Since fork travel is somewhere north of five inches, that scratch (and the nice burr at the bottom of the scratch) will enter the seal when the forks compress.  The defect most certainly can cause the seal to leak.  I might also add that the surface finish of the chrome on the fork tube looks terrible.  That might be just the appearance in the picture, but to me it just looks terrible.  That chrome should be smooth as glass, close to a mirror finish.

7,000 miles, leaking. First clue. Whoever did that work is a crap mechanic.
If you can feel that scratch ,and I'm betting you can, it's going to be zippin up and down, working on the seal . It will polish down, but it needs to be done by someone who has the skills to do it. I would clean it with brake clean, fill it with JB weld. Give it a day, get a piece of glass and put 1,000 grit on it and work the thing close,go up on grit and wet sand it down. Wet sand from the beginning.
If anyone thinks I don't know what I'm talking about, I did that work on my backhoe when I did the seals on six hydraulic cylinders. I fixed pits with ragged chrome edges and they don't leak.
You Gotsta get the high points down. And everything has to be smooove..

but I hate to have to replace the stupid seal again.

I Totally understand That. I replaced some a few years ago. I did not enjoy it. But now I have the tools..

Ruttly wrote on 11/29/24 at 22:03:20:


You're not wrong. If I was to replace the fork tube, I would replace the whole front assembly at that point. My fork might be leaking due to the scratch or due to the outer tube being deformed by Superbrace. Or maybe because the bike just sits for months on end?

I don't use the bike much anymore, but I would like to keep in a decent working order. I'll probably try to clean the seal again and polish out the scratch.

As a lifelong mechanic I tend to do a proper repair. Not that you’re doing it wrong , it’s just how I do things. However my 2 most active projects are vintage so a lot of stuff gets repaired rather than replaced. A 71 BSA 250 and a 55 Ford F100. I tend to believe that scratch is too deep to be polished out ( not that I wouldn’t try ). I just hate doing the job twice. Wish you luck.

The scratch looks deep , if it snags your thumbnail then I would bet that’s your leak. An odd scratch for sure. Would be cool to add dye to fork oil to ID leak with a black light/UV. The dye I used to use looked like orange lava in the light. Worked on A/C,engine ,trans,power steering,any gear box ,any thing that uses oil. Fun to use but $$$,when I worked at a dealership. I doubt your super brace cause the leak , a fork seal is designed for some deflection in the seal to allow for shaft deflection and imperfections. No way it could deform it enough to leak unless tube or slider is damaged.
You got a deal for my 2 cents.

Fork legs are cheap new for common forks , not sure if Savage fork is common to other models. I bought a kit for my 250 project that had tubes ,seals, wipers and sealing copper washers for under $200.  Or a used one.
I was surprised how the prices on tubes were so reasonable. They used to cost upwards of $350 each. Even more surprising I’ve only bent one front end in over 50+ years of riding , was a head on collision with another bike.