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- Thread starter grover1949
- Start date
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- airhead fork rebuild r65
toooldtocare
Active member
A leaking seal is no reason to rebuild them. However, age, miles ridden, last time they were rebuilt are. Are they bottoming out on bumps, do you hear a clunk when they rebound, are they just plain sloppy? Those are more important reasons to tear into them.
MonoRT
MonoRT
Over three years ago, both of my forks were looking like this and I was reading up on the online rebuild articles to refresh my fork memory. I read about the Sealmate - the cheap, sub-five-dollar job made of a thin plastic sheet material. I used a Sealmate to clean my seals in-place, following the instructions and my forks stopped leaving rings of oily crud on the tubes. Since then, I've used the Sealmates a couple of other times when I started to see rings of oil and dirt.
My 85 has Brembo forks and I presume, different seals than yours, but this might be an effective and cheap way to stop the leak - unless you need a fork rebuild for other reasons as well. You can order Sealmates on Amazon, and many of the generic motorcycle shops that carry Motion Pro stuff also have them in stock.
I had toyed with asking the forum how long fork seals might last if they are cleaned like this. I used to replace the seals fairly often because they started leaving rings of oil and dirt - now I see that they can remain oil-tight for much longer that I had thought possible. And, yes, I'm sure that running real accordian style boots instead of the dust-seal boots would reduce the amount of fine dust that finds its way into the fork seal grooves.
My 85 has Brembo forks and I presume, different seals than yours, but this might be an effective and cheap way to stop the leak - unless you need a fork rebuild for other reasons as well. You can order Sealmates on Amazon, and many of the generic motorcycle shops that carry Motion Pro stuff also have them in stock.
I had toyed with asking the forum how long fork seals might last if they are cleaned like this. I used to replace the seals fairly often because they started leaving rings of oil and dirt - now I see that they can remain oil-tight for much longer that I had thought possible. And, yes, I'm sure that running real accordian style boots instead of the dust-seal boots would reduce the amount of fine dust that finds its way into the fork seal grooves.
grover1949
New member
Thanks for the Feedback
Your feedback is greatly appreciated.
The forks do not bottom out, clunk, or seem to be sloppy. I don't know when they were last rebuilt as I got the bike 2 years ago with 38,000+ miles on it. So, for now, I will look up the Sealmates and give them a try.
Thanks again!
Your feedback is greatly appreciated.
The forks do not bottom out, clunk, or seem to be sloppy. I don't know when they were last rebuilt as I got the bike 2 years ago with 38,000+ miles on it. So, for now, I will look up the Sealmates and give them a try.
Thanks again!
toooldtocare
Active member
Seals are cheap, about ten dollars or so each. It is easy to drop the forks and change them. Simple tools is all you need, and a bit of fork oil. Doing both sides should take just a couple of hours.
You might want to look at the surfaces of the tubes...see if they've been hit with rocks, bugs, etc., that may have roughened the surface and that could be slowly cutting the seals. I think the method to fix that is install the rubber gaiters (some like it clean) or to "stone" the surface...I honestly don't really know what that means right now but I think that's what I've heard needs to be done. I suspect it's a way of smoothing the surface without filing it or creating additional scratches.
fork maintainance
I just did mine. If you haven't seen what is in the bottom of your fork legs, now is a good time to do it. The bushings that go in the bottom were just a mushy glob of junk. How often do you change fork oil? I changed mine out 13k miles ago. The oil was filthy when I drained it. From now on I see it as more of a routine maintainance item. I will probably drop the legs and change seals and bushings every other time.
I just did mine. If you haven't seen what is in the bottom of your fork legs, now is a good time to do it. The bushings that go in the bottom were just a mushy glob of junk. How often do you change fork oil? I changed mine out 13k miles ago. The oil was filthy when I drained it. From now on I see it as more of a routine maintainance item. I will probably drop the legs and change seals and bushings every other time.
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