Front Fork torque specs? 012 std.

So I gutted the forks today in prep for new OEM Seals/dust covers tomorrow. Cleaned, flushed and dry. Everything looks beautiful inside. Sadly this is the third pair of seals going in. First change was under warranty at 3300 miles just after I purchased. Now again at 11.6k. I could find absolutely nothing wrong with either Seals or dust covers. So why they were leaving is a mystery to me.
Awaiting Brake pads arrival from Revzilla
(Ferodo Platinum). The originals were slightly oily but actually worked
(HH compound). Changing for safety sake.
Using Yamaha 10w oil.
I need the torque spec for the axle and steering stem related hardware. Everything else is generally known. Thanks for your replies. Its been a long minute since I was on here.
Hope everyone is healthy and safe. Cheers , G.

Front axle is 72nm
Front calipers 40nm
Axle pinch bolts 21nm - inner/outer/inner (in that order)
Top yoke pinch bolts 25nm
Lower yoke pinch bolts 20nm

You live adjacent to a desert - probably just dirt/grit under the seal lip, after say some heavy braking. Have you tried one of these: -

PaydayGabe said:

Sadly this is the third pair of seals going in. First change was under warranty at 3300 miles just after I purchased. Now again at 11.6k. I could find absolutely nothing wrong with either Seals or dust covers. So why they were leaving is a mystery to me.

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Look very closely at your fork tubes. Both the outer and inner. A ding in the outer and/or a scratch on the inner can cause a seal leak. It's normally just a small chip or scratch on the chrome of the inner that causes a leak. This can sometimes be fixed with careful filing and fine wet dry sandpaper. Go easy so as not to remove too much of the chrome.

Also if the tech installed the seals without first covering the forks with a seal bullet or baggie can tear the seal and cause a leak. Good luck Sir!!

I don’t live near a desert, but do run SealSavers to keep grit out of the fork seals. The road crews use salt, brine, sand, and cinders on the roads in the winter which will cause problems if enough grit gets on your fork tubes. My ‘15 S10 has 45000 miles on the original fork seals without at leak (fingers crossed after stating that).

A few thoughts that Ive run into with my bike and MANY others...

Are you ringing OEM parts?

The fine silt (bull dust) in NV / UT / AZ and even CO has caused many fork failures (seals).
After I road off road across UT, I had a fork seal go out so bad it was just dripping on the ground. By the time I got home is was basically empty.

What volume of oil are you running? Are you pulling the spring when you measure? When you re assemble the fork are you very careful to get all the air out of everything and then double / triple check the oil volume ? Ive seen in my experience in the past of over filling and this has been 'part' of the seal issue. What oil volume do you choose to use? How many (mm) from the top are you running?

Are you on stock springs? Are you bottoming the forks out all the time? When I first got my bike I had everything pretty tight (compression / rebound / preload) I road the bike aggressive off road and bottomed out the forks ALL the time. That was my first set of seals before I went over to much stiffer custom Ohlins. Then the dust out in UT got me again. LOL

Are you running a smidge of grease on the inside of the seal before the instal ?

Are you very careful sliding the seal past the sharp edges at the top of the stanchion tube? Ive seen that damage the seal many times from others.

On the seal, (probably not likely- but double check) make sure the seal has not rolled any of the "sealing" edges. Slide it back and forth slowly just to double check.

Have you ever pulled the four guides and looked at them closely ? The Tenere is hard on guides. Ive already put three sets in my bike and I always recommend that Tenere owners change guides and seals out at the same time. Make sure there are no "particles" coming off any of the guides. If there is ANY wear, replace them. Because this is an inverted fork, the particles fall to the bottom onto the seals and because of the stroke will make the fork leak oil, even with new seals... (Ive seen this before when people have me fix there forks after they just "rebuilt", they really didnt do anything wrong other than not replace the damaged guides)

Just a few thoughts to get you past this issue !


This winter I performed the whole bike once-over. I tore down my forks to do the full service. No leaks, no major issue, just needed a full go-over.

When I pulled them down I found this on a few guides. I had already ordered the seals and guides, so I had the parts. But this is what im talking about. I see this very often in some form or fashion. Here only two pictures of one guide. I had similar pictures of my other guides............. Seals + guides