fork leaking

[qshark]

When I unloaded my bike today I noticed a puddle of oil under my left fork. The bike is a 2000 wr400. I recently purchased it. Just wondering if these things have a history of weak seals or what I can do to repair it so I can ride tomorrow?

[Indy_WR450]

yamaha fork seals are great. Put in new ones or take them to the dealer you need special tools. Then buy seal savers and put them on. They really work. ?

[endurodog]

I use to replace fork seals a couple times of year until I heard about this trick and I havn't done a set since.

take off the fork guard, wipe off the outter dust seal, pull that down. With contact cleaner clear off the area between the dust seal and fork seal. Then take some card board about business card thickness. Work this up beween the fork seal and the fork tube then run it around the tube. I repeat that last step a couple of times with clean pieces of card board. Some guys will use feeler guages for that but I'm not comfortable putting metal on my rubber seals. Reassemble and ride.

If you actually have a tear in your fork seal this wont work but like I said I have done this for 3 or 4 years now and not had one that needed replacing.

[MN_Kevin]

you can also use a film negative. It is stout, and thin.

[gfergtr74]

The buisness card or film negative trick works great. Then get the seal savers.

[qshark]

Thanks for the info i'll try the card trick. If it still leaks i'll replace them. ?

[qshark]

Can I add oil through the air bleed screw hole to bring the level back up?

[Garry_on_a_426]

I use to replace fork seals a couple times of year until I heard about this trick and I havn't done a set since.

take off the fork guard, wipe off the outter dust seal, pull that down. With contact cleaner clear off the area between the dust seal and fork seal. Then take some card board about business card thickness. Work this up beween the fork seal and the fork tube then run it around the tube. I repeat that last step a couple of times with clean pieces of card board. Some guys will use feeler guages for that but I'm not comfortable putting metal on my rubber seals. Reassemble and ride.

If you actually have a tear in your fork seal this wont work but like I said I have done this for 3 or 4 years now and not had one that needed replacing.

That is a good idea, I should have tried that.

You don't need to buy the tool to hold the metal clip ring on, you can build one. Look at the motoman 393 area, it explains how to use a 1" peice of PVC pipe instead of the $30 tool.

[Frostbite]

Not a good idea. You don't know how much leaked out so you won't know how much to add. Proper fork oil level is critical. Support the bike on a stand, remove the caps and set the oil level as described in the manual. The simplest way is to measure the oil level from the top of the tube. I just stick a long zip tie down into the fork until the box end rests at the top of the tube. Then I pull it out and measure the distance from the box end to the oil on the tie to get the correct level.

As I was reading this checking my spellink I'm thinking you may be able to go through the valve stem. If you remove the stem and can slide a dip stick down through the hole, and you add the distance of the valve stem and cap to the top of tube measurement given in the manual, it'll probably work. I'm going to try it next time I service mine. Either way, you must be able to accurately check the oil level in the tubes or they may do funny things.

:D ?