Stop Leak in Fork Tubes??

[Chaplain]

My seals are leaking now and I'm bottoming out easily. I don't have any new springs or seals to put in and I'm just not wanting to miss a sunny day My seals are leaking now and I'm bottoming out easily. I don't have any new springs or seals to put in and I'm just not wanting to miss a sunny day on the road. Today I will add oil to the front tubes but I was wondering....can a person put some Power Steering Stop Leak in the tubes to help the seals? (I did try the trick of lifting the dust cover and running a bead on top of the seal. This helped a little. Did not last long though.) What if any effect would this thickener/stop leak have on the performance/operation of the tubes?

[Marcarl]

In my opinion there would be no adverse effects if you done that, but if the seals are leaking, it's time for an upgrade, not just for the sake of leaking oil, but more importantly for the sake of safety. Your front forks have a lot to with stopping and cornering and any compromise to the system adds to the danger level of riding. Ride with compromised front forks if you want, but let's not hear any complaints about others who may compromise your ride, such as left turners, lane changers and others who may not have seen you. Not that the one has any bearing on the other, but if you don't play as safe as possible,,,, need I say more? I went on long enough already.

[Black Owl]

Having experienced the adverse results of a leaking fork seal first hand, I will only say that I would not do it. Period, Never. But, it's your ride and your safety....

[Squidley]

I hate to say it to you, but I'm with Russ and Carl, it's not worth it if they are leaking that bad. Granted it is a pain, but I would go through and either do it yourself, or take it in and have it done. I know when I did Karl Sabin's (ic23b) front forks and got all the mess cleaned off the front brakes he was amazed at the difference in the handling and stopping. Be safe, I know your itching for a ride, but dont comprimize on your safety. There are too many variables and idiots that are waiting to kill us

[Guest HotMech]

Fork seals are very easy to do. Don't even have to remove the fairing.

 

I did the whole job in about two hours, including clean up.

 

get all Genuine parts and a few cans of brake parts cleaner.

 

Replace the Guide, and Slide Bushings whe you do the seals.

 

I'll run down the whole procedure if you would like.

 

Kerry

[jonsmyth]

My big blonde just started leaking one of her fork seals. I didn't ride her for a week and she left a 10-15 drop drool.

Called the local dealer, and he said it was $140 in parts (2 covers, 2 seals) and four hours at $150 an hour. I said I'd be swapping out the beer can on my holder with a can of fork oil.

Joking aside, I want to do it myself- make sure it is done right.

 

Don't I need special tools?

(I have not read the manual yet- been puttin' it off!)

 

Thanks in advance.

[Squidley]

My big blonde just started leaking one of her fork seals. I didn't ride her for a week and she left a 10-15 drop drool.

Called the local dealer, and he said it was $140 in parts (2 covers, 2 seals) and four hours at $150 an hour. I said I'd be swapping out the beer can on my holder with a can of fork oil.

Joking aside, I want to do it myself- make sure it is done right.

 

Don't I need special tools?

(I have not read the manual yet- been puttin' it off!)

 

Thanks in advance.

 

There are some special tools that need to be used to pull the tubes apart. I believe there is a write up here on the site. I changed Karls pretty easily, it's not a job for the faint of heart, but it's not brain surgery either. Look at the write up and see how you feel about doing it. That dealer....you can guess wher I'd be telling him to go, he's full of BS.

[jonsmyth]

There are some special tools that need to be used to pull the tubes apart. I believe there is a write up here on the site. I changed Karls pretty easily, it's not a job for the faint of heart, but it's not brain surgery either. Look at the write up and see how you feel about doing it. That dealer....you can guess wher I'd be telling him to go, he's full of BS.

I had a business. When you have to make a profit, you no longer have your customers best interests at heart.

He did not want to work on the bike. "Generally, we don't work on bikes of that age- we just loose too much money", he said.

So the brick and mortar dealers wonder why I buy everything off the web. Screw them!

:250::250::250:

[jonsmyth]

Thanks!

[CMIKE]

I feel for you...leaking fork seals are no fun at all.

My first question are the seals worn out or just have some dirt or trash under the lips.

In the Motocross world since we ride in all the dirt dust and mud...when our fork seals leak you we slide the wipers down and spray the seal itself with some DW 40 or other light oil to clean any surrounding dirt/trash from the area. Then we use a Motion Pro seal mate to wipe the trash and dirt from under the seal lip and about 80% of the time...the seal stops leaking and then adjust your oil level.

 

http://www.motionpro.com/motorcycle/partno/08-0395/

 

You can also do this with a roll of 35 MM film that has not been developed or the photos not taken yet. Cut off a section of the film enough to circle the fork tube. At and angle roll the film under the seal lip and twist it.. The tractor feed notches of the film will remove the trash and fine dirt from the seal.

I know the street bikes are not exposed to the dirt and mud a motocross bike is commonly but it is worth a try.

I have never changed them on a street bike but...I have changed the seals on the motocross bikes and it is a mess. That fine oil usually is everywhere before I finish. I need a bath when I am done. I prefer to have a professional do the job for they have the facilities and equipment to do it right for a long lasting job.

 

Good luck and maybe the film or Seal Mate will help.

[jonsmyth]

wow! that's a great concept! I'll see if I can find a roll and try it!

[jonsmyth]

I used the stop leak bead trick, the 35mm film sprocket cleaning trick, changed the fork oil and added about 3 oz. of the stop leak into the new fork oil. So far, so good. I will post back if this fails...

[Karl C.]

this thread reminds me of the time i had an old camaro with air shocks on it... well i was very broke at the time and so I got this quick ideal... put fix a flat in the air shocks... it did work, for about 4 months. That was enough time to figure out if i was getting rid of the car or repairing it right.. I have to be real honest though I dont believe I would put it in a set of forks.. or stop leak of any type... but that is me personally..

[Pappa Bear]

Just do it, take it apart the way the guys say on here and its easy! There are a couple of special tools you will need and there are pics on here somewhere on how they look and how to make one for yourself. You will love the way it rides afterwards. I am doing things to mine that I never thought I would try either but how rewarding after to know you did it yourself.

[Chaplain]

I was going to replace the seals and the springs myself after viewing the explanation on how to do it. But Wifey Said "NO! Take it to the shop and have it done right." I did not bother to tell her how much more this would cost but why spoil the surprise? We went to Florida and the bike went to the doctor. His only concern was the pitting of the tubes. He had to see the bike before he could decide if seal would even work. No pitting so we were good. All seals, guides, bushings and progressive springs. Also new steering head bearings. Also checked the carb synch. 6 hrs labor and parts while I was goofing off cost me $654.00. It's a new bike! Glad to have had this done by a pro. The bike is worth it and so am I. Prior to this I put stop leak on the seals a couple of times; in the tubes and on the floor and the brakes and wherever else I could slop it. I just ended up with a mess. Of course I did get a new tool for removing the handlebars and for opening the tubes. Who doesn't like a new tool now and then? Lets face it......this is expected maintenance and should be done instead of avoided. I now have an '83 with 32k miles with $3,100 invested. It's worth every penny.

[Pappa Bear]

glad you got it done, it really isn't that hard but if it was worth it to you then all is good! God Bless you also

[Yammer Dan]

Glad you got it fixed. There are a lot of things you can learn to do yourself on these thing but if you got the bucks and a relieable (spelling) person to do it sometime its well worth it. You don't have any money in that thing yet. I wouldn't want to start adding up what I got in 1st gens. Besides the Warden might find out!!!!!

[6m459]

My blue bike is apart for a port side fork seal repair right now. It suddenly started to leak like gangbusters last week after I hit a mega road wrinkle in the dark. I am off to the dealers at lunch for some parts.

 

http://i919.photobucket.com/albums/ad39/UxHamby/vehicles/bike3/eed78e4a.jpg

 

Initially I was pissed that I had to do this again already, but when I checked, I found that it was July '06 last time I did a fork seal on this bike, and it was the other fork! I guess it was time after all.

 

I like to tinker and I own old bikes because if I had new bikes, I wouldn't have the courage to mess with them as much as I do. I have two bikes for less than most spend on one. I can tinker with one and ride the other, heaven on earth from my perspective. I like to take stuff apart and put it back together better than it was before. To me that's half the fun of motorcycles, and cars for that matter.

 

I also have a spare set of forks which I had planned to keep as 'hot standbys', but somehow they never got serviced and are on an inaccessibly high shelf at the moment. Time to review that I think.

 

$654 is cheap insurance to keep your bike safe, no question about it.

 

I thought about having someone else do this fork repair for me, rationalizing that I didn't have the time, but in the end I got out the tools 'cause no matter how long the to do list is, tinkering with m/c's always seems to float to the top of the priority list for me (and luckily SWMBO indulges me, most of the time). $654 is also more than I paid for this old gal 6 years and 40,000 odd miles ago.

 

Hope you have a good season now that your forks are fixed.

 

Cheers,

 

Brian H.

[Zfrebird4]

... and they are neat. However, when my 260 lbs on the bike there is only 2-4" of space above, and occasionally they get a wrinkle on the bottom, ... but it soon comes out. Next time may have wrench use heavier oil due to my weight and size. These keep the forks from pitting, and on my 86 VR I too have the springs as the air system as long gone south. I do have a used complete set for the air system, and perhaps when a Meet and wrench come close I'll have it installed as a try. For now the Squidley method works (bought the bike from him).

 

JackZ