Fork seal leaking

[Mack]

Ok, another of my many stupid questions. I discovered yesterday that I have a fork seal leaking. I have ordered the progressive springs and expect them to be here this week. I will order some new fork seals today and hope that they get here this week also. I am planning on waiting to install the springs and the seals at the next wrench session but since it's winter that may be a while off. My question is "Is it ok to keep riding the bike with the leak or should I park it till I can get it fixed?"

Thanks for the help!

[roboto65]

Well I have one leaking too so does Greg must be that time of year LOL Anyhow have a wrench session coming up Febuary 2nd and you are more than welcome to come on out it would not be my first set of progressives or forks... i jave a few things to do to may even have the seals for mine by then!!

As far as running on them well it probably won,t hurt anything but I would stay out of the twistys till then LOL

[TLRam1]

Won't hurt riding, mine went out while I was in Colorado and soaked my front brake pads within a couple of days. Might have been leaking worst than yours with rain/wind playing a part in washing the fluid onto my disk and pads.

I had to compensate because it did extend my stopping distance, never worried about the hills or twisties just stopping. 

[MAGNA_DUDE74]

 Howdy Everyone!!! Long time no type, Itoo am planning on doing some fork seals on my 1998, and I wanted to know if someone could take a few dozen pics while changing out thier seals, it would help me out alot to place pictures with grand avice of Greg C.
Thankyou in advance for your help in this matter,
Steve in Michigan

[Slydynbye]

On Leaky Fork Seals, I saw a little tool called a Seal Saver at the Honda dealer.
It's a small piece of very thin sheet metal with a curve to it.
It looked a lot like a piece of window blind.
The idea is to squeeze it under the seals and scrape out any grit that might be causing the seal leakage.
Might be worth a shot, If it works!

[roboto65]

Good Idea I had heard of using a card of some sort but I have not tryed it on mine yet !!

[Curtis_Valk]

The old biker trick is to slide a piece of 35mm film negative in to wipe out the crud, like the "seal saver" that was alluded to.

Curtis

[TLRam1]

The old biker trick is to slide a piece of 35mm film negative in to wipe out the crud, like the "seal saver" that was alluded to.

Curtis

Dirt bikers still use those "old tricks". I just changed out my seal on one of mine, the KX250, and have 3 more sets to do.

[kdf9511]

You can also use some very fine grit wet sandpaper to restore the seals.  I haven't done it on mine but have seen it done and it works very well depending on how bad your seals are.  I will look for the link to the procedure and post it when I find it.

[kdf9511]

Ok I found it.  The Pete Springer Fork Seal Reconditiong Method

[TLRam1]

Good idea.

[roboto65]

Yeah very good I took some 1000 grit to mine today we will see if it does the trick !!!

[Mack]

I tried the sandpaper trick this weekend. I guess that I had some old sandpaper. After I got the sandpaper down in the seal and started to turn it disintergrated. Now my leak is even worse. I tried looking at the documents for changing the seals on the tip and tricks section and I couldn't open them. So, my question is how long will it take to change the fork seals? Is that something that can be done at the wrench session this weekend? I would really like to have some supervision when I tackle this but if I have to then I will just do it. What does everyone think?

[roboto65]

Yeah it can be done no problem Greg will have you fixed up in no time. I did the sandpaper trick on mine but used 1000 grit paper  and it worked great sorry to hear about yours !!!!

[TLRam1]

So, my question is how long will it take to change the fork seals?

Depends on how much analyzing you do!