KTM 400 MXC slight problems

[john mcdee]

I have my 400 2 weeks now ride almost everyday. placed cleaned bike in garage and this morning I seen a few oz of fork-oil under the front right fork, I read the manual and no info on changing seals or even changing fork oil, just a note to clean seal and loosen top screw to relieve pressure. Its a 2001 supposed to have low hours??? I should change the fork oil any suggestions???

 

[biglou]

You have a leaking fork seal. Try taking a business card or matchbook cover and running it between the tube and the seal to try and work any grit out of the seal. If that doesn't do it, you'll need to get the seal replaced. No biggie, happens to someone all the time.

 

[DEANSFASTWAY]

You have to keep the tubes clean . It seems the seals are very vulnerable to dirt . It can get past the wipers . Even guys that take real good care of their bikes sometimes have this problem . Sometimes when replacing seals & wipers on these bikes I double up the spring on the wiper . Bleeding out air can help also . Look for nicks in the tube . Good Luck . Try what Big Lou said It might work . They are very good forks but the seals are thin .

 

[TWRT]

after reading posts here, I used film negatives. They worked very well and I got quite a bit of dirt out. the fork stopped leaking afterward :) .

 

[Layton]

Now get yourself a set of seal savers before you really do trash the seals.

 

[Blackie Dave]

clean the wipers on a regular basis. easy to get out. pull 'em down far enough to clean thoroughly with a spray bottle of your favorite "stuff". push 'em back in & you're on your way 'till the next time!

 

[john mcdee]

dear blackie, I tried to get the wiper out as pictured in the manual, says to use a screw-driver. I tried but it just wouldn`t come out, I was afraid I would ruin the seal. I clleaned all around it and put the spring back in place took it for a 30 minute ride and I dont see any oil leaking out, maybe thier is no oil left or I fixed it.?

 

[Bonehead]

The film neg works great! I take some WD40 spray allover, force the neg under the wipper and compress the forks 3 or 4 times and pull it out ( you cant belive all the dirt that will come out)

If you need to replace the seals try this first.

Pop the forks apart so you can get the seal out. Pop the spring out of the seal. unscrew the spring. grind 2 lengts off the spring with the bench grinder, screw the spring back togather,put back in seal,put forks togather your done.

I have never had a fork seal leak after shortning the spring

 

[Blackie Dave]

John;

you may have fixed the problem. perhaps the problem was nothing more than a little teeny piece of dirt holding the seal away from the slider, and you dislodged it. i mean..., if it's not leaking anymore, then it's fixed. OR!!!, your now-clean wiper is holding the oil that's still leaking from the seal. give it a few days (or another ride), and pull the wiper again to see what's behind it.

it's unlikely that all the fork oil would have leaked from your fork. if you're worried about it; pull the leg, pop the top & measure the air gap.

Bonehead; i'm curious about your grinding the spring thing. perhaps you can elaborate for me at the Till-U-Puke this weekend? Endoquest told me that you were coming along to witness the carnage-fest. the awards ceremony satruday night should be a gas!