Fork Seals (Again)

[RacinRay]

I have approximately 80K miles on my '16 and have twice replaced the fork seals. Now, the right side seal is weeping again. If memory serves, this always the side that leaks.

I do not wheelie the bike or do stoppies. I know I have a fat ass, but come on man! This seems to be excessive.

Anyway, I removed the dust seal and ran the seal mate around the fork tube and pumped the forks several times. I looks good so far but only time and a good ride will tell.

[raYzerman]

It's very likely an accumulation of dirt, so cleaning out will help. However, not always successful long term.

One thing I do now is an old school thing.... I fill the recess in new seals with grease, hoping to keep dirt out. Also reduces stiction according to Dave Moss... he describes lightly coating the fork tube with grease just above the seal, then pumping the forks to work the grease inside... can't hurt, don't know if that will cure anything but....

[SkooterG]

With that issue of recurring problems on same side I would suspect the possibility of a nick or something on fork tube causing the problem. But then I would think a seal mate wouldn't fix that. And Ray know much better than I.........

[Road Runner]

Sorry to hear Ray. On my 07 I use to do seals and bushings roughly every 20k miles. Same with the shock, so that was about every two years back then. More like every three years now. I never had a leaky seal on that bike. Must be I did it before it needed. I just did bushings and seals on the 08 yesterday with 22k miles since last done and they were not leaking. If I knew how to do USD forks I'd look at it for you.

How many miles since last done?
If less than 20k then maybe a Knik cutting the seal or the seals were installed dry and wearing out prematurely.

[raYzerman]

Ah yes, an ES. Well you do need a spring compressor, etc. to get those apart and back together if you do DIY.... note, all USD forks usually have gravel/deflectors protecting the lower fork tube, and good idea to wipe them down so dirt doesn't get into the seals.... if you want to ride over to the Rayzerman shop we'll get it done.... or, if you can last til June-ish, Mike might be having a tech day in Eden. Might even be a set of ES seals in my stash, I'll check.