leaking forks

[gregga87]

hey guys i was jumping my pitpro 125 the other day and after riding i realised one side of my forks was leaking oil. it had all splatted on my feet and front wheel. is this just a seal broken or wats the go? is it hard to fix yourself?
cheers

 

[Mack]

What sort of forks?

 

[Ruby]

Any forks leaking would require a rebuild/reseal.

Might be cheaper just to replace the forks altogether?

Ruby

 

[Trashthumpy]

yeah it ofen is with china forks because they are hard to find seals for

 

[daniel40]

the pitpro shop on ebay have forks i only saw one pair so id bid now lol there goin for liek 70 bucks lasttime i checked

 

[mech_eng_matty]

Gregga,

You've blown a fork seal for sure. Its a common occurance with bikes. From what i understand, mini forks are GENERALLY different to those on a normal size bike. Something to do with the way the oil acts as the damper for the motion. ANYWAY. The story is, when the forks bottom out, the oil compresses to a point where the pressure that has built up has no way of venting hence it forces its way through the seals which usually hold the oil in. Once the seals are stretched so far, they will no longer hold the oil in the fork hence they will leak.

The general solution is to buy a new set of fork seals, pull the forks apart and replace the seals, fill em up with oil and away you go. However as Ruby and TrashThumpy said, with china forks it might be hard to find the correct part. Fear NOT my man...all is not lost.

Go to your nearest bearing shop, nuts/bolts/fasteners shop or somewhere along those lines. Take the old seal with you. They will measure it with the vernier calipers and should be able to come up with something that is a match. If you'd like to be a bit more prepared, get some vernier calipers yourself and measure a) the size of your fork leg that runs up inside the fork assembly (the smooth one, on the bottom of the upside down forks) and b) the inside of the fork where the seal sits (just take note of where the old one came from and measure that point, it'll coincide with the size of the outside of the seal). By doing this you'll have more of an idea of what size seal you need when the bearing guy starts to ask you questions! Hell, you can even take the fork in with you to show him/her!!!

Once you've got it (it'll only cost about $5-$10) you'll be able to put your fork back together. There is no real trick to it, just do the oposite of pulling it apart. One little secret though. You can ruin a new seal before using it by pushing it onto the fork leg when its not lubricated. Get a plastic bag (a freeza bag is good), cut the bottom out of it so it's f**ked. Slop a bit of oil over the outside of the bag, place the oiled side of the bag inside the seal where the fork leg is going to sit and push the seal and the bag onto the fork leg. When the seal is in the right spot you can simply pull the bag out and bobs your uncle, the seal is in place without it breaking!! Lastly, if your not sure how much oil to put in, measure how much oil is in the non stuffed fork (you'll have to drain the oil out to do it) and just fill em both up with that same amount of fork oil.

Hope you get it fixed up mate. Good luck

Matty

 

[gregga87]

cheers fellas,
any tips with fork oil? good brands etc. will a better brand reduce the chance of another blowout?
also if i was to buy new forks i would rather buy a better quality, but not spend alot. any suggestions?
thanks
oh it was the 125cc pitpro rr 07 stock forks that blew by the way

 

[daniel40]

motul is a good brand of fork oil