Seized Fork Seals 🙁

Actually, despite me thinking these forks had never been apart in their lives due to the rank foul smelling oil in them, on reflection they must have been as
a) the spring (progressive type) in the RHS leg had been put in upside down, and
b) neither fork leg had the requisite washers at the top and bottom of the spacer. items 4 & 26 in the parts diagram were missing.
B24A4761-F27C-44B8-9913-9EDA34B5D5AF.jpeg

As a consequence the spring in the RHS leg had become stuck up inside the spacer at a jaunty angle 😮
A89CEE8A-21A3-4AD7-ADC1-692DC556FD72.jpeg


I’m now awaiting delivery of new bushes, as the ones in there are well worn, before I can reassemble the forks and reinstall them.
 
@West Cork Paul

Well done !
Good man yourself .....
..... so it is ! (y)

So what is the take-away lesson from this ?

Brute force / violence wins out over reason and caution ?

:):):)
Full Knowledge is omnipotent, a little knowledge is dangerous. I’ll admit to the latter in this instance, believed, based upon shoddy research on my part, the hex bolt at the bottom was purely for draining the oil with the forks in situ. All I can say is never believe what you read on specialist motorbike forums (not this one obviously). Mea culpa 🙁
 
Actually, despite me thinking these forks had never been apart in their lives due to the rank foul smelling oil in them, on reflection they must have been as
a) the spring (progressive type) in the RHS leg had been put in upside down, and
b) neither fork leg had the requisite washers at the top and bottom of the spacer. items 4 & 26 in the parts diagram were missing.
View attachment 36191
As a consequence the spring in the RHS leg had become stuck up inside the spacer at a jaunty angle 😮
View attachment 36192

I’m now awaiting delivery of new bushes, as the ones in there are well worn, before I can reassemble the forks and reinstall them.
Must have been serviced by a main dealer :unsure::ROFLMAO:
 
the hex bolt at the bottom was purely for draining the oil with the forks in situ.

I thought the exact same thing when I started reading this , but I decided to keep my gob shut
...... because I could see it leading to a possible argument ....:rolleyes:

Very interesting about the progressive springs having been fitted in opposite directions .
But I'm betting that the previous owner / rider never noticed any front end problems at all ........
......and why would they ?

As long as both legs had oil in , it barely matters which way round the springs were fitted .
They are both going to get compressed , progressively , and it doesn't matter a pig's burp
which end the compression comes from .
 
Could someone please let me know if I have imagined this .....

.... but I'm sure I read about a make / model of bike which comes straight out of the factory with all ( or most )
of the springing in one leg ?

:unsure:
 
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Could someone please let me know if I have imagined this .....

.... but I'm sure I read about a bike which comes straight out of the factory with all ( or most )
of the springing in one leg ?

:unsure:
It’s not uncommon, springing in one leg, damping in t’other.

I think my Multi V4S must be like that as you can only adjust preload on the RHS leg and the electrical connections for the electronically controlled damping are on the LHS leg.
 
It’s not uncommon, springing in one leg, damping in t’other.

I think my Multi V4S must be like that as you can only adjust preload on the RHS leg and the electrical connections for the electronically controlled damping are on the LHS leg.
Yes, most now have rebound in one leg and pre load in the other - but not springing in one as far as I know 👀
 
I've had that on a bicycle before called a cannondale lefty

Cannondale Lefty 2013 – three new models - BikeRadar



How does it work on the Tesi Exi?

Bimota Tesi 3D RaceCafe Is "Pinnacle Weird"
 
Just worth a mention here that you can force the seals out easily by filling them up completely with water, no air bubbles and then use a press of some sort to compress the whole unit. The seals should just press out. Obvs you would want to leave in the 8mm hex bolt in the bottom and also make sure you have removed the dust seal and circlip retaining the seal. Marcduc in this thread suggesting the same with topping it up with oil. Same, same.
Are you reusing the inners WCP or did you replace them?
 
Just worth a mention here that you can force the seals out easily by filling them up completely with water, no air bubbles and then use a press of some sort to compress the whole unit. The seals should just press out. Obvs you would want to leave in the 8mm hex bolt in the bottom and also make sure you have removed the dust seal and circlip retaining the seal. Marcduc in this thread suggesting the same with topping it up with oil. Same, same.
Are you reusing the inners WCP or did you replace them?
Useful.
The old bushes were well past their best so new ones were ordered and fitted, a couple of washers changed and new rubber o-ring seals on the fork tops 👍
Old on the left, new on the right
E891AE04-3125-43E9-8B37-8CDE7C7B879E.jpeg


Old upper bush inner
05E1330A-5619-4F76-9BDE-63C43F9E8CC1.jpeg


New upper bush inner
301787DC-A959-4CA8-9F84-F973ED2BFB28.jpeg


You can see the anti friction coating is very worn on the old ones.
 
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Just to finish this thread off.

The new bushes were hammered into place use of the old bushes and a fork seal slide hammer
13C8F8F8-9D55-4EA6-B10D-AF321B6D8294.jpeg


The new oil seals were then put on using, in Blue Peter fashion, an old plastic milk bottle to prevent damage to the new seal lip from the sharp tip of the forks (and in this case the pitting of the upper part of the forks.
3DD0F58B-792C-4AC0-AFCF-DACDDD7D8E03.jpeg

990E63DC-8674-4288-A128-0204346BCA98.jpeg


A repair, via a bit of plastic welding, was made to the front mudguard which was cracked around one of the mounting holes.
AFF0A784-FD10-4465-A5BC-EC4DC6EA0F4F.jpeg

989B1218-644F-48DC-9380-FB6E40DF19D5.jpeg

2BE3DBFD-8448-4929-8E57-ABA86435CEC3.jpeg


The whole lot then reassembled, loosely, the front end bounced up and down to make sure everything was working, and straight, then the bolts torqued up.
D1622814-ED1E-4405-ADE3-5578EAC6C869.jpeg


Put in the van and ready to be delivered back 👍
36CFF405-DA85-4ED0-BA0E-E7EBBDF8465C.jpeg


Job done, thank you all for your help 👍
 
You don't mention a washer usually found installed between the bushes and the seals?

This washer can be used as an alternative to driving the bush home and also will press the seals out on dis assembly.

TB
 
You don't mention a washer usually found installed between the bushes and the seals?

This washer can be used as an alternative to driving the bush home and also will press the seals out on dis assembly.

TB
Washer 😱. I hate it when there are bits left over. I wondered what they were for 😮😮.


Just kidding😁. If you look closely at the first picture of post #48 you’ll see the washer sitting above the 2 old bushes. My seal slide hammer insert rests against the washer, the washer rests against one of the old bushes which rests against the other old bush which rests against the new bush so I could achieve the depth required to get the new upper bush fully home in its designated place.

The washer and old bushes were then removed, the washer put back on and the new oil seal driven home 👍
 
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