Hey guys,
Was doing a walk around yesterday and saw oil on the fork below the seal (CBR1000 inverted forks) The bummer is it is less than a year and a half old. Other than checking for scoring on the fork tube, is there anything else I should look for that might have made the seal fail prematurely? How deep would the scoring have to be to have an effect. Maybe it was just bad rubber, that wouldn't be the first time I ran into that.

Thanks

 

The seals on my inverted forks are shot, both in less than a week, but my forks had some very deep scratches in them, so I'm ending up replacing one entire fork leg.

 

Hi Mike,
Are you saying the seals went bad a week after you installed them? Or that they both went bad at the same time and they've been on the bike for a while.

 

Two seals went bad on the same fork leg in less than a week each. I replaced seals while I had the front end off and scratched up the slider tubes because I didn't have an installation tool and my homemade one sucked. The scratches are deep enough I believe that it's tearing up the seals. Did you land a wheelie really hard? I noticed after one I did that the seal was pushed all the way against the retaining ring.

 

No, I don't wheelie anymore and not on the Shawk. I don't think I even brake that hard.

 

Sometimes all it is a piece of dirt or bug splatter that was stuck to the tube and then forced under the dust and oil seal on a hard bump. Pop out the dust seal, run the corner of a piece of thin plastic (35mm film negative is what was used before digital cams.) in a hook / swipe motion.. Slide the tip of the “tool” in under the seal, and hook, swipe over and back out. Do this in overlapping motions all the way around. Very common deal on dirt bikes, but it’s work on occasion for newer street bikes (or new seals), when there is no apparent damage on the slider to cause the leak.
Worse case..it does not work.
Motion Pro makes a nice little plastic tool
' Seal Mate' just for this use.

 

Hi TX,
I haven't had much opportunity to ride my bike, but I think the film trick may have worked. I tried an SD card from my camera, but it was too thick. Had some old black and white film in the fridge which seems to have worked. I did dig a small piece of what looked like aluminum out, which may have been the culprit. Time will tell. I do have a spare seal now if the problem crops up again.
Thanks.

 

Perferct..
If it still leaks later, or if the oil is more then a few years old,, change it and replace the seal at the same time.