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Old Mar 31, 2012 | 10:13 AM
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Taddeoeg
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From: Batesville Ga
Default Fork leaking

My g/f swapped out the stock lower sliders on her 07 Fatboy for a set of NOS HD chrome ones last week. All went well except the oil drain screws were leaking. That stopped the right side but the left kept leaking so we backed out the screw slightly and wrapped a bit of teflon plumbers tape around it. Next day all looked good.

She rode for the first time yesterday and a couple hours after parking in the garage there was a pretty big puddle (roughly the size of a dollar bill) under the right fork - left (one with teflon) was fine. Today I added teflon to the right, so we'll see.

Any tricks we missed? Svc manual doesn't say anything about locktite or tape. They're phillips head and I don't have a phillips socket so we had to torque by "feel". But it's a pretty low torque - IIRC around 30 in-lbs.
 
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Old Mar 31, 2012 | 11:21 AM
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Those screws should have a copper crush washer on them. Your dealer should have them. They are technically single use just like gaskets, but I got a couple oil changes out of mine. Also, the allen screw that goes in the bottom of the damper should be a similar setup, check the torque on it if you kep getting a leak.
 
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Old Mar 31, 2012 | 11:23 AM
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Thanks. The copper crush washers are there and they are brand new - came with the chrome lowers. The leak is definitely coming from the drain screws - allen and all other areas are fine.
 
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Old Mar 31, 2012 | 11:28 AM
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If you need to get a little more torque on those screws, use a 1/4" socket and put a #3 Phillips bit in it, then use your ratchet or torque wrench to get it good and snug.
 
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