Fork Seals

[Badiron]

My wife discoved a wet spot yesterday under my right fork. I got in there and looked to make sure that it wasn't a brake fluid leak, to my surprise, its comming from the fork tube. I've read a little about the forks being not so good on the bike but find it hard to believe due to the rest of the bike rocks minus the five gears (should have been six). Is this an easy fix or would it be safer to have a Yamaha Mechanic take care of it? Most important, is this covered by warrenty? How much is the cost if not? 06' with about 12 k on the odometer

 

[Big Sky]

The leak is on the right side. If the bike was on the side stand, you may have oiled the brake pads, too, and could be looking at replacing those. Actually, I think the forks and seals are pretty good. Sure, they'll leak, but my experience is they do so far less than others I've owned. I had my forks serviced at 34,000 (no leaks to that point), then again at 56,000, still no leaks.

 

[Badiron]

The leak is on the right side. If the bike was on the side stand, you may have oiled the brake pads, too, and could be looking at replacing those. Actually, I think the forks and seals are pretty good. Sure, they'll leak, but my experience is they do so far less than others I've owned. I had my forks serviced at 34,000 (no leaks to that point), then again at 56,000, still no leaks.

Its been on the center stand parked for about two weeks. I've had my fjr for over a year, stored during the two winter on the center stand with no leaks till now. Never wheelie it or as far as I know, mistreat it. Just seems strange for it to start leaking the last few days...

 

[Badiron]

PLEASE HELP!!! Just boght all new riding gear for a 3500 mile bike ride in June and my damn bike be broke. I'm not used to anything leaking on any of my rides, if its normal, I will learn to live with it but since it just started leaking after a butt load of miles, i think its broke. Any advice or help???? :angry:

 

[worldbound4now]

If you're a handy sort of fellow, and if you the time, pull off the fork tubes and service them yourself. It's really not a terrible job. Here's the catch.... sometimes the fork seals leak because you picked up debris that got caught up in the seal and has now etched a recessed area into your upper fork tube. If this is the case, then you may be looking at a fork tube replacement (worst case scenario). Either way, if you're leaking fork fluid, you need to repair the leak. To maintain proper front fork function, you need to have the proper amount of fluid and air inside of the fork tube. While you're at it, you'll also need to at least drain/flush the other fork tube as well.

Here is a general guide to help you see what you're getting into. Keep in mind that this guide was done for the first generation, so there will be subtle but significant differences for your second generation bike. You can also look here or search google "fork fluid change site:fjrforum.com".

I can get through replacing fork seals and a good fork fluid flush/replacement in an afternoon in my low tech garage, but you must assess your own abilities.

 

[Yambone]

Some of the old hands here say you can remove little goobers that might crop up inside the fork guard by flossing a strip of film or a business card in there. I don't know if this will fix an actually leaking seal, but you could try it and at least confirm that is where the wetness is coming from.

My seal leaked about 45K miles. Beyond my limited scope to fix, so shipped them both to Desert Valley Powersports in Prosser. About $170 for both IIRC. If you're not too leaky, you could ride over there and they'd fix you up. As mentioned earlier, make sure brake pads not contaminated. I think Desert Valley is having a "Tech Day" for FJRs in May exact date pending). It would be well worth it to attend. Maybe they would demo the fix for others to watch??

I've heard some folks did get seals fixxed under warranty, but its hit or miss. Wouldn't hurt to ask them, especially with such low miles.

 

[Badiron]

Far out! Thanks for the insight. I will try all your ideas starting with the easy one first, floss it. Im pretty good in the garage, built a dump truck last summer, just a little frightened about messing with the steering on a toy I routinely go 140 mph on, ya know? Looked around on the site more and it really doesn't look to hard to remove but a pain to get the innerds out. making a call to Rivercity Yamaha first to see if they will fix it for free.... At least the old lady will be able to get money if they screw up and kill me.

 

[Badiron]

Just called my local dealer and for anybody interested, the seals being replaced and fluid change runs $200 bones. I think I'm taking it in for that price, they sound like they know way more about it then me... Again, Thanks fellas

 

[Deacon51]

Back in the day people would just tie a bandanna around the fork tub to soak up the oil.

Anyway, extend the tubes by putting the bike on the center stand and having someone sit on the rear seat. Rub your hand all around the slider. Make 100% sure that it's free of any nicks or scratches. If it has a nick in it the new seal will go bad quick. I don't have a FJR, but on most bikes you can pull the dust seal and make sure nothing is in there and it's clean.

 

[Big-B]

Mine started leaking like that. One day it starts leaving puddles everywhere.

I ended up sending the forks out to GP suspension for a full rebuild. They are going to give me the group buy price ($572) from last fall. clicky

There is another group buy getting started for Race Tech you may want to check out. clicky

$200 bucks for seals covers a big chunk of the price of getting one of these palces to rebuild them.

I originally typed 'One day I just started leaving puddles everywhere' But realized I was going to get dog-piled on real quick.

Brian

 

[Aasland]

$200 just to end up where you started minus a leak? Consider that's about 1/3 of the way to to have GP suspension replace the seals, bushings, springs, valves and fluid.

But if you want to do it the cheap way, at 12k I'm not sure it's worth pulling both forks. If the left fork is fine, I'd say leave it.

The bushings on the Gen2's tend to go early (30-40k) so while the shop has them apart, it might be worth replacing the bushings too.

 

[Ed_Grant]

I'd replace both sides. My right side seal failed last week and puked all over the right brake disk and caliper. I'm having both forks serviced and slapping on new brake pads later this week along with new tires. My '05 is approaching 50K miles and I'm surprised the fork seals lasted this long. Both the cbr929 and v-strom seals failed at about 30K miles.