Leaking fork seals

[Jim Cunningham]

The fork seal on my 1998 yz 250 are leaking. Should I attempt to put in new seals myself? Or is this best left to the experts. I have the manual and the repair seems pretty easy. Last fork seals I put in were on a 84 husky which were very easy ,and also a monthly event. But the new forks seem alot more complicated. Any opinon is appreicated.

 

[LaRider20]

Hello Jim, before you go and spend money on new seals have you tried any of the low dollar quick fix remedies yet? The first one that I've heard of is to get a piece of film (as in camera film) and run it under the dust seals in a sweeping motion to try and dislodge any grit that may be causing the problem. I tried it once and it didn't work. The second one that I've heard of is to take a small flathead screwdriver and gently pull the dust seal away from the fork and spray electric clean in the area to try to blow out any trapped grit. Slowly encircle the fork blasting out as much debris as possible. I tried this method recently on my sons bike and was shocked at the amount of junk that was removed. He hasn't rode the bike yet to check the results. Of course neither of these methods will work if the seals are shot, or the fork tube is pitted or damaged.
I'm probably speaking to the choir here, but it's also a good practice to bleed the top of the forks off immediately after you strap the bike down. I find, and lots of people agree that the life of your seals will greatly improve without all of that differential pressure across the seals.
Now don't let me fool you, I'm no professional but here and there I do pick up little tips that can save me money, and with three bikes to maintain every cent counts.
I hope that I could help, and good luck!:)

 

[DKT735]

I've seen other riders have good luck with LaRider20's suggestion. For me, I've found it to be a very short term remedy. Fork seals aren't that expensive and are not that hard to replace. If you are hesitant, call Eric Gorr, I think he made a fork repair video a few years ago and may still have some copies for sale.

 

[Jim Cunningham]

thanks for the replies. I'm going to try the new fork seals myself. It will be a learning experince that hopefully won't be as hard the second time.