Fork Oil

[Billinva]

I'm on the road and have developed a small fork seal leak. Is there anyway to check the oil or add oil without a complete tear down.

       Thanks,

                 Bill

[F6Dave]

They hold a LOT of oil - nearly a quart.  Unless it is leaking very, very badly I wouldn't worry.

You can try to clean the seal.  One time on a trip I stopped at an auto parts store and bought a set of feeler gauges.  Used the smallest one to clean the seal and it stopped leaking for the rest of my trip.

[hubcapsc]

I recently became a believer... previously I thought this "trick" was snake oil...
These instruction give you the gist of the "trick"... you can use the real tool,
some camera film, a thin feeler gauge, or... the real tool is pretty handy...

http://sealmate.net/seal_mate_instructions.html

You'd have to leak a long time to loose much fork oil... we ran the seal-mate
tool on my badly leaking fork in Wisconsin, and I made it back to South Carolina
without leaking anymore 

-Mike

[Cliff]

http://riskracing.com/store/19-seal-doctor.html

Pricier than Sealmate, but much easier to use and very durable.

[Billinva]

Thanks for the help. I'll try to clean them. I'm just starting out but hope to finish the trip without a major seal problem. If I do have to pay a shop to replace the seals, how long should it take and how much should it cost?

        Thanks,
                   Bill

[gordon]

Sealmate works great-Both forks developed leaks and this fixed them both-Take the fender off tho -it makes it easier to do a proper job!

[F6Dave]

It looks from the pics that the Seal Doctor wraps around the tube and works with the fender in place.  That would be well worth the extra $$.

[Bronxboy]

My front forks seem real soft, how much of a difference does the progressive springs make?

[hubcapsc]

My front forks seem real soft, how much of a difference does the progressive springs make?

A whole bunch. For me they took my forks from "crappy" to "good"...

-Mike

[Cliff]

It looks from the pics that the Seal Doctor wraps around the tube and works with the fender in place.  That would be well worth the extra $$.

yes they make it very easy to to with just the dust seal moved out of the way.  Mine is ALWAYS in my saddoe bag .. not just for me but anyone in need