New Seals or Seal Doctor?

[farmerj]

Sorry, fork re-building "newbie" here (45mm Zokes.) After a hard desert ride, with lots of whoops, both fork seals started leaking.

Q1 - How do I know if I need to replace the seals or just use a "seal doctor" and clean them?

If I'm going to the work to take the forks apart and change oil I'm wondering if I should just replace the seals while I"m at it.

Q2 - I rode the thing a bit without much oil in the forks. Can that damage the internals or cause wear on the sliders?

Thanks,

Jeff
'05 DE 300

 

[desertgasser300]

If you crack them open its easy enough to replace seals and wipers all at once. Nothing like the peace of mind knowing you have fresh oil and seals.

 

[motopsycho87]

The way I've found it in the past is that if they leak once, they will leak again. There will be contaminants in the oil, a seal doctor will only serve to push what's got stucm in the seal, back into the oil.

 

[firffighter]

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TsBEUKUwXXo

Very interesting watch! I trust Jeff Ballard for sure.

I bought one. We bought a used KX80 big wheel this year with both seals leaking. Used the seal doctor and no more leaks!


Just a thought.

 

[farmerj]

Thanks for the replies! I have a Seal Doctor that I will try and some new seals on order as well.

 

[bkwdc]

If you crack them open its easy enough to replace seals and wipers all at once. Nothing like the peace of mind knowing you have fresh oil and seals.

Agreed. What he said.

 

[bkwdc]

The way I've found it in the past is that if they leak once, they will leak again. There will be contaminants in the oil, a seal doctor will only serve to push what's got stucm in the seal, back into the oil.

Agreed. What he said 2.

 

[Zman]

I have found the seal cleaning to be a temporary fix. It may work for a while, be prepaired to replace the seals.

 

[Jakobi]

Personally, I find the oil wears out before the seals.

 

[desertgasser300]

Personally, I find the oil wears out before the seals.

True, two oil changes and the same SKF seals.

 

[Zman]

This is probably a silly question but how do you know the oil has broken down? Does it thin out, (get less viscious) and you lose dampening?

 

[desertgasser300]

This is probably a silly question but how do you know the oil has broken down? Does it thin out, (get less viscious) and you lose dampening?

Yes and you will definitely feel it in the reaction of your forks while riding.

 

[Jakobi]

Yes and you will definitely feel it in the reaction of your forks while riding.

Only really feel it if you give yourself a chance to get used to fresh oil. If you ride on the same mashed out oil for long enough you get used to it.

I've got some great pics of various filth thats come out of forks.