fork seals!

[ROD]

Well ,after damaging a seal while fitting it,I used a spare I had,but it wouldnt fit into the leg. seemed the OD was too big,despite being the correct part number Suzuki seal!After a few days deliberations and poncing around with it,today I took the leg to the garage where I bought the seals ,and told them to do whatever it takes to sort it. I thought the whole process was going to be so easy,as I had a seal leak within 5 miles of them doing them last year,bought new seals and did them myself.(So hoping they get it right this time).What a waste of time,money and energy! TBH I'm not really interested in the trike any more,just going through the motions as you do.Think its time to sell.

[morrag]

Rod, Whilst not wishing to appear to be teaching you to "suck eggs"! have you checked the relative dims.? ie, put a vernier on the fork slider housing, then check seal dimensions, although most seals come pre-marked with their relative sizes,( I understand you have put the legs into the "shop" now, but still a worthwhile exercise, for next time!! )Finally, a tidy seal drift, with a good fit both i/d and o/d is also required. Mind you, if the seals are going that quickly I would suspect you have damage to the fork stanchion's, cheers, Morrag

[ROD]

Yeah ,although the forks havent got any nics or tears,I think the chroming may be getting thin,causing too much tolerance in the seals.I have even changed the bushes again,just in case,cos the forks are at a different angle to standard. I have a slider tool I made,worked fine previously. These seals are the same part number as before when I did them(kept the old packaging) . They fit fine upside down   due to a chamfer on the top edge which leads the seal into the shoulder!The edge of the seal that goes in first(ie the correct way round!) has a small step on it which is a larger od,and about 4 mm wide. The guy at the workshop reckons he sometimes has to trim this off to get it to fit.Perhaps this batch were made slightly larger od,I dont know,but that mutha would not fit without serious force.

[hunter]

Rod are these seals OEM or aftermarket.

[ROD]

They are genuine Suzuki (expensive) seals.

[hunter]

I thought your reply was going to be aftermarket,
IT's very unusual to get problems with OEM,They should never need trimming very strange.

[trev]

rod,do you know if they are the original forks,they could have been changed for something with slightly different measurements,just a thought .

[ROD]

The forks are just a set I bought from a dealer who specialised in Suzuki stuff. He gave me the year/type etc for them . Never had a prob with the last set of seals I fitted,which were also genuine suzuki parts.

[Rob54]

Hello ROD,

Hope you don't mind me chipping in. It's my first post on the forum, can't seem to find anywhere to introduce me'self, that may be down to my age though.

I know some are saying that the problem should not be with the seal as it is OEM/Suzuki but even the manufacturers can mess up, I have experienced many examples of this. I would have measured the seals if I had experienced the problems with fitting that you had. It does not do to consider that the manufacturers are infallible, they are run by human beings after all.

All the Best,

Rob54.