First off a literally a million thanks for the positive feeback, support, patience, advice, suggestions and help EVERYONE contributed to help get my bike out of the garage and back on the road. So here's what happened. My girlfriend's son came over 4th of July to our family bbq and to drop off his daughter for so grandma and Papa John could babysit. He saw my bike and asked why I wasn't out riding.I explained the situation and he then informed me that he had gone to automotive/motorcycle mechanic school.

We fired it up, left it on the jiffy stand allowed it to warm up for 5 mins and shut it off, no leak(s), he said "it's probably your seal". He explained to me that the forks are not being stressed, hence no leak(s). I thanked him and the next day started calling around different shops to get an idea what it would cost to do this repair. The book quote was about the same: 3 - 4 hours labor = $90-$125 x 4 hours $360/$500
+ parts = fork oil, guides, bushings, seals, $100
total $460/$600

I didn't feel comfortable doing this job nor would I have had the proper tools to complete the job. I did a lot of research and went with a local shop LD Cycle in Vacaville, CA. Quality owner & techs who've been in Biz 30+ years and all they work on are Harleys.
I explained the problem and what I believed the issue was: the left front seal needed to be replaced. The owner agreed over the phone to change fork oil, put in bushings, guides, seals for $450 and could do it over the weekend, this was Thursday 7/13. I drove it up and leaked like a sieve when I dropped it off. I got a call later in the afternoon stating, They cant get the fork bolt off, someone lock-tited or overtightened. He added, I have all the tools, and I've never run into this issue b4. long story short, they had to heat it, let it cool, heat it let it cool a few times and finally got it off. What was the problem? oh besides the lock-tite, the ****er that installed the lower legs (arlen ness) didn't put in the left bushing! that was the problem. So its like I have a new front end and a whole new bike. Once again thank you guys for ALL your help!! I'll submit pix of what they pulled out for future reference on how NOT to do a fork seal repair!!


2009 Street Glide - <br/>Daddy's Girl!!



2009 Street Glide

 

It's great news that you have solved things and are back on the road - well done. I see a very wide grin coming over the horizon.....

 

Glad you got it figured out...

 

WOW!!!left out parts,how does that happen?did he not see the left over parts at end of job?Glad you got her fixed and are motoring again,be safe.

 

Glad you got it figured out. Thats the trouble with buying used and pisses the everloving $hit out of me that there are people out there that think they can wrench, when they really shouldnt.

 

I would go with a Race Tech system as long as you are rebuilding your forks :
you will be amazed.

 

I suspect that you really want to show the racetech cartridge emulator and not simply the gold valves, They are different.. Also the gold valve you are showing is for a rear shock that is possibly for a sportbike or dirt bike.

Here is a link the the emulators and good description on how they work.
http://www.racetech.com/page/title/E...%20They%20Work

IMO the fairinged bikes from 06 up have a good enough cartridge emulator already in them.. They really only need 5 wt oil and some heavier springs. Progressive light / standard springs work real well.. I removed the Racetech emulator from my 07 EGC and went back to stock with 5 wt oil. The forks while not quite as plush as the RTs, handle potholes much better than the RTs..