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Message started by ericson25 on 07/19/10 at 11:21:26

Title: Fork seals
Post by ericson25 on 07/19/10 at 11:21:26

I just replaced the fork seals on my "04" Savage. There is no more oil leaking but when I hit a sharp bump like a small curb into a drive way there is an awful solid hit, feels like they bottom out. I put 15 oz. of oil in each. What did I do wrong? :-/

Title: Re: Fork seals
Post by verslagen1 on 07/19/10 at 11:27:15

what wt. oil did you use?
What brand?
how much do you weight?

Title: Re: Fork seals
Post by bill67 on 07/19/10 at 11:30:29

I think 15 oz is to much I was thinking it was about 12 oz

Title: Re: Fork seals
Post by ericson25 on 07/19/10 at 11:39:38

SAE 15 fork oil. I am 175 lb. They did not hit before I changed the Seals.

Title: Re: Fork seals
Post by verslagen1 on 07/19/10 at 11:42:14

747F7A7A2021160 wrote:

I think 15 oz is to much I was thinking it was about 12 oz

Clymer states 441 cc or 14.9 oz.
which is what I put in.
comes up to nearly the top of the tube when it's slid down in the lower.

Title: Re: Fork seals
Post by bill67 on 07/19/10 at 11:43:04

I don't know were my s40 book is but my 1500 Suzuki takes 14.8 oz. and its a lot bigger fork and more travel. I think you have to much oil in.

Title: Re: Fork seals
Post by verslagen1 on 07/19/10 at 11:44:25

555153595C575F380 wrote:

SAE 15 fork oil. I am 175 lb. They did not hit before I changed the Seals.

I used the same wt.

Seals just keep the oil in and don't affect damping.

Did you follow clymer or instructions here?

Not sure if there's something you can put in upside down and loose damping.

Title: Re: Fork seals
Post by ericson25 on 07/19/10 at 11:46:55

Maybe, I was using a Clymer manual on CD and I don't really trust it.

Title: Re: Fork seals
Post by bill67 on 07/19/10 at 11:55:25

Sit on it and bounce the fork and see if it feels right.

Title: Re: Fork seals
Post by verslagen1 on 07/19/10 at 11:55:42

0C080A00050E06610 wrote:

Maybe, I was using a Clymer manual on CD and I don't really trust it.

When you say it's bottoming out, are they or feels like it?

In other words, if it's hitting bottom somethings definitely wrong.
But if you have only a little travel, then wham, might be too much fluid.

Did you drain the fluid completely?
or did you just tip the fork bottom up to drain?
if you did may have some fluid in it.
take the cap off, unclamp one fork only, let the top slide down to stop.
fluid should be below the top, I'm guessing by about an inch.
If it over flows, it's got to much.

Title: Re: Fork seals
Post by ericson25 on 07/19/10 at 12:06:18

I can compress them down 2 3/4 inch. I drained the oil from the allen screws in the tube bottoms after I removed the wheel and without the caps and top springs, also I'm sure I put the springs in with the tight end up.

Title: Re: Fork seals
Post by bill67 on 07/19/10 at 12:10:49

Thats not really a drain,I would take something like a turkey baster and take out 1 oz. of oil them try it.

Title: Re: Fork seals
Post by BurnPgh on 07/19/10 at 20:21:33

Not only is that not a drain, it needs to be very tight and needs to have locktite on it otherwise it will leak. wad up some paper towel and cram up the holes on the bottom of the tubes and take a ride. You shouldnt have any fork oil leak onto the towels. If you do, and its a lot, you may have found your problem (kind of doubt it, but...) or at least a problem. If you are leaky and fork oil gets onto your rotor you wont like it (ask me how I know) so if you're leaky just get it out of the way and do it over again.How long did you wait after doing the fork seals before taking a ride? If you had/have a bad leak on the bottom and waited a few days or more its conceivable you lost a significant amount of fork oil.

Title: Re: Fork seals
Post by ericson25 on 07/20/10 at 11:12:19

Great advice from everyone and I did use lock tight. No the problem turned out to be a whole lot more complicated than anyone could imagine. I found that one of mounts for the windshield was not tight. ;D GO FIGURE.

Title: Re: Fork seals
Post by bill67 on 07/20/10 at 11:47:58

Thanks for telling us what the problem was.

Title: Re: Fork seals
Post by Digger on 07/22/10 at 21:51:08

I realize that the quantity of fork oil was not the problem, but, for the record, the proper way to ensure you have the correct amount of fork oil in the fork tubes is to measure the fork oil height with the fork spring removed and the forks fully compressed.

According to the FSM, the proper fork oil height for my bike (see signature) is 2.95 inches, or 75 mm.

I've never had the forks apart on my Savage, but here's how I measure fork oil height on my other bikes:

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee201/Digger109/ForkOilLevelToolE.jpg

The vice grips keep the ruler from falling into the fork tube. Yep, BTDT!

Title: Re: Fork seals
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 07/23/10 at 07:38:17

A ruler falling into the fork tube.

Eaux Neaux!

A set of callipers would do the job, using the tail end/ depth gauge, & theyre too big to go in if ya fumble it. Even some cheap vernier callipers will do it.