Hi All, I've recently replaced the fork seals on my FZX250. I cleaned the parts thoroughly and replaced the seals as per the following guide: http://canberrariders.org.au/index.php?threads/fork-seals-a-quick-how-to-99-fzx250-zeal.140424/ The seal covers and bushings were not replaced. Bike is riding a lot better but oil is being left on the forks and a small amount is collecting over the seal covers. When installing the seals, I gently used a PVC pipe to get them into place, enough for the retention clip to fit in the groove. How should I go about resolving this issue/what have I done wrong during installation to cause it? Cheers
In the photos. Is that the top of the seal we can see? No dust caps installed above the seals? I only have experience with Hondas, but they are all similar. Make sure you have installed the seals the correct way up. Looking at your pics, if that is the oil seal we can see, it looks like it might be upside down. There are also different qualities of seals available. The better ones appear to be made of better material and have multiple oil scrapping edges. Even with correctly installed seals, you may still see a very thin oil film on the forks, but they should not leak and run down the forks.
as previous poster said, are you sure the seals are in the right way up? Was the chrome on the fork stanchions pitted? if so did you clean these as best you could and use rubber grease when passing the seals over that section preferrably on a very thin piece of plastic milk carton...?. the link below has a very good video on how to correctly install seals https://2fiftycc.com/index.php?threads/howto-fork-seals.8537/ Without the dust caps in place its possible that you have gotten some dirt down inbetween the seal and the fork you could try to make a seal cleaner like what in the attached video
The seals were definitely upside down. Have flipped them over now and will check to make sure they're all good. Thanks for the help
Flat side goes in against the ridge on the fork bottom, rounded side towards the seal (facing up). @ctcelliott For what it's worth, I do fork seals at work quite often. Most of time, the fork tubes I see are worn with vertical lines along the chromed tube, and it is also worn smooth to a shiny finish. These things will cause extra stiction (stickyness) and slow oil leaks. The way around this is to take some medium grit sandpaper, I use 400 grit, wrap it tightly around the fork tube and work it around at about a 30-45 degree angle and change direction, while using good pressure. The poor man's fork linishing. It works, and for us at work, it stops worn tubes from leaking after a seal job. The idea is very similar to honing a cylinder. It means we also don't have to send tubes off to be rechromed unless they have rusted and pitted, which will cause leaks and damage the seals. Note, can only be done on plain chrome fork tubes. Can't be done on gold/black coloured nitrided fork tubes.
@Linkin the next time you do your 400 grit hone, can you take a few pics and post the sequence on here please? Thanks
Youre supposed to use the cloth stuff I tried Mr Moss' advice and it scratched the **** out of my tube https://www.amazon.com/shop/davemos...v2.spark.19452ebc-3957-479c-bc5a-d89a2cde4fc8
When I do it I always use 'used' paper strip, or if I have no used stuff then I will give it a few runs over a sharp edged steel angle to knock off all the sharp bits. Works surprisingly well with some WD40 on the tube for lube.
My usual method of crumpled aluminium foil + WD40 seems to always work ok The FZR400 fork tubes came up a treat
