Had a good mud ride last weekend and must have missed some under the fork guard when I cleaned. Developed a leak on the left fork of my 08 te 510 during this weekends ride. Just cleaned it with a strip of .010 thick plastic, and got a little sand out of a spot on the wheel side of the fork. Question 1: What is the snap ring just over the dust seal on the fork for? Question 2: Is it worth putting a few tablespoons of oil back into the fork that leaked out during the day. Is there any way of putting a thin rod or something down into the air bleed hole or something that will tell me if the level in the 2 forks is even. I don't want to drain them both and refil to get them even if I don't have to. I appreciate your thoughts and comments on this. Background: I have about 1200 pretty easy miles on the bike, I have motion pro bleeders and I use them often. Thanks, Ken
Question 1. That snap ring is there so that the fork guard rubs against it, rather than the alum fork leg. Question 2. On my 50mm zokes i have to remove the cap to get oil in.
I'll confirm that the snap ring serves its purpose. I had my right front fork guard almost wear thru it completely (the snap ring) before I noticed the issue and adjusted the fork guard position. Halls was able to supply me the Marzoch factory replacment part expeditously.
I wouldn't worry about the small amount that leaked out of your fork. If it was a major amount that bled all over the place (like when my fork bleeders were stuck open for days) then, yeah, maybe it would be worth checking. The only really accurate way to check fork oil level is to pull the cap and spring, compress the forks and measure oil height. That's a lot of trouble for a semi-leaky fork seal that got caught early and doesn't leak anymore. WoodsChick
Thanks. I am guessing I lost between 1/2 and 3/4 of an oz. in a fork that holds about 28 oz., but I don't know how critical the level is. Ken
I have been asking this question is several forums and I'm still not sure whether oil level can be checked with forks on bike. My question for the forum is how to check fork oil level on an 08 TE610 with the forks on the bike. I understand the forks should be fully extended and I want to extract some. When I unscrew the upper caps to about 10 threads showing, they simply seem to spin and not come off the upper tube . I have risers so I have some clearance between the caps and handlebars. Thanks all
Slip a square of mylar or old film negative up under the fork seals and run it around. Many times this will dislodge the dirt in the seal and allow it to seal again. Living in the NW you tend to need to do this a lot. It works many times.
If they're 50mm Marzocchi, you have to loosen (both) the caps as far as you can, then slightly compress the fork so the springs lift out high enough to get a wrench under the cap. You have to hold that inner piece while you loosen the cap from it. Then you can completely remove the cap, and then take the spring out. Normally (As WoodsChick stated) you have to compress the fork to measure the oil level. I don't know which suspension is on the TE610, so for all I know it could be done differently.
if you remove the top cap from the damper make sure you put something like a zip tie wire or something on the damper rod so it dont go beeyoooop! to the bottom of the tube in the middle of the spring. have fun after that trying to get it back up on the bike. do the film trick as stated and other external thingys for internal stuff it's best to remove the fork and do it as per the manual/zoke tips... KYB broke down for service and spring/bushing/seal replacement:
Its hard to find old negative film these days. I cut some out of a 1 pint plastic yogurt container that worked well. They are thin enough and even slightly curved like the fork tube. Cam.
All good ideas, a waxed business card works well on leaky seals. Hopefully he sorted his issue in 2008 when he posted his problem.
I cut mine into a kind of hook shape. Seems to get inside the seal easily and hook out any debris. Would work with any thin material, plastic cardboard or whatever. A squid I know was so proud of the fantastic new invention he saw online for cleaning out fork seals that he bought 10 for $3 each. Then I showed him my free yogurt made one......Cam.
