Fork seal saver things

[Mark_h]

Yes, I know I should just strip it all down, replace everything and do the job properly but it's cold, I'm too busy and I'd rather go and chase my mates around the countryside at the weekend than strip the front end off the bike again.


K3 SV1000, been laid up under a cover outside for a few months. Took it out and one of the forks is chucking out oil. Was fine when it went away but no fine now. Chance are it was all just too cold and stuck when I first set off and something's not quite right or there's a bit of muck in there. If it was going bad through wear I'd have expected a light smearing, then a moderate smearing then loads of oil. But no, nothing, then loads.


I've heard about fork savers which I think you just poke pass the seals and they clear out the offending bit of grit, dead fly, hibernating squirrel etc. I guess they must work some times but not always. Either way, I don't have a fork saver to poke in there. Would a feeler gauge do the job?


Anyone successfully recovered from this point without all the hassle of stripping it down? If so what size, thickness, rigidity widget did you poke down the side of your fork?


Prize for dullest voice-over goes to ......... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1owBoyM-i3k

[Bibio]

got one sitting in the bin of sin.. utter rubbish.

what they dont tell you is the oil comes pizzing out when you try and use them.

just strip them down and do the job properly.

i chased my tail trying to get seals to stop leaking for ages until i discovered that the internal bushing was worn causing the stanchions to rattle. i tried everything until i replaced the bushing and to date have not had a single bit of bother afterwords.

if you want one send me your address details and i'll pop the one i have in the post for you as its not worth the plastic it's made from.

[Mark_h]

If you've got non upside down forks and unload the weight do they still chuck out oil as you waggle the widget around the seal?


Biggest problem is the mudguard bolts are seized so all fork work has to be completed with the forks joined together by a mudguard so a bit of a ball-ache just taking one leg off.

[Corny Gizmo]

I used one on standard forks and it worked, sealmate it was, fiver off ebay.

If your forks are USD then you will have oil everywhere

[MarkandSteele]

Had a seal mate one aswell worked great on my old standard SV forks

[Mark_h]

Made a seal mate shaped thing out of a juice bottle (Tesco fresh apple & mango for those who care). Removed the dust covers, cleaned out the crud, ran the apple and mango fork tool around a couple of times, found some grit on it. Did it again, came back clean but oily. Pumped a bit and after the existing oil had been cleared it stayed clean. Either it's fixed it or I've now run out of fork oil.

No real loss of oil during the process, about 1/10th of a teaspoon full; nothing shot out, no dramas and seemingly a fix.

May well need to have a deeper fix at some point in the future, but for now we're good to go again.

[Red Herring]

Doesn't really matter if the forks are RWU or USD, the oil level is still above the seal, which is of course why they leak even when you're not riding.....

Sealmates or similar are always worth a go if you have suddenly developed a leak as you describe, the worst that can happen is you won't fix it. (actually the worst is that you can make the leak even worse, but it sounds as if it's already at that stage....)

You do actually want a little oil to come out as you work it round as that helps flush out whatever has got caught in the seal. Given the leak you had, and the loss during the fix, you ought to consider taking the fork cap off and topping it up, depending on the bike you can often do this is situ but just remember you have to do both forks otherwise you can't compress them (i.e.: you have to take both springs out....)

Just one thing, run your finger around the stanchion and check there isn't a little nick in the chrome that has gone rusty. That's often the cause of a sudden leak after a bike has been left standing a while.

[johndo]

I used one on Multistrada with Ohlins which stick regularly if left a period, works fine don't loose much oil

[tonyt]

Yes, I know I should just strip it all down, replace everything and do the job properly but it's cold, I'm too busy and I'd rather go and chase my mates around the countryside at the weekend than strip the front end off the bike again.


K3 SV1000, been laid up under a cover outside for a few months. Took it out and one of the forks is chucking out oil. Was fine when it went away but no fine now. Chance are it was all just too cold and stuck when I first set off and something's not quite right or there's a bit of muck in there. If it was going bad through wear I'd have expected a light smearing, then a moderate smearing then loads of oil. But no, nothing, then loads.


I've heard about fork savers which I think you just poke pass the seals and they clear out the offending bit of grit, dead fly, hibernating squirrel etc. I guess they must work some times but not always. Either way, I don't have a fork saver to poke in there. Would a feeler gauge do the job?


Anyone successfully recovered from this point without all the hassle of stripping it down? If so what size, thickness, rigidity widget did you poke down the side of your fork?


Prize for dullest voice-over goes to ......... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1owBoyM-i3k
I think they are crap to be honest.... Make sure you use genuine Suzuki seals and not pattern ones as they are crap as well............. don't ask I just know... I'm sure Robinsons do them at reasonable cost..;)

[Mikey360]

Bought one for a leaky seal last year, stopped it leaking for about a week but then started again. It really is worth the effort to just get a new seal, make sure they're genuine seals!!!!