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Leaky fork advice

Dogma

Dogma

Forum Sage
I've been reading old leaky fork posts, and I ran across a mention of rust pits on the forks. I think this may be the cause of my problem. I replaced my fork seals two winters ago, and this spring, the left leg started leaking again. I dismantled the forks on Wednesday morning before leaving for Douglas Lake (recommended but the water is way down).

The seals looked fine to me, and the only damage I could find I did when I removed them. No sign of wear. So I started looking around. The forks aren't rusty like some I've seen, but there are small black spots, some of them the better part of a millimeter. I can feel them when I run my fingers over the fork. I also can feel gouges in Teflon slide rings. One of the gouges is so deep I though it was a seam at first.

So, these are rust pits, and the source of my leak, right? What are my options? Should I search salvage yards for clean forks, or can I do something for the forks I have?
 
If the metal is pitted there isn't much you can do other than replace the tubes. Sanding down the edges of the pitts will reduce the tendancy for the sharp edges tearing up the new seals but this is not a fix per say.

Used to be there were shops that would make inner stantion tubes for you but not sure anymore. Did you check parts availability from Suzuki?
 
Has anybody tried to clean the pits real good and skim some jb weld over them and wet sand them smooth? Just a thought.
 
You've got 3 options:
1. New tubes - pattern parts are available over here for around ?80 each, they may still be available from Suzuki as well..

2. Get the old tubes rechromed - a specialist job for forks as it's hardened chrome and they need to be reground to the right dimensions after chroming. Sometimes works out more expensive than new tubes, sometimes it's cheaper. (About ?120 over here for a pair of reground forks).

3.The 'bodger' method which I've had varying degrees of success with - lasts for ages or sometimes less than 2000 miles. Rub down the pits with wet and dry 1200 grade until you can hardly feel them. Next degrease like you've never degreased before (I reckon this is where I've been lazy and gone wrong in the past). Degrease again. Then cover with a layer of epoxy - Loctite Super Steel or similar - and leave it for a few days to go really hard (ignore the 2 hours or whatever it says on the tube). Finally rub it down - wet and dry is best and safest but if you're really careful you can take the worst off with a fine warding file. Turn the pitted area to the unseen back of the forks and no one will know.

I know people either love 'em or hate 'em but fork gaitors are the answer to the problem happening in the first place.
 
OK I have another method

OK I have another method

First thing is to NOT let the forks get pitted in the first place, especially where the seal has to run. Depending upon how bad pit is of course (mine was minor but enough to ruin a seal), I buffed the tubes on a buffing wheel with ROUGE (not Roush sorry). Worked great and even took out the factory markings from the chrome. BTW this works great on most any surface scratched you might have in chrome. Just don't go too far you can go through the chrome layers.

The 1200 grit will work also as long as again you don't go through chrome. I think the epoxy fix would have to be for some really bad pits. The rechome would be nice, but required total disassembly and could be pricey ; but if your tubes are hosed what are you gonna do.

The buffing wheel will significantly improve the look of any tube; I did mine when I rebuilt my forks and added race tech emulators and progressive springs

See post 33 for pics.

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=121271&page=4

Posplayr

P.S. the pits will not come out; your only hope is to make them smooth enough so they will not rip the rubber. Anyplace where the chrome is still intact, should come out nicely with the buffing. For good measure I pu a littel wheel bearing grease ynder the dust cover to keep the frok a little greasy instead of dry. Dry Lube lubricant can also be used.
 
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I tryed to jb weld and sanded the tubes down and it sanded the jb weld out of the pits don't wast your time with jb weld.
 
Thanks gang. I think I'll try the JB weld (because I have some on hand), then I might try the buffing. I'm confused about how buffing will help though. The pits seem to be passing fluid, without cutting the seals, because I can't feel any damage on the sealing lip. If that doesn't get it, I'll call Frank's and see what they have to say. I might call and see what they advise anyhow. I'll also have a second look at the parts bike, since my memory of those forks is fuzzy.

BTW, what's the best way to extract extract and replace that Teflon ring?
 
Dogma said:
Thanks gang. I think I'll try the JB weld (because I have some on hand), then I might try the buffing. I'm confused about how buffing will help though. The pits seem to be passing fluid, without cutting the seals, because I can't feel any damage on the sealing lip. If that doesn't get it, I'll call Frank's and see what they have to say. I might call and see what they advise anyhow. I'll also have a second look at the parts bike, since my memory of those forks is fuzzy.

BTW, what's the best way to extract extract and replace that Teflon ring?
Click to expand...
Hey i have a set of 850 forks that last i looked were in REALLYgood shape. They are STANDARD forks (not leading axle) but you could always pull the tubes if yours dont work...lemme know, they are just sitting so happy to donate if needed.
 
TheCafeKid said:
Hey i have a set of 850 forks that last i looked were in REALLYgood shape. They are STANDARD forks (not leading axle) but you could always pull the tubes if yours dont work...lemme know, they are just sitting so happy to donate if needed.
Click to expand...

Dude! You rock. If I wasn't in TN just now, I'd be there tomorrow. As it is I can't use them until I get the brakes rebuilt and put new bearings in. I could maybe let the bearing go a while longer, but that's probably not the wise thing to do.

Hmm... According to Alphasports' fiche, the part numbers are different between the G and GL. The inner tubes also look different. Are you sure they will interchange? Of course, I am wondering how my bike would handle with G forks. It would turn in a bit quicker, wouldn't it? I don't know if I would prefer that to the neutral handling I have now. It wouldn't be that much work to just try it.
 
Dogma said:
Dude! You rock. If I wasn't in TN just now, I'd be there tomorrow. As it is I can't use them until I get the brakes rebuilt and put new bearings in. I could maybe let the bearing go a while longer, but that's probably not the wise thing to do.

Hmm... According to Alphasports' fiche, the part numbers are different between the G and GL. The inner tubes also look different. Are you sure they will interchange? Of course, I am wondering how my bike would handle with G forks. It would turn in a bit quicker, wouldn't it? I don't know if I would prefer that to the neutral handling I have now. It wouldn't be that much work to just try it.
Click to expand...
Im not positive but i think you'd want the triple tree for the G forks too so as not to mess up the geometry so much. It MIGHT work. And no, I DONT know that the tubes are the same, they may not be, the L forks may have longer tubes.
 
TheCafeKid said:
Im not positive but i think you'd want the triple tree for the G forks too so as not to mess up the geometry so much. It MIGHT work. And no, I DONT know that the tubes are the same, they may not be, the L forks may have longer tubes.
Click to expand...

Well, we can eyeball them sometime. I dunno about the overall length, but the proportions are different. The tube necks down to a smaller diameter near the end of the tube, and that's in a different position on the G versus the L, according to the fiche on Alphasports.
 
If they start puking badly, stuff a rag between the fork wiper and the fork seal. Not a fix, but will allow you to ride the bike for a short time until you fix it and keep fork oil off of the brakes. Then you're really hosed, eh! :D
 
mcycle-nut said:
If they start puking badly, stuff a rag between the fork wiper and the fork seal. Not a fix, but will allow you to ride the bike for a short time until you fix it and keep fork oil off of the brakes. Then you're really hosed, eh! :D
Click to expand...

Good one. I was just letting it drip on a pile of bike litter on the garage floor.
 
Get them rechromed and you wont have any more problems.Do a bodge job and you'll be pulling them again when you'd rather be riding.Cheers,Simon.:)
 
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