Fork repair

[eheal6520]

I have a 2012 S10 that I need to replace the "inner tube component" ( the lower chrome portion of the fork, items 3&23 on Partzilla) due to pitting on the bottom inch of each tube. I had cleaned this up about 3 years ago and had both resealed. Well the pitting has returned and now the right fork seal is leaking. Sorry, no pictures to post.
So, my question is, Can I or should I use the ceramic seal on the chrome? Something like Cerakote.
My thinking is to protect and prolong the lower portion of the chrome that never gets fork oil on it (where the pitting occurred) unless you bottom out the suspension.
I have used the ceramic seal on my truck including the chrome and of course it protects it well against the weather.
My concern is it reacting or interacting with the fork oil and/or the seals causing another failure.

I realize this is not generally a concern as most people don't hang on to a bike for this long. I really like my S10!

I would appreciate any insight or advice about this.
Thanks, Ernie

 

[OldRider]

Call the people at Franks Forks. I've been buying fork tubes from them since the chopper building days of the 70's. They are the experts in the motorcycle fork business. I don't know if they make tubes for the S10, but they may be able to re-chrome yours or at least head you in the right direction. Good people.

MOTORCYCLE FORK TUBES BY FRANKS FORKS

franksforks.com

 

[bimota]

my lower chrome fork legs, were badly pitted as well being UK bike, yes i,ve had it 10 yrs and intend having it another 10 hopefully,
when i took it to the garage to do the seals the mechanic said don,t waste your money they,ll leak again quickly, so 2 options buy new lower chrome legs, they are about £370 each in the UK so £740 plus the labour for the job probably another £200, OR option 2 send them away to get stripped and rebuilt with hard chrome. a company in the UK, collect my fork legs stripped them down RE HARD CHROMED them new oil new seals and posted them back to my house £480 had them back about 4 weeks ago.

ask TABASCO about new lower chrome legs, you will struggle to get those black lower feet off and put on new chromes he,s tried its a knight mare and you,ll destroy them.

so its new lower yamaha legs or send the forks away to be stripped and re chromed

rob

 

[RCinNC]

Speaking as someone who hasn't ever used Cerakote, I guess I'd ask the question: Will putting Cerakote on the fork tube to stop any further corrosion cause any harm? I mean, if the pitting on the fork tube is what's causing your fork seal to leak (like the pitting is damaging the fork seal when you occasionally compress the fork to that extreme point), then the Cerakote isn't going to fix that problem, but it'll at least keep the fork tube from getting worse. You might be able to ride for a long time without totally bottoming out the suspension, and at least in the meanwhile the pitting wont spread (hopefully) into an area that'll be more likely to damage the fork seal on a more frequent basis.

I guess it boils down to how much aggravation can you live with? If you only bottom out the forks twice a year, that's still twice a year you might have to change the fork seals. Is that more of an aggravation than spending the money on a one time investment (for something like the process that Bimota mentioned) where you won't have to deal with replacing damaged seals, even if it happens infrequently?

 

[~TABASCO~]

I think what you might want is DLC coating

diamond like coating

I’ve had this on my fork for 10+ years and the lowers look totally brand new.

 

[eheal6520]

Call the people at Franks Forks. I've been buying fork tubes from them since the chopper building days of the 70's. They are the experts in the motorcycle fork business. I don't know if they make tubes for the S10, but they may be able to re-chrome yours or at least head you in the right direction. Good people.

MOTORCYCLE FORK TUBES BY FRANKS FORKS

franksforks.com

I requested a quote from Franks Forks. Thanks

 

[eheal6520]

my lower chrome fork legs, were badly pitted as well being UK bike, yes i,ve had it 10 yrs and intend having it another 10 hopefully,
when i took it to the garage to do the seals the mechanic said don,t waste your money they,ll leak again quickly, so 2 options buy new lower chrome legs, they are about £370 each in the UK so £740 plus the labour for the job probably another £200, OR option 2 send them away to get stripped and rebuilt with hard chrome. a company in the UK, collect my fork legs stripped them down RE HARD CHROMED them new oil new seals and posted them back to my house £480 had them back about 4 weeks ago.

ask TABASCO about new lower chrome legs, you will struggle to get those black lower feet off and put on new chromes he,s tried its a knight mare and you,ll destroy them.

so its new lower yamaha legs or send the forks away to be stripped and re chromed

rob

I agree with you, either re-chrome (which I had not thought of) or replace the lowers. Replacement was where I was initially headed and my question was about coating the replacements, not the current pitted lowers. Thanks for the heads up about re-chroming, I will definitely look in to it before sinking a grand or better in to them.

 

[eheal6520]

I think what you might want is DLC coating

diamond like coating

I’ve had this on my fork for 10+ years and the lowers look totally brand new.

Any idea where I can get this done. Google went all scientific on me...

 

[eheal6520]

Speaking as someone who hasn't ever used Cerakote, I guess I'd ask the question: Will putting Cerakote on the fork tube to stop any further corrosion cause any harm? I mean, if the pitting on the fork tube is what's causing your fork seal to leak (like the pitting is damaging the fork seal when you occasionally compress the fork to that extreme point), then the Cerakote isn't going to fix that problem, but it'll at least keep the fork tube from getting worse. You might be able to ride for a long time without totally bottoming out the suspension, and at least in the meanwhile the pitting wont spread (hopefully) into an area that'll be more likely to damage the fork seal on a more frequent basis.

I guess it boils down to how much aggravation can you live with? If you only bottom out the forks twice a year, that's still twice a year you might have to change the fork seals. Is that more of an aggravation than spending the money on a one time investment (for something like the process that Bimota mentioned) where you won't have to deal with replacing damaged seals, even if it happens infrequently?

Pitting is already a big problem. So much so that it leaks on the right brake - not good. As Bimota mentioned there are really only two options from here. I was thinking of using the Cerakote or something like it on the un-pitted chrome. Either the re-chrome or the replacement lowers. The current lowers are basically Toast and something needs to be done soon before I suffer to much withdrawal..

 

[RCinNC]

That was pretty much my point. You could try some sort of coating to stop the progress of the corrosion and just hope that the existing corrosion doesn't cause seal damage when you push the suspension too far, or you can bite the bullet now and fix the primary problem and be done with it. I would opt to fix or replace the lowers, because to me that would be less aggravating (but of course more expensive) than replacing seals multiple times.

 

[~TABASCO~]

Any idea where I can get this done. Google went all scientific on me...

Let me poke around. There are places that DLC aero space stuff and race car junk. I’ll look.