Rust spots on Forks

[jimblob]

Hi Guys,

I'm hoping someone can advise me if anything can be done with my fork stanchions or if they need replacing.

There are light rust spots on both my fork stanchions following a long time in storage!! Its an RD350R that I'm currently rebuilding.

Is it worth trying to polish them out or trying the aluminium foil trick or is it best to just replace them. They are very small but I don't want to risk tearing the oil seals. 

This is what they look like :-

E294B96E-3BDE-490C-AC52-AEED5E903C14 by James Smith, on Flickr


Cheers

Jim

[JonW]

if these marks are in the area of the seal then replace the stanchions.

Sorry, but its the only way to not ruin the seals. It wont improve over time etc.

Ive had to do these on a set of otherwise lovely usable forks with just one small blister, but it was wrecking the seal and I couldnt work out why until i found the blister. it was on the back as the leg was turned round, and then it became obvious of course. The small blisters and the divots all have sharp edges.

[jimblob]

Thanks jonw, The oil seal would go right over them so I am gonna have to replace them. I just wanted to check cos the rust spots are so small.

Cheers

Jim 👍

[JonW]

Small rust spots only grow to be bigger rust spots Im sad to say.

FWIW The foil thing works great for rusty bits elsewhere and is perfect for flogging a tarted up bike on ebay etc Ive seen quite some transformations with foil over the years. Cheap bling

[jimblob]

Hahaha 😀

[midlifecrisisrd]

Yes they need rechromed/replaced

Your going to have to change the seals anyway as its not a job you want to have to redo at a later date

Steve

[jimblob]

Cheers Steve, thanks for the advice 👍

[bare]

Fork seal replacement is a Small Job IMO.
Have the prices of seals become a problem currently?
Dunno.. As I bought Genuine Yama ones years ago (spares sets as well :-) and they were reasonably priced.. then.
Fork stanchions ain't cheap . Replacing seals every couple of years is hardly Onerous.
How much do your seals actually leak ? IF at all ??
Seals, as Our forks are Non pressurized types .. are basically dust/grit excluders. Oil only splashes on their undersides
A small film or even an oil ring on the stanchion, is Fairly inconsequential.. In Real life.

[JonW]

I found with a single tiny blister and just pushing the forks up and down to test them that i ripped an OEM seal.

I guess my 2c is different to your's bare.

[midlifecrisisrd]

Changing oil seals isn't a massive job but I hate doing it as a messy pain in the ass

Depends what the rust spot is like. If it's a pit or you can pick the blister off so there is no raised bit you can fill with epoxy to delay the job for a while

If it is raised it will eventually damage the seal and even score the bushes

Steve

[JonW]

Jan 30, 2022 11:55:20 GMT 1 midlifecrisisrd said:

Changing oil seals isn't a massive job but I hate doing it as a messy pain in the ass

Depends what the rust spot is like. If it's a pit or you can pick the blister off so there is no raised bit you can fill with epoxy to delay the job for a while

If it is raised it will eventually damage the seal and even score the bushes

Steve

The DU bushes are a good point Steve. They are not easy to replace on the LC as they dont sell them individually and you need to cut them down from a larger bush. RZ they are available but not cheap to do them if you can avoid it by not trashing them with blistered forks. :/

[Tobyjugs]

Idealy a nice smooth running surface is best as everyone has suggested.

Bare's suggestion is not so bad

I have a pair of forks which i have adjusted for trackdays etc. They also have rust marks which seem to be a little worse than in your picture. To get around the leaking and damaging of seals etc i polish them with some special linishing cloth (its actually platsic).
Its made by 3M and is a 30 micron micro-finishing film. It's very fine but sharp at the same time. Hard to describe the action, you can feel it bite in so i use it with WD40. I cut it into a 20mm wide long strips and give the blemishes a quick polish. It doesnt take much time and removes any high points or edges. Until now i've never had any problems with leaks.

Of course this method is just like putting a plaster over a wound. Eventually this paper will remove the chrome, but before that happens i might bend the forks in an off. 

[jimblob]

Thanks for all the info guys.

I’m tempted to leave them as is but I can see myself checking for more rust or for oil leaks every time I get on the bike.

I probably will replace them to prevent problems later.

Jim

[midlifecrisisrd]

Don't be silly, you don't need to check them before every ride

If they leak badly the oil runs down the fork and onto the brakes

You'll know when that's happened when you take a big handful of brake and feck all happens 😆🤕

Steve

[abar121]

I had some tiny rust spots on some 31k stanchions, so bought some replacements.

But they polished out with a little dab of autosol and five years and many miles later, still haven't re-appeared or caused leaks. You couldn't feel them with your finger nail after polishing, so were probably not caused by stone chips. Lucky I guess, usually they need replacement.

I still have a new pair boxed up!

[steve63]

I think I've said this before but I'm convinced maybe more than 50% of fork seals are changed needlessly. It's often the case that when there is oil on the forks and the seals have 'blown' it is just a  bit of dirt in the seal. A scrape around with a thin piece of plastic like a tear off and the leak disappears. I've done it and seen it lots of times. You see it all the time at MX. Obviously more common due to the muck and sand at MX but still relevant here. There are tools available for doing it but I've used an old piece of packaging cut with scissors.

I went to view a K1200 RS that belonged to a mate of mine. I got back from a test ride and one of the seals was leaking. We did the seal cleaning thing using some plastic out of the garage cut to shape and the leak never came back.

I used to get comments at practice tracks with my lads YZ about tying the bike down and compressing the forks with straps. "It'll blow the seals." Really? So landing a 50 foot jump doesn't but compressing them 2" on a trailer does?

Anyway using a bit of copper like a piece of old 15mm water pipe is good for removing small rust spots and finish off with Solvol. I have a set of RGV forks that look like some has tried to clean them up with steel wool or wet and dry and made a right mess of them.

Personally if those forks were mine I'd give them a polish with Solvol, make sure there is no dirt under the dust seal and oil seal and call it done. If my LC forks were like those I wouldn't have sent them off to be re-chromed. Apart from my R1 they look in better condition than any of my bikes presently in one piece and none of them leak.....yet. 

[jimblob]

Cheers Steve63, im gonna get the Solvol out again tomorrow and see what I can do with them!!! 👍

[mak595]

Jan 30, 2022 14:16:51 GMT 1 Tobyjugs said:

Idealy a nice smooth running surface is best as everyone has suggested.

Bare's suggestion is not so bad

I have a pair of forks which i have adjusted for trackdays etc. They also have rust marks which seem to be a little worse than in your picture. To get around the leaking and damaging of seals etc i polish them with some special linishing cloth (its actually platsic).
Its made by 3M and is a 30 micron micro-finishing film. It's very fine but sharp at the same time. Hard to describe the action, you can feel it bite in so i use it with WD40. I cut it into a 20mm wide long strips and give the blemishes a quick polish. It doesnt take much time and removes any high points or edges. Until now i've never had any problems with leaks.

Of course this method is just like putting a plaster over a wound. Eventually this paper will remove the chrome, but before that happens i might bend the forks in an off. 

Toby, have you a link to the cloth please?

[Tobyjugs]

Feb 2, 2022 14:09:27 GMT 1 mak595 said:

Jan 30, 2022 14:16:51 GMT 1 Tobyjugs said:

Idealy a nice smooth running surface is best as everyone has suggested.

Bare's suggestion is not so bad

I have a pair of forks which i have adjusted for trackdays etc. They also have rust marks which seem to be a little worse than in your picture. To get around the leaking and damaging of seals etc i polish them with some special linishing cloth (its actually platsic).
Its made by 3M and is a 30 micron micro-finishing film. It's very fine but sharp at the same time. Hard to describe the action, you can feel it bite in so i use it with WD40. I cut it into a 20mm wide long strips and give the blemishes a quick polish. It doesnt take much time and removes any high points or edges. Until now i've never had any problems with leaks.

Of course this method is just like putting a plaster over a wound. Eventually this paper will remove the chrome, but before that happens i might bend the forks in an off. 

Toby, have you a link to the cloth please?

Try this LINK

I have also used 20 micron but when used with WD40 the grit seemed to fall off. Maybe i have a bad roll. Normally it keeps it's edge for ages I have a few strips which are used a few times a year for cleaning all sorts of metal and rust etc and they are about 4 years old. Ive got the strips hanging on nails

[steve63]

I've just been going through my cupboard full of bits I've been collecting for my re-build, writing down what I've bought. I've already bought something twice. Anyway looking in boxes and found this. F2 valve dust and oil seal kit. It comes with a 'Sealbuddy.' I've had these months and not really looked at them before. The LC ones don't get one. I wonder what that means? Nothing I would think 😃

[mak595]

Feb 2, 2022 22:24:15 GMT 1 Tobyjugs said:

Feb 2, 2022 14:09:27 GMT 1 mak595 said:

Toby, have you a link to the cloth please?

Try this LINK

I have also used 20 micron but when used with WD40 the grit seemed to fall off. Maybe i have a bad roll. Normally it keeps it's edge for ages I have a few strips which are used a few times a year for cleaning all sorts of metal and rust etc and they are about 4 years old. Ive got the strips hanging on nails

Cheers 😁