CR250 leaky left fork, spring aroundit?

[zjcrawler45]

just picked up my 01 cr250 and as it sat overnight i noticed something i didnt when i purchased it. The left front fork is leaking. I immeiatley looked at the seal and there seems to be a circular spring around the seal. Well when it was leaking a section of that spring was inside the fork. I since then pulled it back out how its supposed to be. Could that have been my leak problem or is it my seals? the seal looks fine.

Another thing. Is it normal for the carb onverflow line and case oil overflow line to leak when the bike has been set on its side and then stood back up?

As you can tell im new to the bike world, just coming over from quads.

 

[mkelly04]

That is the outer dust seal and would not cause your leak, the inner seal is what is leaking and needs to be replaced.


As far as the leaking from the carb and transmission overflow after leaning the bike over, it is normal.

 

[zjcrawler45]

and of course now i'm going to ask, how hard is it to replace a seal and can it be done by a general DIY'er? Also can ya point me in the direction where i would find a right up on it?

 

[mkelly04]

It really depends on how mechanically inclined you are.

If you are pretty handy and have a good set of tools and a shop manual it really isnt that hard...... Having said that, if you have a good shop they shouldnt charge you too much to replace the seals.


I paid a little over $100 to get it done last time.

 

[zjcrawler45]

yea, i'll probably end up doing them myself, i have all the tools and can do a lot of mechanical stuff. I'll be sure to get a repair book or at least a write up though. I've read on here to buy only OEM replacement seals from the dealers because aftermarkets ones do not hold up at all and are crap; they don't last long compared to the original OEM ones. Is this true?

Also i'll mention something else, when i go to put the bike into first gear, it makes an extremely loud clunk, louder than normal. Though when i do this the revs are pretty high. DO you have to put it into first with relatively low revs?

 

[DieselTech]

yea, i'll probably end up doing them myself, i have all the tools and can do a lot of mechanical stuff. I'll be sure to get a repair book or at least a write up though. I've read on here to buy only OEM replacement seals from the dealers because aftermarkets ones do not hold up at all and are crap; they don't last long compared to the original OEM ones. Is this true?

Quality parts are quality parts. Use quality parts and you'll be fine, OEM or aftermarket. Also, I'd want to get the proper seal driver for the seals - it makes the job much easier.

Also i'll mention something else, when i go to put the bike into first gear, it makes an extremely loud clunk, louder than normal. Though when i do this the revs are pretty high. DO you have to put it into first with relatively low revs?

Why are the revs up high? How is your clutch lever adjustment? Have you changed the trans oil since you got it, and what kind of condition is it in?

 

[zjcrawler45]

the revs are high because i'm revving the engine, i guess thats a bad thing when putting it into 1st, it seems fine with low revs. Where is the clutch lever adjustment and what does it do? Trans oil has 2 rides on it and the clutch seems to be in great condition.

 

[mox69]

On my '02 CR250 I get a clunk whenever I put it in gear. This freaked me out until after a lot of diagnosing I figured out it was the chain slapping the plastic swingarm chain guide thing. The previous owner put on a TM designworks guide which is made of uber hard plastic. The chain slaps it a low RPMs a lot and it sounds a lot like detonation. It is so hard that it has rubbed the ends of the chain off a bit.