Damn fork seals!!

[robbiemturbo]

After parking the NC30 up a few weeks back i noticed some oil around the forks, and on inspection saw the fork seal had gone. Ordered a set of seals from Wemoto (non-genuine) and replaced. 50 miles later, its leaking again, so replace it for a second time, this time i made up a tool for driving them in, as the first time i sort of damaged the outer edge of the seal. Well guess what? Another 50 miles and its leaking!!!
So im thinking somethings not right somewhere....and i need some advice!!!!

My first thought is that the sliders do have some pitting, nothing too bad though.

Second, the seals are rubbish cos they are not genuine, but think they still should have lasted longer than they did?

Third, ive over filled the oil. The manual i have says the capacity is 13.8 fl/oz?

Also, anyone tried these 'leak proof seals' http://www.motohaus.com/html/seals/leak ... 0intro.htm ???

Anyone had similar problems? Please help its driving me mad!!!

[vfrman]

If you have burrs and nicks on the sliders, the seals might leak. I always use genuine seals and a seal driver.

Overfilling shouldn't make it leak per se. A little more fluid than stock will stiffen the forks a little, but unless you filled them to the brim, they shouldn't leak.

Another problem might be the bushings. If they are shot and letting the forks slop around too much, it might cause a leak.

Since you said the forks are pitted a little, I would bet on that. Lastly, there will be a slight oil film on the sliders, but oil shouldn't be running down the outside of the fork.

I hope this helps a little.

If you have pics of the sliders, post em up and we'll give our £0.02 worth.

Cheers.

[Neosophist]

I'd check the Stanchions (shiny steel tubing) you might find that there pitted / worn which will make the seals leak.

[Old Painless]

Sorry to jump in here, i have just bought oil seals for my NC24 and i have been sent Athena seals rather than Vesrah as i expected from the picture. Are Athena any good ?

Im a bit annoyed tbh.

[Neosophist]

I didn't know Vesrah were still going.. brings back some memories :) They used to be based out of Shinjuku.. Japanese seals.

Never heard of Athena seals...

"FOR YEARS I WOULD ONLY FIT AND SELL SEALS FROM JAPAN UNTIL I USED THESE THEY ARE BETTER

AND I WILL NOT SELL ANY OTHER MAKE AT ALL THEY ARE NOT THE CHEAPIST BUT DO YOU WANT TO FIT

AND FORGET (OR KEEP FITTING?) I HAVE BEEN IN THE MOTORCYCLE TRADE FOR 36 YEARS SO I KNOW

I HAVE ABOUT SEVENTY TYPES IN STOCK ****SAMPLE PICTURE****

THESE FIT THE CBR600FX/FY F1-F6 1999-2006 "

Thats about all I could find.. 'ebay description' so it would suggest there not Japanese made.

Guess you'll have to try them and see... NC24 forks are soft as and most non Honda seals don't last 5 minutes, regardless of make.

8-11psi of air in the forks is not much.. a bicycle pump with 1 or 2 pumps of air. Don't even think about using a mechanical compressor!

[robbiemturbo]

Vfrman, i'll try and get some pics posted. I'm thinking that it's probably the pitting that's doing it, and I did notice a little play in the bushes, so could be that too. So, options for sorting this seem to be

1. Getting sliders refurbished (pittedforks.com?) And renew bushes.
2. Changing forks to zxr400 items
3. Finding some second hand forks in good conditon. (may try and find some rocking horse poo while I'm at it)

I'm on quite a tight budget so haven't got money to waste, what's my best option? And can anyone tell me what's involved in changing to zxr items (I.e cost, parts needed, etc)

Thanks for the replys!

[Old Painless]

Your existing upper stanchions can be straightened and rechromed easily at a local platers.

I have heard of epoxy resin and stanley knife repairs to correct some small areas of pitting but i wouldn't advise that.

[vfrman]

I would look into getting what you have repaired, depending on the severity of the pitting.

[Neosophist]

Any USD fork conversion is relativly expensive when compared to re-fabricating your old forks.

Not to say that online are bad but try and find a local bikeshop / machinists (yellow pages) who knows their stuff about forks and take them in and have a face to face :)

if your happy with what they say / prices then go ahead and have the work done, otherwise try elsewhere.

Much better than sending them off and hoping