Hi gang. So, my right front fork seal KEEPS leaking. I've had it replaced 3x in the last 7 months.. the last 2 lasted less than a month each. I'm at a loss - they didn't see any huge pits or anything in the forks - I went with genuine OEM Kawi seals this last time and paid extra for them.

I'm about ready to give up and buy a decent used fork on eBay... are all forks the same 2006-2011? My bike is a 2006.

So frustrated right now...

Thanks in advance.

Sounds frustrating.

Hmmm....

they didn't see any huge pits or anything in the forks

Have you inspected as close as possible? Did you find any?

I went with genuine OEM Kawi seals this last time

I'd never use anything else. I'm sure they put in OEM this time, right?

Seals can also be damaged during installation if not installed properly.

Are they warranting their work? Should be if only lasted a month.

The only time I've gone through seals quickly is doing stoppies on the 14 (not a good idea by the way)

So.....

If the tubes are fine, installing OEM seals, installed properly and not doing stoppies or a lot of wheelies
you should be fine. There is nothing else.

Maybe install one more time and take somewhere else. There has to be tube damage and/or crappy like
All Balls seals or else they wouldn't leak. Unless you're doing stoppies.

Who did you use to do the work Kawasaki Dealer?

* Last updated by: piken on 7/24/2018 @ 4:40 PM *

Sounds like u need a new installer as Pike suggests.

Parts lookup:
Say I want to answer my own question... Is an '06 identical to an'011? I look up fork seal for example. I find both years take the same part number. I look up a fork tube. Both numbers have the same part number. I look up a fork cap. Oh shit, 2 different part numbers... Oh, just different anodizing colored flavor... what was I thinking. So yes is the answer to interchangeability and how to conclude from that type of research.

Parts is parts is not:
You didn't get sucked into the squeaky wallet trick did you? Here is how the cheap seats work and I'll use yours for an example. I've seen it time and time again. Aftermarket parts are a crapshoot. So say we round out the number and price the part at 50. Say we price the OEM at 75. Now say the aftmkt fails and has no warranty. That's 50 thrown away. Now say you have to buy the OEM and total cost is 125. If say you started out with the OEM, I think over the counter parts has a warranty for 90 days [if it hasn't changed]. So that second seal would have cost nothing but a little warranty time filling out the paperwork.

Seal Prepping:
1. The obvious porous chrome or other finished surface is where condensation creeps in the pores, falls behind the chrome and like a mushroom pushing out of the ground; a sharp rusty pit mark on the surface. A flat jeweler's file does the trick on those to dress down the height only not filing into the chrome.
2. Besides the seal's lip being cut by those porous protrusions, there is the seal being installed over the sharp edge of the fork tube's end. So grease is packed in the lip seal cavity, cling wrap or a thin sandwich bag of plastic material is placed over the cut edge of the tube and the seal is slid over that protector; via the grease and what is left is a stopper wall from oil escaping out the lip area.
3. The fork assembly has to be spotlessly clean. I had a fork slider part take a shit internally and lost the seal that way.

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

To answer questions - These guys have been good - they do use cheap bikemaster seals - the first pair I had lasted at least 12-13k miles and many wheelies and 2-up rides on crappy roads. The second set lasted about 7 months - then the right side started leaking, followed soon by the left. Their wait time was a little long, so I took it to my local garage mechanic, who is certified and usually does a great job. Got the bike back and it felt fantastic, but started leaking on the right seal two weeks later, then the left. He said the bikemaster seals suck, so I ordered genuine myself and brought them to the original dealer. Because it was only 7 months they gave me a deal (their warranty is 6 months) - only half price on labor, so it wasn't much to get them installed. However, the right seal started again.. I'm sure they will honor it as I've been a regular customer for quite some time and bought a couple bikes from them in the past, and mainly, because if there were any pitting they are supposed to warn me - since that would allow them wiggle room on the warranty. However, they didn't.

I read in another forum of a guy with a C14 who had fork seals leak at 20k (I'm currently at 22-23k without looking) - specifically, the right side - had it replaced, same thing happened, then replaced the fork and was good till 58k (still hadn't blown, but was his current mileage.)

I can inspect closely tonight, but the forks always looked pretty good. My guess is maybe they needed to go a little deeper and use some fine steel wool followed by polish and they probably didn't do all that.. still awaiting a call back from them.

The seals were purchased from BikeBandit, so I would believe they'd have a warranty - didn't even think about that.. I'll check it out.

Any other advice is appreciated! What's the absolute best way to polish up forks? They should be absolutely straight, I don't know why they keep leaking on that right side.

Also - Hub - you feeling OK? Your posts are usually full of extremely useful and awesome expert information, but require a Hub-translator for me to fully understand, LMAO. I'm not used to your posts being written in near-flawless English! Just making sure you aren't sick :)

Hub's great.Love his stuff.But yeah,I've lost about 3 fork seals since 2008.One on my 2007,50K miles.TWO on my 2013.22K miles.I've always kept the fork legs clean and all.Not sure what caused these to fail...but I suspect landing hard from wheelies(I'm not very good at smooth).I stopped doing those.Definitely a drag replacing.OEM seals always.I thought I was the only one here doing this.I see it's not just me now.

* Last updated by: Grn14 on 7/24/2018 @ 10:38 PM *

Do you trailer the bike at all? I have been forced to trailer my bike twice, once after a spill and a second time due to Powercommander going to crap and not letting the bike run. Both times after trailer time I needed fork seals replaced. The first time I put it down to the crash, but the second.....

weird.VERY.Wonder how many others have had this go on.I thought mine was due to a fork leg(2 seals),somehow damaging the seal.I bought a new fork.It started seeping after about 2 months.Gotta be the riding style.Forces.Something.IDK.

* Last updated by: Grn14 on 7/25/2018 @ 2:42 PM *