Dang fork seals

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#1 Unread post by **Skier** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 10:59 pm

I disassembled and reassembled one of my Radian's front forks tonight. I put in a new fork seal and a new wiper, but it's still leaking. Oops. Luckily, I bought a set for both forks, so I'll just borrow a seal for a little bit.

My question is why is the brand new fork seal leaking? It was leaking immediatly after I removed it from the packaging and slid it down the clean fork tube. I'm kind of stumped, it should be holding my new oil in there without a problem...

(edit) Well, I used my other fork seal on the fork... I'm not sure if it's leaking or not, o I filled 'er up with some bright red ATF and turned it upside down. We'll see if she leaks all over the garage floor in a few hours.

BuzZz · #2 Unread post by **BuzZz** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 8:30 am

Is the inner fork tube smooth and polished? If it has any flaws or rough spots in the finish, it will cut up the new seal in no time.

If the tube is ok, is the new seal sitting true and fluch in the lower fork leg? A cocked seal won't seal either....

#3 Unread post by **Skier** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 9:11 am

BuzZz wrote:Is the inner fork tube smooth and polished? If it has any flaws or rough spots in the finish, it will cut up the new seal in no time.

If the tube is ok, is the new seal sitting true and fluch in the lower fork leg? A cocked seal won't seal either....

Yes, it's smooth and polished. It's not sitting cocked on the fork, she's perfectly flat.

I think I might have put it in upside-down, at least according to what this guide says: http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/howto/howtoforkseal/ .

I'll give it another shot here after picking up the last valve shim I need from the dealer.

BuzZz · #4 Unread post by **BuzZz** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 9:37 am

Yeah, upside down will definately scew with ya.

#5 Unread post by **Skier** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 9:53 am

Yep, she's in upside down compared to my other, non-leaking fork. But I'm pretty sure at least one of my seals is mangled (heh) so I've ordered some new OEM seals. I also piggybacked on this order from bikebandit.com to get the valve shim I need, since the local dealership sucks and ordered the wrong shim size I needed.

Ah well: even with ordering twice as many fork seals as needed and having to buy another quart of fork oil, I'll save like $80 over having the shop do it.