Fork leak just wont STOP !!

[Kevinmathew]

Please Help !!!!

My bolt (XVS950CU) fork has been leaking since the past few months, I have changed the fork seal 3 times, now the leak has gotten worse. I have no idea if I should be getting a whole new fork or if some other work is to be done ? I am based in UAE and have no idea where to even look for parts.

[DrM]

I spent many years in the Middle East (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt) and the one thing I remember about it is all the grit and sand particles pick up in the wind.  Unless you have your fork tubes well covered, the grit eventually gets down into your fork seals and destroys them.  So you need to do two things for sure --

1) new fork seals, again, and

2) a good pair of fork gaiters

And you might also have to polish or replate the area on the forks which contact the fork seals, but at least have it inspected for any deep scratches.

[Sdaniels]

If replacing seals 3 times didn't fix it you've got to have some going on with the fork tubes....some nicks on it or something.  Not to be insulting but you know the seals are not the same as the dust covers, right?

[srinath]

A few yrs ago I did a lot o research on the forkseals in a GS and why they leak profusely and are unfixable.
So unless you have a few pits or rust and other BS - this would be possible reasons why and how to fix it.

The legs wear. Its only a few 1000'ths of an inch but that is a world of difference in oil seals.

The solution was 2-3 fold. The first is to get those bushings that are copper replaced or in my case the guy was coating them with moly Teflon which was thicker and more textured than the original so it takes more oil and swells up more while being a super slick and sacrificial coating.

Second was to measure a whole ton of fork seals and find the one that is tighter than the rest on the ID and use that.

Third - thicker weight fork oil will leak less but well, affects your ride and damping.
These were my observations - and yes gaiters/boots and what not can keep weather/dirt exposure to a minimum.

Cool.
Srinath.