Ack, Fork Seal Busted???

[Slips]

My beautiful 04 KX 125! I love this bike. It is SO sweet. Today I come to the trailer with my boy to put our bikes up after riding all afternoon( he was on his new to him, 02 CR80... first time at a track and he had a blast! )

I reach down to lower front fork to pick the bike up on my side and its covered in fork oil! It made my hand wet and was slippery of course.

I have never busted a fork seal but sounds like I have an excellent candidate :ugg:

Any way I can find out without taking it to the shop or taking the seal out etc? When I got home the first thing I did was check and there was no oil after we went to the car wash.

Thanks in advance for advise :thumb:

 

[Slips]

Well, I went and looked again and there is definately a little oil when I press the seal easy. So, I guess it's busted.

 

[Thump]

It may just have dirt in the seal and not busted. Pull the dust cap down, clean it out with contact cleaner then run a business card up under the seal or a feeler gauge. Do a complete revolution and repeat a few times. I prefer the business card because the dirt clings to the paper. Had to do it at the track 2 weeks ago. Worked like a champ.

 

[Rcannon]

The business card trick works well. I was able to get another year out of my YZ seal by doing this.

For the effort involved, I woudl probably replace the seal. It is much easier than worrying about when it is going to take a dump again.

 

[Slips]

ty for info. talking on phone rite now with shop....

 

[MX-727]

Order the Kawi shop service manual and learn to change the seals yourself. It's really a fairly easy job and learning to work on your own bike is a good thing to do.

 

[cr80 kid]

There is an easier way to check, I thought my fork seal was busted but all i needed to do was relieve the pressure in my forks. Saved me 20 bucks :yeehaw:

 

[a454elk]

Dito in the business card thing and the release of pressure as well.

 

[Someone]

I've always used film negatives since the holes in the film catch allot of dirt, and they're very rigid for how thin they are. I have an 01 YZ 250 with original seals and have fixed either side this way numerous times. I put on "seal savers" neoprene covers last year and haven't had a leak since.