would bent forks cause new seals to leak?

[down4thakrown]

Few years ago I had the seals done on my 85 r by a reputable shop. and the next ride they leaked. Would this be caused by bent forks? Crappy seal job? Over filling them with oil? Opinions.

[down4thakrown]

They look straight. Any tips to tell or poibts to measure

[Crazyktmmatt]

Can use a straight edge on em. Might wanna take em apart tho. Can chuck the shaft up in a lathe and put a dial indicator on it too.

[down4thakrown]

Yea I'm taking them to a different shop to see what they say. I've read that if there bent. They can be straightend and its not unusual to have forks straightend back out. Just thought I'd share and get other opinions.

[Crazyktmmatt]

Most hydraulic cylinder places can tell ya if there bent.

[El Camexican]

Use your hands to check for nicks, or scratches. You can also wrap a rag around the tube and rub it up and down to feel for imperfections, or dents. It works better than just a bare hand.

What kind of seals did you put in? Lots of stories out there about non-oem crap. Seals are one of those items that it is better to pay the Honda man his asking price rather than save a few bucks and suffer buyers remorse.

[down4thakrown]

I can't remember but i m definetly getting Honda oem next time. I think I might have left the trike outside in the carport when temps dropped to 20* and even lower with wind chill.

[El Camexican]

I can't remember but i m definetly getting Honda oem next time. I think I might have left the trike outside in the carport when temps dropped to 20* and even lower with wind chill.

Temp won't hurt them, or all Canadians would still be riding strut suspended trikes and balloon tires would still be available at Canadian tire.

[Rigaman]

Tri-z forks are pretty easy to tell if they are bent. And I think these are similar showas. I put em in the triples without clamping em down and put the axle In with the clamp side not tightened. Then I spin the fork tubes. You can see the axle move side to side on the clamped side.

On my z it was easy to tell cause the axle end has a hex on it. And it literally sucked into the fork so I couldnt even get a wrench over it.

I've had new seals leak. Too much oil can do it if they get compressed hard.

Get a piece of old film. Camera film. And stick it in and spin it around the tube and seal. I've saved many fork seals by doing that. Just gets the gunk out. Motion pro makes a seal saver tool that works the same.

[NeverLift]

I've worked at shops for 6 year's and used every aftermarket seals made. The only ones I've had fail is the brand LEAK PROOF they are guaranteed to leak every time the parts guy ordered them they leaked.

[cr480r]

I've had good luck with cheap seals on play bikes, but have seen cause added stiction on some dirtbike stuff tho. IMO the tubes would have to be noticeably bent before it would be a problem. If the tubes are free of imperfections, I would then suspect shotty installation, or sloppy bushings.

[onformula1]

Check them on "V" blocks with a dial indicator & DI stand.
Check for bad scratches, nicks, rust or bad hard chrome.
OEM seals are the best, cheap seals leak, improper install or using the wrong seal driver can cause damage.
Too much fork oil or to much air pressure (if you add air, I would not) will cause problems too.
Bad DU slide metal bushings or piston bushings can cause leaks.

[down4thakrown]

Just got the word from the shop doing my seals and they said that they are bent. So I'm taking them to another shop to try to get them straigbtend out. Hopefully they can. They said only reason why they couldnt is because some fork tubes are made out of thin metal and will get a flat spot where they used the press to straighten them.

[onformula1]

If they have a "kink", bad hard chrome or flat spot toss them.
Make sure they use a Aluminium bar or piece of hard wood over the steel ram.

[down4thakrown]

There going to let me know if its possible. I got halls performance doing the work for me. And got Honda seals going back into it