steve8274
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| posted on 25/2/12 at 09:34 PM |
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OT: bike suspension forks leaking
hi all
my brother has a suzuki bandit and his front forks are leaking.
we replaced the top seals thinking that would sort it.
no joy. still leaking.
on closer inspection, the fork tubes appear to be pitted in places so i think as the suspension fork drops into tube, it is collecting oil in pits,
then that drops out after while. is this feasible?
is there a way to fix this or is it new forks? hopefully not. seem expensive
is it an mot failure? due in april
thanks in advance
steve
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fazerruss
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| posted on 25/2/12 at 09:48 PM |
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The "pits" wil be acting like sand paper and damaging the oil seals. Its either new fork legs or have them re chromed.
"if assholes could fly this place would be an airport"
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mookaloid
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| posted on 25/2/12 at 09:49 PM |
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Yes MOT failure
Pitted forks rip the seals and make them leak - you can get them rechromed though for not huge amounts of money
the 'top' seals are only dust seals and don't stop the oil leaking. there are proper oil seals beneath the dust seals which need to
be replaced. how effective this is depends on how badly pitted the forks are and how good the replacement seals are. Only use good quality seals - the
cheap ones off ebay are cr*p and don't last 5 minutes
"That thing you're thinking - it wont be that."
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steve8274
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| posted on 25/2/12 at 09:54 PM |
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thanks for replies
we did replace the proper seals as well as dust covers. they were purchased from a bike shop so wasnt that cheap.
as a ball park figure, what do you think cost of re chroming is? do the old forks need any prep first ie sanding etc
new forks seem expensive and not too many used ones plus might end up in same situation
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mookaloid
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| posted on 25/2/12 at 09:59 PM |
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have a google but I think it might be a couple of hundred for rechroming. Just strip them down and send them off.
The chrome is removed using electrolysis I believe. They are then rechromed and ground down to size - probably better than original
The finished legs look great and it's well worth doing IMHO
"That thing you're thinking - it wont be that."
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MikeCapon
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| posted on 25/2/12 at 10:51 PM |
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If the chrome is badlypitted it's worth looking at new legs. Pattern ones here.
Cheers,
Mike
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Chippy
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| posted on 25/2/12 at 11:37 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by MikeCapon
If the chrome is badlypitted it's worth looking at new legs. Pattern ones here.Cheers, Mike
That company quote re-chrome and grind at £80. Fair enough price I would have thought. Cheers Ray
To make a car go faster, just add lightness. Colin Chapman - OR - fit a bigger engine. Chippy
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MikeRJ
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| posted on 26/2/12 at 08:05 AM |
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Heard some not so good things about re-chroming forks - for the money it will cost I'd be tempted to find some decent s/h ones or fit new
pattern fork tubes.
You can perform a temporary repair by cleaning the fork tubes with a solvent, digging any crud out of the pits and then filling them with epoxy. Wait
for it to harden and then level the epxoy with a very fine wet and dry. It can last a reasonable length of time if you prepare the fork tubes
properly, but it will fail again at some stage.
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Wheels244
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| posted on 26/2/12 at 09:01 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by MikeRJ
Heard some not so good things about re-chroming forks - for the money it will cost I'd be tempted to find some decent s/h ones or fit new
pattern fork tubes.
You can perform a temporary repair by cleaning the fork tubes with a solvent, digging any crud out of the pits and then filling them with epoxy. Wait
for it to harden and then level the epxoy with a very fine wet and dry. It can last a reasonable length of time if you prepare the fork tubes
properly, but it will fail again at some stage.
+1
If the pitting isn't too bad.
I used chemical metal on the forks of my GPZ 1000RX that I had years ago.
Lasted for the years I had the bike ( wish I still had it)
The comment about good quality seals is very valid - I used 'pattern' cheap ones, as that was
all I could get without ordering some - they were rubbish and I had to do the whole job again. OE stuff were
still in use when I sold it.
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Peteff
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| posted on 26/2/12 at 09:10 AM |
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Did you just change the seals ? If the fork seals are not lasting it may be the bushes are worn out allowing the leg to move and wearing the seals
faster. You do need to do the bushes occasionally they do not last forever. Clean the legs off with fine wire wool and solvol, they have to be pretty
bad to eat the seals and don't usually rust on the bit that is working hard.
[Edited on 26/2/12 by Peteff]
yours, Pete
I went into the RSPCA office the other day. It was so small you could hardly swing a cat in there.
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steve8274
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| posted on 26/2/12 at 10:23 PM |
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thanks for the replies
in my opinion, the forks dont look very badly pitted but i have nothing to compare with
i havent tried the bushes. is there a way of checking without stripping forks?
the seals we used where from a motorbike shop but werent genuine suzuki ones so may try them along with chemical metal idea
steve
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