Dust seal / oil seal ?

[mmbasa]

How often should I clean and grease my dust seals? If I just clean my dust seals and grease it, will I have to do the oil seals? I checked the archives but still alittle unsure. The manual says after every ride.

[sabin]

I cleaned mine after about 1000 miles and they had a lot of dirt in behind the dust seal. I now have a neoprene seal saver and I'm very happy with them.

[ August 12, 2002: Message edited by: sabin ]

[mmbasa]

This may be a dumb question, but if I pull the dust seal will I lose any fluid?

[Sean_McCutcheon]

No you will not loose any oil when you pull the dust seal.

[MOmilkman]

Think of your dust seal as a "wiper blade" that cleans the dirt and debris off your fork tube before it reaches the oil seal. This is exactly why some people refer to them as the "wipers".

Your oil seal is what keeps the oil from coming out. If you take a feeler guage and run it in between the fork tube and the oil seal you will se very small traces of oil seeping out.

[John_Lorenz]

Add more protection get a set of seal savers from the advertiser here.

The look great and keep that whole area dust free.

Its a small price 16 bucks for the shorties 22 for the long sleeves.

[LarryCO]

I clean mine after every other ride. Real quick job...just 10 minutes. I took someone's advice and am using a roll of film...400 speed works best ? ...and just swipe it between the fork and the oil seal. Then, I pack the area between the oil seal and dust seal with grease. Works very well.

Except for one extremely dirty case, I've found that the major cause of leaky fork seals has been tightening my bike down on the trailer without using some sort of fork brace.

Late

[ August 12, 2002: Message edited by: LarryCO ]

[MOmilkman]

Originally posted by LarryCO:

Late

Late????

Ought-O. Does this mean LarryCO is a clone?

[BrandonW]

My old-school street bike has a leaky right fork seal. I replaced the seal about 4 years ago, but it still leaks. I ran a feeler gauge under the wiper, and that greatly reduced the amount of "weep", but it is still leaking.

Is there something else that I can do to stop the leak?

Thanks,

Brandon

[banffboy]

Regarding; tightening down your bike on a trailer. I got in the habit of releasing the air bleed screw everytime I crank my forks down in the back of my truck. Haven't had any problems, I also use fork boots to protect the seals.

[LarryCO]

MO...

Well sort of...if listening to Jim Rome every now and then to hear what he has to babble on endlessly about means I'm a clone...then I guess I am.

I CAN tell you that I'm not the type of person with nothing better to do than to sit on hold for 3 hrs trying to get a call into his show! I cant figure that one out...dont these people have lives?!?! ?

He's a funny guy...who's into himself a bit too much...but still entertaining.

"Late"

[MOmilkman]

LOL

I totally agree. Rome is not for everyone. I like listening to him most days but then there are also days he gets on my head big time. But for the most part, he is pretty funny and its a good way to pass the work day.

I just saw your "late" at the end of your message and I knew you had to listen.

Out. ?

(sorry for getting off subject guys, its not like that has ever happened before, eh )

[LarryCO]

Banffboy,

Curious question here...

After releasing the air in your forks when transporting the bike, what/how do you tighten back down that air bleed screw after the bike is off of the trailer? Sounds like an interesting approach...and one that is worth hearing about. Is this a no-brainer (just tighten back the screw when the bike is untrailered)?

Thanks in advance!

"Late" Larry

[Mark_Cantrell]

banff,

That took a second to sink in. If you remove the bleed screws, even though the fork is compressed, the oil pressure is still atmospheric. Cool. I worried about compressing forks causing leaks and that would have removed that concern. There is still the 'sagging out the spring" concern.

After having considerable success in stopping leaks by cleaning chunks out of the oil seal with film or a thin feeler guage blade, I've come to the conclusion that most of the leaks are caused by junk getting between the oil seal and the inner tube of the fork.

Love the bleeder thought,

mwc