Since I’ve finished my T500 I’ve noticed a slight weep on the o/s fork leg. Now as I’ve put new seals in and the tubes are perfect I couldn’t figure it out? I ordered a new set of seals and stripped the offending fork assembly down and although there didn’t seem anything amiss and the tube was dry above the seal I replaced it anyway. The result was no difference? The seals on the 500 are fitted in a screw on holder which you slide over the tube and then screw it to the fork bottoms. The leak appeared to be coming down the threads. Now I always rebuild things the opposite way to how I dismantle them so I thought everything was ok.
As the seal is above the threads I got to thinking there is a path for the oil to escape under pressure. A quick look at the exploded diagram in the parts book reveals there should be an O ring where the seal holder seats on top of the fork bottom which the previous owner left out? I did wonder why there was hardly any oil in the fork leg. The strange thing is the n/s leg doesn’t leak despite being assembled exactly the same way?
Old bikes, dontcha just love em
They're rubbish them Jap bikes lad they won't last five minutes! you want to get yourself a nice Royal Enfield!
A quote from my old dad
I started out with nothing and I’ve got most of it left!
