fork seals

[Guest]

I believe my fork seals need replaced. There is a ring around several inches up above the seals. The ring is a mixture or oil and grime so it is dark colored not carmel color like clean oil.

My question is how soon does this need to be done? I would like to wait until after the riding season but wonder if this will cause any problems with handling and control of the bike.

[Weeksz]

From what I know. When your seals are bad- you will know they are bad. Meaning you will have fork oil that runs down your forks from your seals. My guess is that your 750's fork oil has never been changed and its always a good idea to get new fluids especially if they are 30+ years old. Yes old/bad seals will affect your steering and braking performance as it will dampen your spring rebound and smoothness of compression.

[Steve]

If it's just a dirty line above the dust boots that needs an occasional wiping off, you can probably get by until the end of the season, but note that, as the oil slowly escapes, so will the damping ability of the forks. There is no telling how much oil is in there right now, so you don't really know if this just happened and the forks still have most of their oil or if these are the last few drops that are hanging on.

One of the dangers of ignoring the seals is that they might puke a little more oil than usual at one time or another, and spill some oil down on the brake disk and/or pads. When you have oil on the brakes, things can get rather ... exciting, if you know what I mean.

.

[rudeman]

You really don't want to continue riding with leaky seals. Aside from what Steve mentioned you stand a chance of causing further damage to your forks which could prove costly later on. You can do it in a day and not have to worry about it.

[winfield]

thanks for the responses, Gents.