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Riding on blown fork, how bad?

norcalkid

norcalkid

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 25, 2017
Location
NorCal
Moto(s)
DL650
CRF250 Rally
Africa Twin
I'm riding on a blown fork seal. Just curious, what am I likely damaging / which parts will likely need replacement? Is it likely I'm damaging internal fork parts? If so which ones? Bikes a VStrom 650. Is riding on a blown seal really a big deal or just replace a few parts?


Thanks
 
PS, I'm in Baja so just fix it isn't really an option.
 
Clean the seal with some cc or piece of plastic(google it)and ignore it if nothing helps. Watch for brake pads.
 
It should be fine it will just leak oil. Just make sure to wipe the oil down before it gets to your brake pads.
 
I made one of these out of a busted keyboard.
Even old film will work.
Slip it under the seal and clean out the dirt.
 

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It's easier to get the gunk out of the oil seal if you first pry up the dust seal and push it up out of the way. Use a small screw driver to pry it up. Quite often you can get them to stop leaking if you get the grain of sand out out of the oil seal. Always carry a seal mate. You can also cut one from a plastic milk jug. The plastic is a little thicker then a water jug. Cut it into the shape of a seal mate, work it down between the fork and the seal and walk it around, pulling it up and out every inch or so to pull the gunk out. Good luck.
 
Zip tie a rag to your fork. Ive done this when i had a fork seal blow on my 2005 strom to prevent the oil from hitting my brake pads.
 
Oh that's a good idea
 
Besides the advice already mentioned, you can get ATF fluid just about everywhere in Baja to top off the leaking fork. Any number of suggestions might work to slow or contain the leak.

I wanted to bail on the offroad riding during the 2019 Baja trip due to a blown seal so I could spend the rest of week drinking coronas poolside. But 1962siia kept finding and dumping ATF locally into my forks, affectively foiling my plans to drink poolside. :laughing :twofinger

Vstrom has old school damper rod forks if I'm not mistaken. So anything damaged, should be minor and inexpensive. Would expect bushings potentially, but cheap and easy. Nothing catastrophic.

So enjoy the rest of your Baja tripi! :ride
 
If you do manage to soak your brake pads I've had great luck using acetone and sandpaper to bring them back to life.:thumbup
 
You may be able to increase the oil level in the opposing fork leg to balance the lack of oil in the other leg. Essentially, you're operating on all spring on one side, which isn't the end of the world for riding. If it was me, I'd not put more fluid in...I worry about oil on the front/ rear tire and have seen that take bikes down on track several times.

You still have one good fork leg and an axle in between. Get off the brakes over large bumps before you hit them (if you can), etc.

Apologies if you know this stuff already...
 
One word of warning; I have dismantled forks that have locked up from no oil at all left in them. The guy said that the fork was leaking pretty badly, and then it stopped. Yep, no oil left and he kept riding it. Just fix it.
 
Definitely just watch out for oil soaking your brake pads. Not very fun to discover your front brakes aren't quite working while on the road. I've done the zip tie a rag to the forks thing before too.
 
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