I took a spill while out riding today and hit a pretty good size rock on the way down against the bottom left fork. At first it looked like everything was ok but shortly thereafter I started seeing oil leak down the fork. I saw a couple of minor knicks that I guess as the suspension compressed probably caused a broken seal? This really happened at worst time as I have to travel for work all week and I had signed up for an Enduro on Sunday... Unless I can get this thing fixed on Saturday I'll have to forego the race...It wasn't a hard hit so there are definetely no bends in the fork. The bike is a 2010 TE250. I hope my dealer can fix this thing on Saturday when I get back home. If not, does anyone have any suggestions for getting this fixed in a day's time? Thanks in advance Ruben
If perchance you nicked the slider or chrome part..yes its done for but its common for the seal to accumulate dirt and the left side tends to leak more often due to the brake rotors tendancy to direct more debris on that side.... a tear off lens or piece of 35mm film carefully inserted between the fork seal and slider can dislodge grit and get you going again but...the forks themselves are a cinch to tear down and very easy to replace seals......
Ya...Do it yourself. As long as your dealer has the seals. Read this it will explain how to get you forks off and more. Good Luck. Oh ya if you can feel any little nicks or scrapes on the tubes you'll have to file them smooth first. Re-Anodizing Fork Tubes Edit... Ya try what Troy said first it will save you a whole lot of work.
yes, the nicks are in the slider or chromed part of the fork. Will I have to replace the slider or just fix/replace the seal? I've never done any work to the forks so right it looks like quite a daunting task for me to fix...hopefully it isn't.
I recommend you buy a fork seal driver, and fork level syringe. It's really a quite easy job, and shouldn't take more than a few hours.
not sure about those TE forks but the TC/TXC ones you can just slip them off the bike one at a time...loosen the 13/16 nut at the bottom on the bike first....a OE car wheel wrench works well then turn them upside down to retain the oil and pull the slider out....remove seal snap ring pop the seal out with screwdriver... apply tape to leading edge of slider and slip new seal on and slide it down the tube you'll push in in place later...install the slider back on...tighten nut a bit...and fully once its back on the bike final step...cut the old seal with hacksaw and open it up...place it around slider to use as a install tool to push new seal in place...and slip snap ring back in the groove... this assumes you havent lost a considerable amount of oil before you took them apart? this is a field R and R job....15 min per side... purge air out the top after half hour ride
if you can sand it or polish it with emery cloth to the point where a fingernail wont catch...you might be ok depends how deep
