Fork Seal Warranty

[BkrK12]

Does anyone know if a leaking fork seal should be covered under warranty? Or, is it a wear item, like brakes and clutch plates?

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

First off -- I don't know.

(now that we've got that out of the way) Most warranties are for replacement of defective (broken) parts -- for a certain period of time.

It may become a judgement call for either the dealer's service manager or Yamaha-Cypress?

Sometimes, they just go ahead and do policy/good-will on some items? I guess it would depend on the time involved? And what a normal person/most would consider normal wear & tear or a totally unusual, Yamaha sourced, problem.

Ultimately, the warranty is not for normal maintenance. :huh:

 

[Greb]

Given you have a 2006, not sure of your mileage, but I doubt it would be covered. There is some serious labor/material costs to rebuild the forks so I would be very surprised if your dealer didn't file it under normal wear and tear.

 

[Fred W]

Normally, I'd agree with the first two replies. But knowing that you also just sent your bike to the stealership for an S4 meltdown, maybe you could make a special "deal" with them? Have them do a harness repair (instead of replace) and then cover those leaky seals for ya? THat way you'd get both of the repairs you really want.

(Worth a shot...)

 

[ionbeam]

The two fork seals that my dealer replaced under warranty occurred during the first year of ownership. The first seal went for unknown reasons, the dealer says, "Been doin' wheelies, eh?", but replaced it anyway. I tried to tell him that I hadn't been doing wheelies, and asked him to please check to see if something is wrong. The service manager says, "Ya sure, no wheelies" wink, wink. In any case Yamaha picked up the cost. The second fork seal was absolutely caused by road tar stuck on the fork down tube. In spite of it being a road hazard failure the dealer talked with Yamaha and got it covered by my warranty.

Unfortunately this dealer was successful, built a huge new building and moved everything but good service and friendly customer relationships into the new abode. Freedom Cycle -- Concord, NH.

 

[Greb]

My left fork seal went at 24k. I attribute this to about six wheelies I've pulled on it. Don't plan on doing anymore and I trailered the bike on two occassions for about a total of 6 days and 3000 miles. (I know, it's not a Harley. It was for moving my family across the country). I am not sure if keeping the forks compressed on the trailer shortened the life but I'm pretty sure those wheelies did.

 

[BkrK12]

Thanks for the replies. I'm pretty sure, if this leak actually exists, it is attributable to something I did while I was flushing and replacing the fork oil two weeks ago. When I get the bike back, I'm going to pull the fork off and get a close look at it and see if maybe I managed to push some dirt into the seal area. If I can't get it out with a piece of 35mm film, I'll pop the seal out with hydraulic pressure and replace the seal clip and dust cover (already have two sets on order from Zanotti for a grand total of $20 + shipping). I figure that's an inexpensive approach to the problem. If that doesn't work, I'll send the forks of to GPS for a full rebuild, at a little over half the price the dealership wants for new bushings and seals.

BTW, Alan/Fred, if I have to pop the seal I might need an extra pair of hands. Since I don't have a press available, I have devised a rather McGyver solution involving a grooming table, a floor jack, the garage door frame and several hunks of wood. I think it will require one set of hands to brace the fork in place and another to pump the jack. If either of you would be willing to help, I'd appreciate it.

 

[ionbeam]

...BTW, Alan/Fred, if I have to pop the seal I might need an extra pair of hands...

I've got lots of extra hands available just about anytime. LMK. You don't mind if they are all left hands?

 

I just love the thought of being there to help lift your garage off the foundation with a hydraulic jack :lol:

 

[Fred W]

Hell, I'd come just to watch the proceedings, even if I couldn't be of any help. That just sounds like a whole barrel full of monkeys.

Hopefully it won't be going down this weekend as I'm already booked both days. But with just a little fore-warning I'm there fer' sure...

PM me the details

PS - I have a little bench-top mechanical (non-hydraulic) press I can easily bring along of it os of any possible value. I'm not fully visualizing what we are pressing on here just yet.

 

[BkrK12]

Read the service manual section that deals with using a press to get the oil seal out of the top of the fork. Then try to imagine setting the bottom of the fork on the plate of the floor jack and the top of the fork against something overhead and using the jack pressure to cause the internal hydraulic pressure to push the seal out. The table is just to get the whole mess up high enough to press against the top of the garage door casing. I'll temporarily nail a piece of lumber to the door casing to protect it and cut a little wooden pad to put between the fork base and the jack plate. I think it'll work and it's a lot cheaper than buying a press.

On the other hand, there is yet no word on when Yamaha will have a wiring harness for me. So, it might be a while.

 

[Fred W]

OK, I'll go review that section, but with that description I can say unequivocally that my little hand press will be of no value whatsoever (and I strongly believe that you already figured that piece out). But if there's one thing that I'm pretty good at, it's gerry rigging shit together. Hell, I make my living at it...

We'll get 'er dun, Dan. Maybe we'll even document the whole sordid affair for the next poor Feejer slob that has to pop his seals, and no I'm not talking about popping baby seals (just in case Odot still roams these boards).

In the meantime, whilst you are waiting impatiently for the shop jamokes (but they're good jamokes, no doubt) to figure out WTF to do with your crispified wiring harness, if you find that you have an insatiable desire for roaming the spring-time frost heaved NH roads on 2 wheels, well I'm definitely your guy. I can put you on a choice VFR, a nasty Man-strom, or my own (superior) 1st gen FJR, for a day ride with just a little fore warning.

 

[BkrK12]

Thanks, Fred. That's a very generous offer. But, I don't think I'd feel comfortable on someone else's bike. On the other hand, if this goes on for weeks, scruples will likely be cast aside.

And, for what it's worth, completion of the task will result in Sausage, pepper and onion sandwiches for all, one of the cultural heritages of growing up in North Eastern New Jersey.

 

[Greb]

When I dismatled my forks and had to get that stubborn fork seal out I cut an approximate 8" section of old PR2 front tire up to act as soft jaws for my bench vise.

Snugged up the lower slider in the safety of the old tire and used the chrome slider as slide hammer till it pulled the seal out. I did this work with a fellow forum member and we were seriously worried about what damage it would do, but to our relief everything worked out fine on his and my forks. The only problem you may encounter with the slide hammer method vs the hydraulic press method is your seal washer may become a tad concave which can be fixed quickly with the garage floor and a rubber mallet.

If you attempt this warm the lower slider with a heat gun and lubricate the seal with some kind of penatrating oil and it pops out much easier.

Hard to describe this process but it works.

 

[Abercrombie FJR]

Sounds like a scary operation. Glad my dealer just repaired mine under YES with the obligatory comment about wheelies. My only reply was it was a big bike with saddle bags and I am a 48 year old man who knows better. I tried to be convincing but not sure he bought it.

 

[El Toro Joe]

I also had mine covered under Y.E.S. also having the CCT done under Y.E.S.

 

[BkrK12]

Well, in a piece of incredibly good news, when the service manager called to tell me my new wiring harness is installed, he also told me he decided to go back to Yamaha about my leaking fork seal. This, after I had told him I'd replace the seal myself. The net is that Yamaha has agreed to foot the bill to rebuild my forks. I don't know what the motive was, but it certainly is a level of customer service not usually encountered. They'll give me back my bike tomorrow morning and tell me when they can get it back in to do the fork work. I'm going to offer to bring them just the forks. That'll help them with cost and I want to put the forks back on myself, anyway. :yahoo:

 

[Fred W]

Well there ya go!! Sometimes that good karma thing comes around right when you need it !! :yahoo:

(I'm thinking about a guy that gives away fork oil). :thumbsup:

 

[ionbeam]

Great news Dan! Every now and again good things happen to good people

 

[BkrK12]

Well there ya go!! Sometimes that good karma thing comes around right when you need it !! :yahoo:

(I'm thinking about a guy that gives away fork oil). :thumbsup:

BTW Fred, don't buy any other fork oil for a week or so. I bought another 2 liters of Belray 5w in anticipation of replacing fork seals. If the dealer really does the fork rebuild, I don't need them immediately and don't like leaving that stuff around for a year or so. They are yours if you want them.