Samuel Shinn
Member
So I went for a new years day ride in about 35 degrees F. No serious off road, came home to both of my fok tubes having blown oil seals. Water in forks in cold weather? Ideas?
So I went for a new years day ride in about 35 degrees F. No serious off road, came home to both of my fok tubes having blown oil seals. Water in forks in cold weather? Ideas?
I will give it a try.Step one would be to try and clean the area between the fork tube and the seal. Sometimes grit can get in there and create leaks. You can buy a tool for this called a Seal Mate, or else you can make one out of a plastic milk carton. It wouldn't surprise me if there was some grit in there from the roads being cindered in winter time. There are videos on YouTube of how to clean this area.
Seal Savers on the fork tubes can help with keeping crap out of that area.
Here is a post that you might want to look at. If it turns out that you can't clean your current ones. . . . this may be your next step. This guy will be your go-to for any help/advise/questions. Good luck.So I went for a new years day ride in about 35 degrees F. No serious off road, came home to both of my fok tubes having blown oil seals. Water in forks in cold weather? Ideas?
Some folks have probably read before that I suggest changing out the seals along WITH the guides on this Tenere. Do it all at once, anytime you're inside the forks. Ive recently had a little weep out of one of the legs and I ordered ALL the parts for my forks. (im thrashing on the whole bike once-over) So today I dive in deep and guess what I found........ A great example of why I suggest this........ In my case I only had a little fork oil weep, I wonder what I was about to experience ?
The one guide that is all torn up is out of one leg..... The other photos are of the other leg, the material is almost completely worn to the metal ring.
If I didnt know better I might only replace ONE seal and be done.... They needed some TLC !
If this is first time you have read me saying this...... I suggest you always (on the Tenere) change out the guides along with seals and other wear parts anytime you are inside the forks... The Tenere is hard on guides.
Either that, or I'm a Pro- Dakar racer jumping this and racing this beast like no one ever has and the parts just cant keep up with my bad-a$$ ! ! LOL joking- I doubt it- so replace your $hizzt
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Similar to my experience. Changed all the same parts and found the coating on the bushings showed no obvious visible wear. The fork oil was still translucent too. Based on what I’d read on the list I was expecting a bit of a mess, especially as I had well over 70,000 miles when I first serviced it. Mostly street use but ~10% off/dirt roads.Back in April this year at 66,000 miles I took my forks apart and replaced the seals, pistons/slides and dust seals. I was surprised how little wear was showing on the pistons and slides; I really had expected it to be worse. The old ones were still serviceable, but since I'd already bought the new parts, I installed them anyway. Mine weren't leaking, but I had to take the forks off since they were due for an oil change, and I figured I might as well change all the wear items since I had the forks apart anyway. Even at 66,000 miles, with a lot of it on dirt roads and loaded touring, I probably could have skipped all the replacement parts and just changed the oil.