reasons new fork seals would leak?

[clark182]

Hi All:

2003 ST1300ABS

In August I installed new fork seals, dust covers and replaced the fork oil. After talking to a couple friends at work who work on bikes, i expected some oil to be visble on the fork tubes until they worked in.

Now in October, the seals are still letting a very minor amount of oil past the seals.

Here are my questions:

Is something seriously wrong?

With a couple thousand miles on these seals, shoulds the fork be pretty much dry once wiped off?

Is it possible to put the seals in upside down? From memory, I placed them in with the inner spring visible from the top.

Is it possible I got two brand new bad seals?

I am leaning to human error on my part since the seals are behaving identically on both sides and I am not a professional mechanic.

Any advice or guidance would be greatly appreciated.

thanks in advance,

-brian

 

[pretbek]

I don't remember if the spring go top or bottom, but upside down seals was the first thing I thought if when I saw the thread subject.
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[Highrider]

Any amount of a leak is not good, you should not be showing any signs of an oil buildup on your tubes. A visual check of the tube surface and the seal diameter should verify whether or not you have a long term problem. If there are no visible flaws on the seal or tube, they should seal if properly installed. Here are a few sites with some good ideas for make shift tools and proceedures that may help you determine if you have an installation issue.

http://www.motorcyclecruiser.com/tech/replace_fork_seals/index.html

http://www.motorcycle.com/how-to/how-to-replace-fork-seals-3442.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9ICr-DOmdk

 

[SupraSabre]

As stated by Highrider, the surface is where I would look. areas in the front where rocks have hit is a good place to start. any roughness can cause some leakage.

 

[George]

a. Only OEM seals
b. Spring goes up
c. Nicks and scratches on the tube surface will quickly abrade the new seal, I always polish the tube (various products available) before reassembly.

To polish, always go longitudinal (a rag wrapped round the tube with polishing compound) rather than up-down motion on the tube.

There should be no oil visible when all is good. It's possible but rare to nick a new seal upon reassembly but I'd put $ on ruff tubes.

 

[clark182]

thanks for all the advice.

when i put the forks back together there were some small scratches running longitudaly (sp?). i went over the fork tubes with 1000 grit and 1200 grit wet/dry paper using a cloth pad to even out the sanding pressure. no obvious nicks, burrs or deep, through the crome scatches.

how mirror polished do the for tubes need to be where the seals ride?

when i did all this, the left fork was leaking, more than likely a bad seal. now both are showing a thin film of oil.

thanks,

-brian

 

[St Dennis]

Hi, If you put the seals in with spring visible from the top then I reckon they are upside down.
The open side of the seal should be facing down so that the pressure of the oil inside the seal forces the lip of the seal tighter onto the tube. If it is upside down then oil can be forced past the lip.

Den

 

[wjbertrand]

Hi, If you put the seals in with spring visible from the top then I reckon they are upside down.
The open side of the seal should be facing down so that the pressure of the oil inside the seal forces the lip of the seal tighter onto the tube. If it is upside down then oil can be forced past the lip.

Den

+1 the writing on the seal goes up, the spring goes down, otherwise it wipes the oil the wrong way.

 

[clark182]

many, many thanks for all the replies.

sat. am i will be breaking my forks down and reinstalling the seals if needed. i hope i just put the things in upside down. : )

-brian

 

[Phartz]

I just hate it when my ST brethren disagree. So far we've got votes for the spring going up and the spring going down. I personally didn't know so I looked at my service manual. The one picture that actually shows it on the tube (pg 15-28, 2003-2006 ed.), with the aid of a magnifying glass, appears to have the spring on the downward side. Not being able to see what the other side of the seal looks like makes it hard to tell though.

So, let's take a vote . . .

​

 

[Silver Bullet]

My vote, spring down .I do think you have them in upside down .Yea your going to have to tear down or they will just keep on leaking .When you reinstall put a plastic baggy or a piece of tape over end of fork tube to help slide seal over tube end! (always fun isn,t it? R0bert-07-ST

 

[wjbertrand]

Spring toward the oil side is standard for shaft seals like this, always has been.

 

[Phartz]

Spring toward the oil side is standard for shaft seals like this, always has been.

That's how I recall it being, even though it's been over thirty years since I changed a fork seal.

​

 

[George]

So yur tellling me I have mine in down? I swear I put'em in same as they came out on ReSTored just a few weeks ago and haven't had a leak since. <checking>

Spring side up on ReSTored so I expect to get another leak soon. <heavy sigh> No problem for the last several thousand miles so I think I'll wait til I see oil before doing anything about it.

 

[Tom Mac 04a]

Confusion maybe due to inverted forks on some bikes now?

 

[Tom B.]

Unbelievable!

Let's make this simple! Unless seal instructions specifically say, the spring should not be visible!!! It should be in the inside of the install toward the oil like ST Dennis stated regardless of an inverted shaft or not and for the very reasons he mentioned too! I personally don't know of any application that has the springs visible!! Yes the seal is designed to wipe in two ways:
1) the outter lip wipes contaminants (dust, dirt,...what have you...) off the hydraulic shaft (forks)
2) the inside lip wipes the oil back into the hydraulic shaft where it belongs (again as in this case, the forks)
Having the seals upside down will allow a minor amount of oil out because it is actually pumping it out of the forks. If this were my bike, I'd be concerned that contaminates have reduced the life of the inner lip @ this point and spring for another new set!!! They might very well last a long time too so it's your call!!

 

[willymakit]

+1, for Tom.

 

[denden996]

Numbers face to the outside or in this case up.

 

[wjbertrand]

Confusion maybe due to inverted forks on some bikes now?

That's why I said spring toward the oil side. Should be clear that way.

 

[St Dennis]

Please don't refit the used seals, they're cheap enough to replace and it's not worth risking another leak after rebuilding again.
Den