Left front shock leaking oil........

Joined
May 10, 2013
Messages
110
Location
Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras
Hi guys. A few questions for you more knowledgeable owners. First of all, I live in Honduras and my dealer doesn’t stock parts for my 2014 basic model. Would I be better off looking for a replacement shock or looking for a seal kit? I think they replace seals on the smaller 125cc to 250cc bikes commonly found down here. I have a freight forwarder in Miami who sends me mail and any packages from Amazon, etc. Any thoughts? Much appreciated. Thank you, Scott
 

RCinNC

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 30, 2014
Messages
2,878
Location
North Carolina
Before you try the more extreme and/or expensive solutions, try cleaning out the area between the fork and the fork seal. Sometimes grit can get in there and cause leaks, but if you get the grit out, the leak will stop. You can make a seal cleaner out of a piece of plastic milk carton. There are videos on youtube on how to make a cleaning tool, and how to use it.
 
B

ballisticexchris

Guest
Feeler gauges work good too for cleaning seals. Also remove front wheel and try rock your fork tubes. Any play indicates worn fork bushings. At that point it's no use to try to clean behind the fork seals. They are going to continue to leak.
 

tntmo

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 10, 2017
Messages
649
Location
San Diego, CA
No reason to replace the entire fork leg. Just get the bushings and the seals. Any moto shop worth their salt can replace it, or you could as well. I have a video on my YouTube channel showing how to replace the seals.
 

ditchdigger

New Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2020
Messages
9
Location
Luleå, North of Sweden
Before you try the more extreme and/or expensive solutions, try cleaning out the area between the fork and the fork seal. Sometimes grit can get in there and cause leaks, but if you get the grit out, the leak will stop. You can make a seal cleaner out of a piece of plastic milk carton. There are videos on youtube on how to make a cleaning tool, and how to use it.
I agree with what RCinNC wrote here.
When I started riding my new to me 2013 bike last year it had seen little action over the latest years and had just short of 30000 km on her and as a result of that both forklegs had developed a severe leak that made me look into my options....

What I ended up doing was following this guys instructions and my fork went dry in a matter of minutes.


I had always heard of the trick with feeler gauges but never had to try it and although I believe it to work well the curved shape of a seal mate original or the copy made from a PET-bottle I think makes it really easy to be kind to the seals.
I also believe that the hooked tip of the "sealmate" helps to pull out whatever needs to be pulled out instead of pushing it into the forkleg.

I really think you should try this if your fork feels otherwise healthy.
 
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