[Myjack]

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I don't believe it, I spent most of the weekend replacing seals, wipers and springs on the front end of my 82 Interstate.



Before - they would loose all the air in about an hour. So I get all the parts - read up and get to wrenching.



After all is said and done - the right fork now leaves a puddle of oil. Holds air for days - but leaks oil.

Ain'tTHATspecial?




Back to the drawing board.

Or is it the garage?

 

[RayandTracy]

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I feel your pain, just think though you now have experience in doing the forks

Seriously though, I had a similar thing happen yesterday morning, I was coming back from Lowe's from picking up some bolts and stuff for my wing and I went to stop and had no clutch:shock:madeit home and got to looking and found that the oiler bolt on the clutch housing had a stress crack in it. luckily I had an extra one, so I ended up draining clutch fluid and re-bleeding. All seems well now:action:

Where is the leak? Right at the whipper seal?

Good Luck, Ray

:waving:

 

[Myjack]

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Hiya Ray!

Spares are a goood thing!

Yeah - the leak,, I saw a rather disturbing puddle of oil to the side of the brandy new metzler front tire, and had a tear form in my eye that messed up my vision momentairly.

I had 20 PSI of air - which I drained, which slowed the leak, PTL.

When I did the seals, wipers and springs, I put 9.6 oz of fork oil in each leg, and the progressive springs in with the close wound part towards the top. thinking the spring displaces more oil with the close wond part the other direction.




Somewhere during this, I uttered a couple aWWWW SHITs - and there went my atta boys.

I'm looking for the leak-proof ones now.


yeah right,,,,,,

Ohhh did I mention the brake pads are kinda soaked too? - which may be from the first go-round, so procrastinating isn't ALWAYS bad.

Note to self,,,, new seals for all calipers and master cyls. - new pads all around.


I just sold my 87 Aspencade with 92k miles because I found this 82 Interstate with 14K a gent wanted out of his garage.

The old school clutch cable, throttle clamp cruise and less elecronic wiz-bang goodies kinda appealed to me. (And I've never drive a tuly low mileage wing till now.)

Looks like it will be a couple more weeks till I get to again.

 

[Shooter]

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Mana seems to be KAPUT, but I'll give ya an "ATTA - BOY" for fessing-up... :gunhead:

 

[RayandTracy]

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Myjack wrote:

I had 20 PSI of air - which I drained, which slowed the leak, PTL.

When I did the seals, wipers and springs, I put 9.6 oz of fork oil in each leg, and the progressive springs in with the close wound part towards the top. thinking the spring displaces more oil with the close wond part the other direction.

Looks like it will be a couple more weeks till I get to again.

The air pressure might have been your cause of the leak, I could be wrong but isn't the max on the 1200's something like 10 psi:baffled:

I have heard folks running no oil with progressive springs, but don't know for a fact. You might have over loaded the seals capacity with so much air.

Just my thoughts and I'm by no means a guru or mechanic.

Ride Safe, Ray

:waving:

 

[Myjack]

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Thanks Ray, reason I posted wasn't for the whining so much as to compare notes and see what the problem is/was.

For me - I had a serious issue trying to seat both the seals with the tube in the triple clamps - I mucked with it for most of a day and finally dropped the tubes and pushed them home with a pvc tube. I dunno - everybody said it wasn't hard but I sure couldn't get any progress.

I need to check and make sure I didn't scar the tube.

About the oil, I have heard when using progressive springs - AIR can be left out, not the oil. the oil is what keeps it from being a pogo stick. Sticks? lol

Now about that oil,,,,,

when using progressive springs,,,,, the way the spring goes into the fork will change the level of the oil inside the fork, because of the differing winding rates - one side is closer spaced, and will displace more oil than the wide spaced end.
I'mmmmm wondering,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

EVERYBODY said getting the threads started into the tubes was a royal PITA when installing progressive springs.

- wana secret? before you put the spring into the tube,,,, put the cap on and find out where the threads start to engage. Note the position of the cap.

Install the spring and the cap. position the cap a few degrees counterclockwise to position where the threads start. push down evenly and turn about 90 degrees clockwise. IF the threads caught - the cap stays with the tube. (don't dawdle - put a couple more turns on the cap and get some threads holding) If not, try again.


I was thinking if checking the seal and oil etc - but I think I better order a couple new seals. The wipers should be ok.

I remember when I was a young buck, this ol biker dude used to put the old seal under the wiper kinda like a secondary wiper.

I'm think I need to go look for boogers on the tube - pray for me,,,, lol



(Just back - no appearant buggers on the tube. WHEW!



keep the shinny side up!

 

[RayandTracy]

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I meant air sorry hope all goes well this next time for ya.
Ride Safe, Ray

 

[jimsjinx]

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I also think the air pressure was a bit high. Also, the seals could be dry/old right off the shelf. I would let her sit for a couple days with no air in them,to give the seals a chance to soften up from the oil. If air is to be used, I'd keep it at 12# or less. JMO jimsjinx

 

[krazy al]

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a friend of mine done his aspencade he said he did not put in a brass bushing.and his started leaking he put another set of sealsin same thing.he called honda told them what he had done.he got another set with bushing and no leak??

 

[Myjack]

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Hiya Jim and Al


The bike is a 14,000 mile garage queen. The bushings looked good.

I'm concidering going to mother honda for the caliper and master cylinder brake parts - may as well get seals too and step up to the bushings - what the hey!!!! . this should be pricy,,,,,,


Least it's not a harley

 

[krazy al]

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i checked prices from honda dealer were iam at less than 40.00 bucks thats for fork seals:waving::waving:

 

[Broke Winger]

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Yeah the air pressure was deffinitely the culprit. Air pressure for the front of an 1100 is 7 to 14 pounds. For the rear is 14 to 21.

20 pounds in the front will blow a seal fast.

 

[fysty-1]

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I too agree with the others. Air pressure:action::action::action::action::action::action::action:

 

[exavid]

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One thing about fork seals is that the lips of the seals damage very easily. They need to be well lubed with the fork oil you're going to use. The outside of the seal should be oiled as well. The fork tubes need to be well lubed with fork oil as well before slipping the seals up on the tubes. If you want to leave the tubes in the steering stem, you can still use a piece of PVC or ABS pipe to seat the seals in the lowers. Just split the pipe lengthwise slip the halves around the fork tube and use a couple of hose clamps to hold the pipe back together. Then use the piece of tubing as a slide hammer to drive the seal in place.

I had a 1986SEi, a 1982 Aspencade and my current 1993 Aspencade all with Progressive springs in the forks. In all three bikes I ran 0psi in the forks. There really was no need for much if any air pressure. Maximum fork pressure for the 1200LTD and SEI is 14psi. Maximum pressure for the 1200 Aspencade and Interstate is 6psi. 20psi is over three times the maximum so it's possible the seals in your forks may have unseated, maybe you can simply reseat them and stop the leak.

 

[Myjack]

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Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm, the sticker on my handlebars says inflate to 14-21 PSI.

And my gauge reads in 1/4 psi increments.
It has the meteric figgurs also, maybe I should double check the conversions - but that would have gotten recalled.

I'd bet against air pressure being the cause.

We are currently being assulted by a spring blizzard - if the weatherman is right - over a foot of snow.
Nice time NOT to ride anyway! lol

New speedo cable arrived. Fairing a couple days back - there's a job I'm going to want to put off.

 

[wda-83wing]

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ever hear of --never leak seals ? i swear by them . you can get them for your bike from denis kirt . not cheap---- i gave close to 40 bucks for seals an wipes . but they work and are easey to installe too . i used to run them out in the dersert of so nv back when---

 

[22lyons]

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don't they say with progressives that they don't need air at all? my new progressives are so tight that i am taking oil out too to soften them up.

 

[Myjack]

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My forks are compressing some when the bike was stood upright. I weigh in at 165.

If the suspenssion is low - she drags hardware in the corners - and I hate that.


Seals shouldn't leak when inflated to 20 psi, no way; no how.

I went to Sun Honda here in Denver - all new seals and wipers for the brakes, the forks and rebuild kits for both masters - $290 YEOW! - OHHH and seals for the rear shocks.

Stopped by NAPA for timing belts, radiator hose and oil filter - $70

PTL I think there was 2 sets of brake pads with the spare parts,

This $1000 motorcycle is getting expensive. lol