Blown right fork seal on FXDWG again...

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Nov 15, 2016 | 08:14 PM

#11

jdvorchak

Road Captain

Joined: Jul 2008

Posts: 613

Likes: 33

From: East Alton, IL

Coincidentally today I pulled apart a set of 04 Superglide forks with leaking seals. As I suspected the upper and lower bushings were showing considerable wear. I am installing new bushings tomorrow before I assemble the forks with the new seals.

Easy to spot worn bushings. They are normally copper colored and when worn you can see the silver shining through. Also very easy to change the bushings. Virtually slip old off and put the new ones on. The lower fits in a groove so you have to be careful not to bend the bushing more than absolutely necessary to slide it over the tube.

Nov 15, 2016 | 08:20 PM

#12

Seasoned HDF Member

Joined: Mar 2012

Posts: 100,455

Likes: 19,811

From: Centennial, CO

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdvorchak

Good point. No telling what happened in the move to Hawaii. That's why I stated to check the tube for straightness.

With the tube out just roll it across a smooth surface and look for any wobble. Any wobble is too much. It has to be dead straight.

Sorry, I missed where you suggested it might be bent. It was early is my only excuse.

Nov 15, 2016 | 08:25 PM

#13

TwiZted Biker

Club Member

Joined: Mar 2009

Posts: 66,131

Likes: 51,463

From: Niles Canyon Ca.

Could be overfilling the tubes. There's a wet and a dry oil spec. and the wet is usually 1 once or so less than dry. On lowered forks I err on the side of 1oz less oil if in doubt.

Nov 16, 2016 | 05:02 AM

#14

Mxdad

Outstanding HDF Member

Joined: Jul 2015

Posts: 2,072

Likes: 460

From: Flora, MS

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdvorchak

I'll probably get flamed for this but I've used Seal Mate on a few occasions. And it's worth a try before you start replacing parts. Some on 20 and 30 year old bikes and in all cases it stopped the leak when the cause was dirt and grime.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wlzfoVroSY

Nice tool I have never seen that. I can see where that would be a useful addition for anyone riding off road. My son raced MX across the country for 15 years and dirt getting into the seals causing a leak was a very common occurrence. Our remedy was basically doing the same thing shown in the video but using an goggle tear off instead of the tool. Folks that are not familiar with tear offs they are basically a thin plastic sheet the shape of the goggles lens. You put 3-8 of them on over your lens and once the outside one gets muddy you tear it off and you have clear vision again.
Since the tear offs are a thin put fairly stiff material they are excellent for sliding up into the seals as in the video and getting dirt/sand out stopping the leak.

As to the OP from what he described I highly doubt it is dirt getting into the seals causing his problem. Sounds like it was never an issue until the mover handled the bike and now it is a common occurrence on the same fork leg. My guess is something is not straight or is damaged on that tube

Nov 16, 2016 | 06:01 AM

#15

skinman13

Outstanding HDF Member

Joined: Dec 2012

Posts: 2,557

Likes: 235

From: Texas

I installed an aftermarket kit a couple of years back and the left side seal blew out almost immediately...I pulled both tubes and checked everything and replaced the seals with OEM parts, no more problem. I recently installed Progressive springs and completely rebuilt them again and replaced the aftermarket parts I had put in previously with all new OEM parts and serviced 20W oil. The OEM parts cost about the same as the aftermarket kit...

Rides great!

Last edited by skinman13; Nov 16, 2016 at 06:04 AM.