| Got a Leak? |
The Solution
Seal Savers are Lycra booties that wrap around the inner and outer fork tubes.
They're designed to keep out the crud. I've been using these on the last five bikes
I've owned, including my '99 KTM 300EXC with conventional forks.
On my '99 EXC, I decided to combine the booties with fork boots as a last-ditch effort
to never again have leaky fork seals. The booties went on first, and then the
challenge was to get the rubber fork boots expanded around the booties. Not an easy
task, but three hands and a couple sets of needle nose pliers made the job much more
tolerable. I put these on in April 2001 and didn't have a seal leak for the rest of the
time I owned the bike (sold it in May 2003). The Seal Savers allowed some junk to
get past the rubber fork boots (via holes from rocks, sticks, crashes, etc.) without
letting the seals get dirty.
On my '02 KTM 300MXC and both Kawasaki KX250's, fork booties were pretty much
the only solution. The good thing about upside-down forks are that the water and
crud tends to flow away from the seals, as opposed to conventional forks where all
the junk slides down the tubes and comes to rest on the seals.
Here's an easier tip that might also help. The round springs on the fork and dust
seals can be shortened, i.e. the diameter made smaller, to make the seals tighter
around the fork tubes. Look closely at the springs and you'll see where the ends are
connected. The ends screw in together, so they can be unscrewed and separated.
Cut off a few millimeters of the "female" end, screw the ends back together, put the
spring back on the seal, and you've now got a tighter seal.