| Author | Message | ||
     Skinnyboy |
First off I would like to express my sincere thanks to everyone involved with keeping this forum operating and all those posting information on these interesting bikes. Have wanted one since they were first introduced and finally bought a used 09 x last year. Have learned a staggering amount here. Came across something today that I don't recall having read about before. While pushing the bike in the garage I noticed some weeping on the left fork tube, of course now looking to find time to fit in a seal change. Decided to try the film trick in the interim, and found a lot of buildup on the tubes. (Have been trying out different suspension settings and likely had the seals ride further down the tubes than they had before). Wiped them down well with fork oil and cleaned off the final sticky spots with some crocus cloth. Seems OK now, so maybe averted/delayed some work. Cleaning the tubes is going to be regular maintenance for me now. | ||
| Panhead_dan |
I know old old school riders who will wipe down their tubes as soon as they get off the bike. Every time they get off the bike. I never have but then I haven't seem them replace a lot of fork seals. Hmmm... I had problems with one of mine that was beginning to piss me off till I discovered some pitting (prolly from a rock strike) and replaced the tube. I was pleasantly surprised at the price. No problems since. | ||
| Steveford |
These work well: http://www.ebay.com/itm/180567873040?ssPageName=ST RK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649 Slob the inside with grease and use a zip tie on the bottom section. | ||
| Dave186 |
My left fork seal started leaking recently too. Local dealer had them in stock and they were cheap. I was lazy and just did the leaking side but when I got it apart I found dried up white grease in an otherwise good seal. The film trick would have worked on it. | ||
| Uly_man |
"Decided to try the film trick in the interim, and found a lot of buildup on the tubes. (Have been trying out different suspension settings and likely had the seals ride further down the tubes than they had before)." Making adjustments will not do this. Unless the fork is damaged/pitted. If the dust seal goes bad, as mine did, dirt can get under the oil seal and make it leak. Have a look at this. I have had no leaks since doing this and it has been 10 months now. http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/142 838/695725.html Do the test first though as, of course, it could still be the oil seal. Good luck. | ||
| Skinnyboy |
Thanks, the neoprene seal protectors look like they would help. I was reducing the damping and preload down to get it to soak up the frost heaves up here better. The fork was then using more of the travel than it had before, so some of the buildup on the tubes was running under the seals. I should have cleaned the tubes before turning the screws. | ||
| Uly_man |
"I should have cleaned the tubes before turning the screws." NO. It makes no diff to adjusting the forks. The "dust/dirt" seal will clean off any dirt and that is its function. You did nothing wrong. The point of my post, about the "dust/dirt" seals, is that they do fail on this bike which would mean you do not need to do the oil seals. They should have had the spring outer ring type of the dust seal which is better for this type of bike. Do the test. It is free, easy and it may save you time and money. It did for me. | ||
| Skinnyboy |
Thanks for the tip Marc. The buildup on the normally unwiped portion of my tubes was sticky/hard enough that the emery cloth took a little work to remove (dried road tar?). If you reduce your preload you will use a lower section of the bottom tube on the same roads. That's one of the purposes of reducing preload, it will reduce the ride height. Just wanted to point out to keep the tubes cleaner than I did since I am lazy. |
