2012 Front fork leak

Rdooley79

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Sep 21, 2019
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10
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Colorado (northern front range)
I’m a noob and have found some good YouTube and forum posts on the fork rebuild. Doesn’t scare me at all. No sweat.

I need to get a full front fork rebuild kit and tools to make the job go well. Also need to order a few oil filters and some screws that are missing on the fairings. Small stuff really.

Real question is, Where do people buy OEM parts for a good price?
Is there a good online vendor that is preferred?

Thanks guys
Rhett

CC2184E4-4C52-42BC-B280-258FD54458A0.jpeg
 

holligl

Find the road less traveled...
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Nov 13, 2015
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IL/AZ
Partsfish, Bike Bandit, RM ATV, whoever is cheapest with shipping included. Good local dealers will price match.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
 

RCinNC

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Aug 30, 2014
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North Carolina
Another shout out for Rocky Mountain ATV; they're always my first stop for OEM stuff on line.

Before you go to the trouble of replacing seals, did you try making a seal cleaner? There are videos on Youtube of how to make one out of things like a milk bottle. You can run it between the fork seal and fork tube and sweep out any grit that might be stuck in the seal and causing a leak. Way cheaper than the fork rebuild stuff (it's basically free), and if it works, you won't have to buy all those parts.

I'm a big fan of things like shock socks, that keep dirt away from the seals.
 

AVGeek

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I like Rocky Mountain as they also support motorized access advocacy groups.

DISCLAIMER: I am the president of the board for such a group, and RMATV supports us with a gift card program for membership recruitment.
 

Rdooley79

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Joined
Sep 21, 2019
Messages
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Colorado (northern front range)
Thanks guys!

Spent the morning yesterday in the barn with coffee in one hand and a rag in the other. I wanted to get a good pre-flight done on the bike before I put any more miles on it.

Tried cleaning the fork seal with a home made tool and it seemed to help. Wasn’t as bad after taking a ride today. Sooo... Ordered a few things, she needs some love.
fork seal cleaning tool(Risk Racing Seal Dr.)
filter (K&N)
oil (Mobile1 4T synthetic)
Shock Sox

Another thing I noticed is the antifreeze bottle was empty. Is that right? I’m worried because there is evidence that the lower seal where the bolt on fitting that the coolant hose connects to has leaked at The bottom and has ran down the engine. Has anyone else seen this? what coolant is used in these from the factory?

The bike didn’t come with an owners manual so... guess I need to get a copy somewhere. Any suggestions where to pick one up?

Learning a lot about the Super Tenere.

Thanks

.... wasn’t sure where to post this since it’s kinda general bike maintenance questions but started with a suspension, I dunno. Thanks for the help guys
 
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Rdooley79

New Member
Joined
Sep 21, 2019
Messages
10
Location
Colorado (northern front range)
I like Rocky Mountain as they also support motorized access advocacy groups.

DISCLAIMER: I am the president of the board for such a group, and RMATV supports us with a gift card program for membership recruitment.

Where can I learn more about this? What is the gift card program and what do you get for being a member? (Other than advocacy)
 

HeliMark

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Joined
Dec 18, 2013
Messages
995
Location
Tennessee
Another thing I noticed is the antifreeze bottle was empty. Is that right? I’m worried because there is evidence that the lower seal where the bolt on fitting that the coolant hose connects to has leaked at The bottom and has ran down the engine. Has anyone else seen this? what coolant is used in these from the factory?
You should have coolant in the bottle, and should see the min/max lines on the left side of the bottle. I use the "ice" coolant, but I would guess any good motorcycle specific would work.
 

jrusell

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Aug 23, 2017
Messages
460
Location
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada
If there s nothing in the overflow loosen all the left side plastic bolts and move it so you can access the rad cap. Fill the rad to the brim and then set the over flow bottle to the full line. Monitor the level over the next while.

Possible that previous owner didn't set coolant level properly during a previous flush. Worse you have a slow leak somewhere that drained the overflow over time. There is a water pump seal that can leak, but I would not say this is not a common problem. Better be safe than sorry. You don't want to risk an overheated engine and possible damage.

I just use any coolant for asian cars. Zerex asian formula was what I used last time.
 

Rdooley79

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Joined
Sep 21, 2019
Messages
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Location
Colorado (northern front range)
If there s nothing in the overflow loosen all the left side plastic bolts and move it so you can access the rad cap. Fill the rad to the brim and then set the over flow bottle to the full line. Monitor the level over the next while.

Possible that previous owner didn't set coolant level properly during a previous flush. Worse you have a slow leak somewhere that drained the overflow over time. There is a water pump seal that can leak, but I would not say this is not a common problem. Better be safe than sorry. You don't want to risk an overheated engine and possible damage.

Exactly my concern. I want to make sure that its topped off with the right coolant. The only way to know for sure is to pop the sides off and look.
If it needs a new gasket, it's a bit of work to get in to swap it. .10 of gasket material ;-)

Has anyone added a coolant temp sensor or is there a way to see on the instrument cluster? Any suggestions that match the instruments on the bike?
 

jrusell

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Aug 23, 2017
Messages
460
Location
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada
The right side push button on the dash toggles between air temp/coolant temp/ and your miles per gal, instant and avg mpg. It will say low when you first start the bike. Eventually the coolant temp shows up after the bike runs for a bit.
 

holligl

Find the road less traveled...
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Nov 13, 2015
Messages
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Location
IL/AZ
Thanks guys!

The bike didn’t come with an owners manual so... guess I need to get a copy somewhere. Any suggestions where to pick one up?

Learning a lot about the Super Tenere.
Skip the owners manual and invest in a service manual. As I recall, the owners manual won't even tell you how to remove the wheels.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
 

Rdooley79

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Joined
Sep 21, 2019
Messages
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Location
Colorado (northern front range)
Feeling way better about the bike. Spent about 5 hours working on it today. It's nice and is in good shape.

Popped open the left and right cowl. Found that the coolant was Yamacool in the radiator. Also drained the gas and flipped up the tank and got to the air filter. Whoa it's dirty! Two things needed at the local Yamaha dealer(Tri-City Cycles). Fortunately they were open on a Monday! (Most are closed on Monday....) Got a new oem air filter (K&N next time) and some yamacool. Came back to the barn and topped off the radiator and filled the coolant bottle to the full line. Installed the new OEM air filter. It's back together and ready to ride tomorrow morning. Gotta go to the Dr. to get my knee looked at. It's been bugging me for a couple months but it feels good in a riding position, better than in my Rav4. So I'm really enjoying riding the bike because my knee is at a natural neautral position. Kinda a really cool side benefit of the Super T!

Can't wait until the seal cleaner arrives. The forks look in great shape but were really dirty. The previous owner had a lot of fun and got it dirty. The forks show it from how much dirt already came out with my crude cleaning diy tool.

Also got some troubleshooting on the Farkle PIAA lights that weren't working on the bike(just them not working knocked a lot of money off the price of the bike) found a blown fuse and a bad switch. I'll replace them with some cooler aircraft toggle switches that were reclaimed from my plane's instrument panel that is getting rebuilt. Besides why not have aircraft grade switches on my bike? hehehehe already planning a small toggle switch panel in front of the handle bars just below the instrument panel.

ok... I see now why this kind of bike is really fun to own. I love working on my airplane and this is really close to that but much more simple. Still want it to be super correct because if anything happens on the bike it's almost as critical as an aircraft (can still pull over to the side of the road but still scary as shit). Still though the same things are important. Want to be visible (Lights) and want to be able to carry a useful payload (bags) navigation and instrumentation is important (gauges and device mounts + power to the bar). yeahhhh I'm digging this bike a lot and it's only day #3 of owning it :).

Thanks for the info guys.
 
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STenitus

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Feb 21, 2015
Messages
448
Location
Alabama
Glad to hear that your bike's condition is improving and your farkle-fever is worsening! :D
 

Rdooley79

New Member
Joined
Sep 21, 2019
Messages
10
Location
Colorado (northern front range)
What do you fly?
My Bird:
Kitfox4
It's a two seat side-by-side taildragger set up with 22" tires, wide pneumatic tailwheel and climb prop. Plus the Rotax 912 engine has the big bore kit on it putting out 105hp and a ton of torque. Wings fold on the plane and can be hauled on a trailer. Cruise is about 100mph indicated. climbs at 1000fpm here in CO when Density Altitude is at 9000... so yeah it's a nice STOL bush plane ;-) Kinda like a Super T! Lots of power and can go almost anywhere.

Kitfox sittin cool.jpg

I also fly:
Cessna 150,172,182 and have time in a Piper Cherokee and a Mooney M20c.

Starting the process of upgrading from flying for fun and personal adventure to commercial and turning it in to a career. Tired of IT and sitting at a desk. 23 years as a senior network engineer...

The Super T is a fun and efficient transport between home and the airport (45min). Plus it can be carried on my motorhome while pulling my airplane on the trailer.
 
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