Anti-dive leakage

[ddeboer]

1983 GS1100E-I have a slight leakage occurring where the anti-dive unit attaches to the fork.I looked on a parts fiche and found out that there are 2 o-rings providing the seal between the anti-dive unit and the fork body.

Q: Do I need to drain the brake fluid before changing these o-rings? I'm not even sure if it's brake fluid or fork oil leaking out of this area as the leak is very small and barely perceptible.Nor do I completely understand how the anti-dive works. I do wish to address the issue though. Thankyou.

[John Kat]

I had this same issue on my 1100 Katana.
To determine where the leak comes from you can separate the top and bottom halves of the antidive.
The top holds the piston that moves with the brake pressure and the bottom stays on the fork leg.
There should be NO fluid between the two halves.
The issue on mine came from a small leak from the top of the rod on the bottom half...allthough I had suspected the O-rings
Needless to say that there are no spares available.
My solution was to take the rod out and replace it with a bolt with a large washer to keep the fork oil from leaking.
No antidive anymore but who cares?

[ddeboer]

So when I remove the anti-dive unit from the fork will there be fork oil or brake fluid spillage?Or does pressure have to accompany any leakage?

[AJ]

So when I remove the anti-dive unit from the fork will there be fork oil or brake fluid spillage?Or does pressure have to accompany any leakage?

There will be copious amounts of fork fluid spurting out if you try to remove the anti-dive units without first draining the fork oil. So since you have to replace those o-rings, now would be a good time to change your fork fluid.

Please feel free to ask what you should use for fork fluid if you would like to open up a whole new animated discussion.

[GS1100ez]

make sure you bleed out the air in the forks too befor, or else its gonna shoot out under some pressure

[John Kat]

So when I remove the anti-dive unit from the fork will there be fork oil or brake fluid spillage?Or does pressure have to accompany any leakage?

I'm proposing to first split the antidive unit by unbolting the top part and leaving the bottom part on the fork.
By doing so, no liquid will be spilled ( unless there is a major disaster with the O-rings inside the antidive unit)
If you have to remove the lower part of the antidive that's attached to the fork, then for sure the oil will poor out
For the diagnostics, I would not do that until you've checked where the oil comes from by separating the top and bottom of the antidive.

[mrbill5491]

Buy the block off plates for the antidive, They didn't really work all that well. Suzuki discontinued them fairly quick.

[AJ]

make sure you bleed out the air in the forks too befor, or else its gonna shoot out under some pressure

That is really good advice! Been there, done that. LOL

[jona]

Where can you by the block-off plates for the anti dive? I can't find them on e-bay for my bike.