Fork Seal Failure after <20,000m

[Oldnick]

Nearly 2 years  and 20,000m agao ago I had my forks, on my 1500 triked Valk,  rebuilt as they were leaking badly.

This morning I replaced the front wheel, after a new tyyre was installed. Obviously I had to lift the front up and this extended the fork completely. When I first lifted it,  I did notice a smear of oil on the fork rods, where they  are never exposed in the outer "shoe", unless you lift the wheel right off the ground.

All went smoothly as I have done this a few times now.

When I lowered the front end, oil poured out of the right fork, when I pumped the forks to aliign the wheel as it says in my manual. I am talking probably 5-10 cc, runnig down the fork rod. I tried again after cleaning up and nothing happened.

However, when I backed the trike out and then took her back in to the shed, when I got off it I could see more oil. I pumped the forks and oil just ran down the rod.

I rang the shop and they completely refused to take any responsibility, because of the time and distance elapsed. There is no warranty even on new forks. I said I rode a Honda 750 for 15 years and over 150,000 Km (100,000,m-ish) and never worried about leaking forks


I had reported that the "new" oil was apparenlty full of sediment way back when, like a week or so after I had the forks back in. I was told that it may be some disturbed stuff after cleaning and anyway not to worry. hmmm...anyway I left it.

The shop guy said that the fork oil was "dark blue". I reckon I could get the sediment to settle. He then said tha "some slight pitting" was written on the report, in the chrome of the rods.. "Fixed as well as possible".

To me it seems weird that everything was fine until I fully extended the forks.

 I am gutted. Can't really ride the trike. Am I right the be PO'd?

Should "slight pitting" cause this after 20,000m?

I am not up to redoing my forks every 2 years. Is this common?

Can you get the fork rods re-chromed? Or am I best to look at new fork rods?

Any advice appreciated.

[Ramie]

I imagine it's possible your seal pulled loose if your clip wasn't seated properly when you raised the front end.  I would carefully pry the dust seal away and check.

[Oldnick]

OK, yeah. That makes  sense. We are talking a catastrophic failure here. I went for a ride and the oil had stopped after 10Km. There is no more oil.

So should I be PO'd? This IIRC is the first time I have had the front wheel off the ground and the seal has just blown out.

[Oldnick]

Sorry. Two things. One is it is late here (23:00) and I am not going to start work. Two is that if I touch that seal the shop is just as likely to say I caused the problem.

I am going back to the shop and letting them know how _bad_ the leak was.

[sandy]

Is Western Australia near the ocean? (Salt air)?? The slight pitting could be part of the issue.
   Did the shop replace the bushings when they did the job???
   A bike that's been triked puts lots of strain on the forks when heavy braking. Seals don't last as long.
   If you go through them again, get bushings and seals from "All Balls". They make superior parts, even better than OEM.

[Oldnick]

Thanks for the reply.

I am not near the ocean...about 60km away I guess. Where the trike came from was not that close IIRC. But the bike / trike has done a lot of Km everywhere and I am not aware of its entire history.

Even though the trike may be tougher on seals, as I say this is now a catastrophic failure, emptying the fork in minutes. Unless a seal has collapsed completely or as was suggested has popped off, this seems most unusual. Are trikes _that_ tough on seals? I do not make a habit of heavy braking....and 30,000 Km??

The leaks that required the reseal were nowhere nearly as bad as what I have now. They were in both forks and equal. This one is sudden, happened only when I extended the fork, heavy, and in one fork only.

I will take your idea of using All Balls. I know of their bearings' good rep, as my "new" 8 Deg rake tree has them.

I am probably going to have the forks evaluated by a Honda mechanic. May or may not be the best, but has bona fides

[Bagger John - #3785]

If pitting on the sliders is sufficient to snag a fingernail as you drag one across then it'll destroy the seals.

Slight pitting can be smoothed out with an oilstone, paying close attention to not introduce flat spots.

Once all pits are completely dressed, clean the area thoroughly and apply a long-lasting nail polish to each pit. Avoid building up a heavy coat and build a smooth transition to un-pitted areas of the slider.

Make sure to clean this area of the fork when you wash and wax the bike.

If pitting is major or the chrome is flaking off, tube replacement is going to be your only realistic fix.

[Oldnick]

OK. Thanks for that detailed reply mate.. HAH! Nail polish. Sounds crazy, but of coursse even the seals are just plastic. Would epoxy metal be more "official" or is that just feelgood? I know in my machinery days it was suggested for hydraulic rams.

I would hope that the mech who rebuilt the forks would be a reasonable judge of pitting that would destroy the seals. Again I know from mym achinery days that seals can take a lot before filing from pitting, but of course a shocky is cycling far more then a ram.

It was werid that everything was fine until I extened the fork then phhhht..massive failure.

[Bagger John - #3785]

Would epoxy metal be more "official" or is that just feelgood? I know in my machinery days it was suggested for hydraulic rams.

The issue with that stuff...it's sharp. Apply some to a pit and if it ever works partway out the seals will get sliced.

Nail polish will simply flake apart. Its purpose is to seal the pits from the atmosphere and halt further corrosion; no structural strength is needed. A locally available brand is Sally Hansen "Hard As Nails" Clear Top Coat. It's made to stay on a lady's fingernails through dishwashing, showers, all manner of environmental exposure until being removed with acetone - so the formulation is pretty durable and works well for this application.

[Oldnick]

OK. Wow! Thanks for that.I can almost FEEL the plastic cutting into thos seals...good catch.

At AUD $550+ for each fork lower leg, it's worth a try at repair iof needed.

The shop has offered an assessment of the problem for free, but I am still thinking of paying somebody else.

Nick

[Oldnick]

So. The wash-up.

 I took the forks into the shop and they opened them up for free. Slight wear in the bushes, which are going to be replaced along with seals, while they are apart.

They could find nothing that could possibly cause a drastic dump of oil. They could only think that maybe the bushes alowed a bit of play, or that something tiny was forced down under the seal when I extended the forks completely.

I am going to let them rebuild: they can do it a lot sooner than I would and they are only charging an hour's work for the lot, along with a free tyre change (from reversed to normal on the front). I can't complain, although I would like to feel that I could rebuild a fork.