fork seals last year.
There was issues with the stanchion, so the seal leaked twice so had to do it another 2 times.
Pain in the arse but gets easier once you do it once.
Used the pvc waste pipe trick to get the new seal in.
Del boys video actually describes it very good.