One fork leg leaking after new seals - wrong way round?

stay_upright

stay_upright

New member
I replaced dust and oil seals on my Marzocchi's and one leg appears to be leaking/weeping after 1 race.

I'm wondering if the oil seal could have been put in upside down? I know the seals are not symmetrical (I checked) but I could not find any info on if there is a specific way round to put it?

Any other suggestions?
 
Did you wrap the end of the tube with tape or cover it with a heavy plastic baggie and grease it before sliding the seals on? If not, likely you nicked a seal lip. Also, you can damage the seals driving them in the slider with the wrong driver or some other ghetto/hack method.
 
Used tape and grease - all slid on fine. Did not have a $$$ marzocchi driver but did use two pieces of plastic water pipe cut in half and was as gentle as I could be - looks like I need to strip it again and inspect it?
 
Making your own PVC pipe driver in fine, as long as you bevel the inside edges to clear the seal lip when it contacts the seal. If you didn't, I'd bet thats your problem (damaged seal). My buddy did the same thing with his WPs rather than wait for me to help him, one ride, leaking seal. Drivers aren't that expensive, I picked up a dual use (45 Zoke/43 WP) seal and bushing driver for less than $40 US. Zoke seals seen to fit a lot tighter in the sliders than WPs, so it makes the job a lot eaiser. Even if its pricey in the UK get a couple guys to split the cost.
 
My goofy mate put both oil seals around the wrong way on his wp's.On the first ride the oil just flooded out on both legs.He was highly embarrased and rushed to fit new seals the next day.
Your situation sounds like a nicked lip on inner part of seal.
Not a big deal but can happen.
 
Just refitting the oil seal now, the bike hadn't been used much since I last fitted teh seals 2 or 3 times but it had lost a surprising amount of oil.

I've inspected the seal and there's no damage to it so the plastic driver has not harmed it.
 
You could have had a speck of dust in your grease or on your plastic when you installed the new seal - or you could have gotten it under your seal during your 1st ride. Since there was no damage to the seal only 2 possible reasons foe fluid loss come to mind: (1) some foreign object under the seal lip and (2) pressure build up causing the oil to be blown past the seal. Zooks aren't bad to build up pressure (I almost never bleed mine) but WPs are.
 
I think Feugus had it right - the seal was the wrong way round - a quick bounce up anfd down on teh fork and everything looks good, a ride will tell properly.
 
Aside from seal fitting issues it's really worth fitting those neoprene booties. They considerably lengthen seal life.
 
Forget the booties, they just trap grit. Old trick I've used for years is a piece of nylon cord packed with seal grease wrapped around the tube under the dust wiper. This will catch anything that gets past the wiper and can be eaisly cleaned. Seems to extend seal life IMO.

stayupright,

When you removed the seal from the tube to reverse it, did you wrap the tube with tape as well?
 
stay_upright said:
I would but I don't want to damage the lower fork coating...
Click to expand...

They do do that. But aside from aesthetics I couldn't tell the difference. Whatever GMP says I had a host of seal and muck problems until I started using the boots and since I have not had one leaking seal and they are always clean as a whistle when I have serviced forks on both Gas Gas and KTM.
 
Are you using "shorty" neoprene seal saver type boots, where the edge fits snug and rides on the tube, or full length sealed boots clamped on the top and bottom? Full length boots work well on conventional forks, they are on my wife's Pampera, but you will bottom the USDs on the booty and pinch it.

I just finnished rebuilding my friends WP 43s, including buffing/polishing some long vertical scratches out of the tubes caused by trapped grit under shorty boots. Scratches bad enough to trash a couple sets of new seals. Results may depend on how much sand is in the dirt that gets trapped, and if you clean them constantly. For us they are not worth it, but if your happy, good for you.

What I find working on my own and all my friends forks, is that after a season of muddy riding (and we always have some mud) on a set of seals you are on borrow time. This is true of Zokes and WPs. It pays to change seals in the off season to avoid mid summer hassles and ruined rides. By this time the wipers are starting to get a little worn/loose, and more dirt can be seen underneath.
 
I'm using the full length ones. I was going to try shorties next but maybe I wont now. Been using the long ones on USDs with no problems other than it removes the nitride coating. Not sure if it wears the chrome much, not enough so far to worry me at least.

I ride plenty of mud and wet sand too. I was getting a leak every 2 rides on average before the gaiters. So whatever the downsides it is preferable.
 
If the long, fully sealed ones survive thats great. I tried them once and pinched/cut them in one ride. Patched them up and next time a stick ripped a hole in one. Great idea just not durable enough, but they do seem to work well on the conventional forks where they are higher and less prone to damage. The coating will wear off the tubes eventually anyway. The problem with the short boots is that they are not tight enough on the edge to completely scrape the dirt off the fork like the wiper, and it builds up underneath. Now you have a snug piece of wet sandpaper working on the fork tube.:eek:
 
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