Newly serviced forks, seals leaking everywhere! HELP!!

[Kiwirider]

Hi all.
Well where to start. I have just finished a re building/servicing my forks thanks to Gas Mans "How To". I had gotten my main fork seals from the Big Dog dealer in STL, MO last year, knowing that a service was coming up. So after I had accumulated the right parts. I proceeded to complete the service. Once I lowered the bike back down, I pumped the forks with the front brake....... And a SHIT LOAD of new fork oil came squirting out of the fork seals on BOTH forks. WTF!!! :bang:

The only thing I can think of, is when I compared the new seals to the old ones (before installing), the new ones were A LOT narrower. Eg, the old ones are about 3/8" deep and the new ones are about 1/4". So my only guess is that when you pound the new seals on to line up with the retaining clip, the new seals wont sit as deep on the fork tube and have as tighter seal in it?:loony:

Anyone have any ideas?

Cheers in advance all.

Have a ride organized for this weekend with friends coming from out of town so need to find a fix. I'll be pissed if a certain shop gave me the wrong parts.

Im stripping it back down now so will have some pics up in a bit.





So these are the pics of the new and old seal, on one pic you can see the area that the seals seats in. The new one would only take up a small part of this. Would this be enough to cause it to leak profusely? Or to I need to just pound the seal in deeper?

 

[Relic]

I've done 3 sets using regular 41mm Harley seals & none have leaked. With that said, the Harley seals were exactly like the stock seals that came out of the tubes. I always use a little vasoline on both surfaces of the seals to help the installation and to help make sure I don't tear the lips on the seals.

Hope you find the problem.

 

[c.c.rider]

I think you got the wrong fork seals. These are the old ones i just changed out. Go to your Harley shop and see if they have them.

 

[Kiwirider]

I've done 3 sets using regular 41mm Harley seals & none have leaked. With that said, the Harley seals were exactly like the stock seals that came out of the tubes. I always use a little vasoline on both surfaces of the seals to help the installation and to help make sure I don't tear the lips on the seals.

Hope you find the problem.

Thanks me too. I just cant figure why it would leak like that. Oil literally pouring out of the seals after only one or two compressions of the forks. Maybe I assembled it wrong?

Are the forks a completely sealed unit? Or should there be a breather somewhere to allow for compression/extension of the tubes? Maybe when I compressed the forks, the compresses air/oil had nowhere to go but out of the seals?

 

[Dogbone]

Did mine couple times and have to make sure you got them in the right direction. put mine in upside down one time and leaked bad. also when i poured my oil in, i let it off the stand so pressure would be on the forks and then i let it set for 30 minutes without the top nut on so the oil would settle and bleed off....put top plug and no leaks since.

 

[Kiwirider]

Did mine couple times and have to make sure you got them in the right direction. put mine in upside down one time and leaked bad. also when i poured my oil in, i let it off the stand so pressure would be on the forks and then i let it set for 30 minutes without the top nut on so the oil would settle and bleed off....put top plug and no leaks since.

That makes sense. How do you tell which way is which? The old ones have two of those steel bands, one on each side. And the new one only has one.

I was wondering if they should have some sort of load on them before they get sealed up. At least that way they will be closer to the compression volume that they would normally operate at.

So does the air volume in the sealed forks assist in compression/rebound?

 

[Sven]

As mentioned, if harley OEM is a 41mm and the OD is going to fit in the fork, then the trick is this... Or should I say it works for me?

1. Take an old seal stick a screwdriver thur the hole.
2. Start the grinding wheel up and let the seal's OD grind down so it plops just about into the fork's leg or that machined part.
3. Take a thin mm sandwich bag, cut it so it falls over the sharp top fork tube end.
4. Take the new dry seal, carefully angle down the one lip over part of the tube.
5. Push the partial lip so the rest of the round of the lip can plop over the tube with the sandwich bag not being cut doing all this. That's why you push the lip so the round has no pressure around most of it.
6. Make sure you do not tear any sandwich plastic with the lip dragging it down the tube like you walked out of the bathroom with a few toilet tissues on the bottom of your foot.
7. This is when you push the seal again like you did over the top of the tube, so the plastic on the other side is easy to pull out and away as one piece.
8. Is that fork tube so pitted you did not dress the high spots down with a jeweler's file? That is the porous part of chrome where it will lift when water gets down in there. Once you push that seal over those cut divots, that new seal is going to leak down the road. You have another problem with a few pushes and out she comes.
9. Slide the new seal down the tube just before it's close to the leg. Lift the seal up slightly, wipe the dirty oil away. Home the seal all level and press by hand as much as you can push evenly down is the preset.
10. Here is where you piggyback over the new seal is that shaved down old seal. With a rawhide mallet tap evenly around the seal and home it till it stops. Install C-clip. Another Option: take pvc pipe, put it over the old seal, hammer the lengthened pvc pip over the tube and home the new seal down till it stops. Pull up and away the old seal, obviously. Install C-clip.
11. Pour required amount down the tube. The air gap between the fork oil and upper cap is enough air to compress so as not to blow the seals out.

After all, the old seals worked up to this point, right? So either you tore up the lip seals, you did not home the seals deep enough, the person sold you the wrong parts are a few variables. Return them and try a harley dealer so you put that aftermarket seal money towards the OEM you know works.

 

[Sven]

That makes sense. How do you tell which way is which?

Numbers/letters always face you. Make sense? I've never installed a seal with the numbers hiding upside down. Sort of make sense again the seal is a one way valve?

 

[Dakotabos]

Question How much fork oil did you put in it? 10.5 OZ MAX

I just redid mine and used 41MM rebuild kit from HD worked great. Curtis has them too and can get them too you quickly

 

[Kiwirider]

Numbers/letters always face you. Make sense? I've never installed a seal with the numbers hiding upside down. Sort of make sense again the seal is a one way valve?

Yup that makes sense. Looks like I had the in the correct way. I was even close examining Gas's How To, to compare seals with his. The ones I took off the bike are the same as his, but these new ones are quite different. The old ones have two deep groves with the spring ring in on each side and the new ones only have one.
Im still wondering about the air volume in the forks at full extension when they are sealed up, then being compressed under load. Where does that air volume go? Is it compressed?

Im off to the local HD dealer with both seals to try get an exact replacement.
Wish me luck.

 

[Knuckles]

agree with others. must be wrong seals if you had them in correct and no damage to them. also measure out the oil. I used 10oz of 30 wt

 

[Viking]

Sven makes a good point with the numbers. They are also a PITA to get in, even with vasoline smeared on them. If they plop in they are the wrong seals. Get new ones from Curtis and he will give you everything you need of info to get it right.

 

[Kiwirider]

Just got back from the local bike shops. One for new seals and one for more fork oil. One guy looked at the seal and said it looked like a single seal as apposed to our (the correct) seals have a double seal. It took a royal thumping to get them in, so the seating area Im pretty sure is good to go (knock wood). Ive completely drained the forks and will basically start assembly again from scratch. So will update when I get her back together.

Thanks to everyone who has offered help so far. This is such a great asset to have available.

 

[Kiwirider]

Well gents (and ladies). Have good news. Turns out it was the wrong seals givin to me by Big Dog STL. Have it all back together and it actually sits a lot higher in the front, probably 1-2" longer in the forks. I guess due to the amount of oil that had leaked out over the years. The head light low beam is now where high beam used to be due to the added fork length. Feels great to sit on it too (almost like a K9...... almost lol). :lol:
Still a little pissed that I wasted money on 2 useless seals, wasted a quart of fork oil and 2 days sorting it out.:angry:

Thanks again to everyone who has helped me out.

Above are the new good seals from the local HD dealer. They are double seals like the factory. Not single seal that BD STL sold me.

Clean forks, a first for me since I've owned the bike.:up:

 

[c.c.rider]

Glad everything worked out.:2thumbs: I just replaced my fork tubes due to leaking and what a difference.

 

[Mickeetwo]

Glad you got it figurred out Dean :2thumbs:

 

[Kiwirider]

Thanks gents. Yep made a hell of a difference to everything, front end ride height, suspension, even straight line tracking. Best of all, no oil all over me or the forks after big bumps. We did 200mls the day after I got it together on a poker run, then took 2nd place in a bike show yesterday lol. Had friends up from Texarkana on their bike. So we had a great weekend and a great start to the year for riding. Alan, you need to venture up this ways. Your more than welcome.

 

[Viking]

Genuine "Harley Davidson" and "Made in Japan", yeah that would be the right ones....

Sad, ain't it?