Fork 'GAITERS'

[900gc]

The stock Gen II fork guards CAN be salvaged if you're careful enough...they can be worked out of their groove in the fork by twisting and pushing up at the same time. It's a bit of a bitch, but doable (watch thy knuckles). You can even gently work a screwdriver in to pry them up out of the groove, but take heed...you will mar the bottom edge of the guard (soft plastic) and MAY mar the fork itself if you're not careful.

The guard pops back into its groove when you're done.

Sliding the guard up and out of the way makes it much easier to do a complete SealMate sweep.

I just did this on Saturday. I carefully used a screwdriver to pry the guard just up out of its groove, and then some twisting and a curse or two and it popped up off the tube. Then a careful removal of the dust seal allowed me to get my home-made seal tool in to try and solve my leak. Everything went back into place after the procedure. Unfortunately, after about a 50 mile ride, it appears it may still be leaking a bit. I may have to do this all over again.

I tried the Seal Mate route 3x on my '08 @ 14k miles to no avail. I guess the seal was damaged enough that just getting the spooge out was ineffective. Oh well, good excuse to have the forks rebuilt with Gold Valves and .95 springs! Blessing in disguise!

I did carefully pry off the plastic guards and reuse but I think now I'll go the Fred route and remove them and use the NOJ gaiters.

 

[Fred W]

The stock Gen II fork guards CAN be salvaged if you're careful enough...they can be worked out of their groove in the fork by twisting and pushing up at the same time. It's a bit of a bitch, but doable (watch thy knuckles). You can even gently work a screwdriver in to pry them up out of the groove, but take heed...you will mar the bottom edge of the guard (soft plastic) and MAY mar the fork itself if you're not careful.

The guard pops back into its groove when you're done.

Sliding the guard up and out of the way makes it much easier to do a complete SealMate sweep.

I just did this on Saturday. I carefully used a screwdriver to pry the guard just up out of its groove, and then some twisting and a curse or two and it popped up off the tube. Then a careful removal of the dust seal allowed me to get my home-made seal tool in to try and solve my leak. Everything went back into place after the procedure. Unfortunately, after about a 50 mile ride, it appears it may still be leaking a bit. I may have to do this all over again.

If you watch the video, they show that it takes a few iterations of cleaning the seal, wiping the inner tube dry and exercizing the fork to get the seal to seat again.

Also, depending on what kind of spooge gets deposited inside the seal lip, you may not be able to get it all out with the seal mate, or it could nick the lip, in which case you'll never get them to reseal.

 

[amishfjr]

I bought the SealMate papers (they just come in an envelope). I was able to pry the guard up about 1/4 in then could get a large screwdriver in the indentation circling the fork tube. I was then able to pry the guard up and out of the way. with that done the dust seal came up, everything was cleaned, and i ran the sealmate in and around the fork as they instructed. i was surprised how hard it was the get the sealmate to travel around the fork but thats probably a good thing. with that done the guard (marred only slightly by the screwdriver marks) slipped back down (as Burnspot indicated) and snapped in place just fine. with some bouncing as instructed i was able to get the oil seal to reseat and after a 40 mile ride the fork was dry. I suspect the very cold winter had something to do with the leaking as much as the dirt. thanks to all for the advice and help. for once a cheap fix.