Fork Seal Leak 35mm Film trick

[Chuck]

I was showing Tim the difference between Ohlins and the Zook suspension at the Ohio rally. Traded bikes and went for a ride down a really rough road. When we came back, the Mighty Scura had a fork seal leaking. No good deed shall go unpunished..  

At any rate, she's over due for seals, but I thought I'd see if I could get it to stop until after riding season is over. 

So.

Get the dust cover out of the way. You don't want to push the dirt that will be on it up under the seal.

2016-09-15_10-59-01 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr

Cut a piece of 35mm film about like this.

 2016-09-15_10-59-23 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr

The idea being to slide it up into the seal and with a counter clockwise motion drag out dirt, or as I suspect in this case a seal lip that has turned under. It's old. Go all the way around and out after a complete revolution.

Pump the forks several times and wipe off the residual oil. There *will* be some.

Go for a ride.

2016-09-15_10-59-46 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr

Looks ok for now. I'll service them when the snow is flying. 

[fotoguzzi]

Nice pics!  I have a stash but for the young folks (if there are any here) where do you find 35mm film.. or from the kids here, "what's film?"

[gstallons]

That looks pretty good , did you come up with this idea ?

[Chuck]

That looks pretty good , did you come up with this idea ?

 

Nope, I'd heard of it but never tried it. There are commercial "Seal Savers" that do the same thing, but they cost money. (Guzzi content) 

[Craig]

What is this "35mm film" you speak of? 

[nobleswood]

Chuck,

 

I appreciated you letting me ride the Scura to get to feel what the Ohlins do for the suspension. It was an eye opener.

[MartyNZ]

If you don't have 35mm film handy, I've heard of someone making a seal scraper cut from a plastic water bottle.

Or you could buy one of these: http://sealmate.net/ or http://www.riskracing.com/pages/Seal_Doctor_Page.html

[cash1000]

Marty any idea where you can get these in NZ?

[MartyNZ]

Um, no, but I can give you some 35mm film.