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Message started by Drey on 03/05/17 at 11:10:08

Title: Fork Seals
Post by Drey on 03/05/17 at 11:10:08

Hey, guys! I noticed this week that my left side fork seal seemed to have a small leak; after poking around here a bit I found some tips on cleaning the seal. So I went out this morning to do just that. I'm attaching some pictures of what I found.

The pictures were taken after I sopped up a small pool of what appeared to be oil. What remained is this reddish brown (rust?) colored stuff. I went ahead and did the cleaning procedure with my homemade plastic tool and I actually think it worked fine as I pumped the forks down a bunch and oil seemed to stop appearing on the forks.

https://1drv.ms/f/s!Anr2pqESKRkBho4rT8qrYO2yIhJy8w

But the rust colored gunk has me worried all the same and wanted to check with you guys to see if I should be replacing the seals anyway or if I'm good.

Thanks!

Title: Re: Fork Seals
Post by verslagen1 on 03/05/17 at 11:44:46

that area will collect water and the retaining ring will rust.

what do you guys do? waterproof grease on the ring? wax?

Title: Re: Fork Seals
Post by batman on 03/05/17 at 12:01:25

Same thing happened to me! I think this is fairly normal,the dust seal allows a bit of dirt and moisture in and it rolls to the back of the tube and reacts with the steel spring clip (hence the rust color) .I'd rust wipe it out using a few Q- tips and whatever you might try for a cleaner .Versy,wax sounds good!I don't think that could ever hurt the seal,Not sure I'd trust grease or oil.

Title: Re: Fork Seals
Post by Gary_in_NJ on 03/05/17 at 13:19:48

Be careful not to force the rust into the fork seal. Get it as clean as possible before to attempt to remove any foreign object currently lodged between the seal and the slider.

To clear the slider use a thin plastic card. A health insurance is about perfect for this.

Title: Re: Fork Seals
Post by stewmills on 03/06/17 at 06:31:11

Go to the hardware store and get a small bottle of krud kutter "the must for rust" and a small toothbrush. It is water based and kinda-sorta organic and doesn't eat paint and plastics but will help dissolve rust. I used it in quite a number of places on my bike (not fork seals...use at your own risk) and have always been pleased with the results.