fork seals leaking

I was wondering if anyone has replaced their fork seals on their RC51?
I just noticed this past weekend that my right fork is leaking. Is this a common problem with RC"s? I then looked at a friends RC and his both were leaking. Both are 2002's and his even less than 10grand on the odometer.
My other question is do you actually need the damper rod tool to replace the seals?
thanks in advance for any and all help

you can try to solve the issue a little if you dont want to change the seal right away by taking a business card and placing it betweeen the rubber and the tube and then spraying some brake clean in the seal..... it will clean out any dirt or gunk and hopefully slow the leak. or take it to a shop and get it done.

First off, quit doing wheelies you squid...

Seriously, do the job right the first time so you don't
have to do it again later. If it means dropping the
coin to buy the right tools to do the job, then do it.

OR, just use the leaky seal thing as an excuse to pop
the forks out and send them to Kyle for new springs
and revalving..

Just make sure you take care of it right away as it will begin to affect handling and just like the forks I rebuilt yesterday the fork oil had gotten on the tire, discs and brake pads, all not good or safe.

When the fork seals blow, does it leave alot of oil all over the place?

no, you start noticing oil dripping down the inner tubes at the bottom. You will see that the black of the bottom of the fork legs are soaked with oily stuff.

Wheelies is the number 1 culprit, but tying down the bike wrong on a trailer or truck bed can do it as well.

actually track riding a stock rc with a rider over 180 pounds will hammer a set of seals. The bike bottoms violently on the brakes and just devastates the seals

+1 on my last trackday at willow big track after the day both my seals were leaking bigtime. they got hammered good. had to send em in, im 200lb and its just not made for my weight

after i got them back they put a different seal on there though. just like the old ones i used to put on my yz490 with the spring around the bottom. kinda cool.

re: roddy45

i wheelie when only required......

thanks folks I'll be rippin it apart this weekend....bloody fast hondas makin' a mess of me bike!

Yea my right fork seal is leaking now, started after my track day, I had the Dan Kyle re-worked forks, but I dont think I had it set up right to begin with and bottomed them out. Got it set up for the second session but the damage was done. Got the new seals and bushings in today, looks like I will be busy tomorrow. Got the service manual out, hopefully all will go smooth.

ok so track days are out...
now i got the seals in. now after bleeding the fork I noticed that my 2000-2002 RC51 Honda Manual lacks 2002-2005 forks. THe reassembly of the newer forks is way different.. Now more special tools are needed i guess
It only shows 2000-2001 break down.

Does anyone know of an update/revision to the manual to cover 2002 and up?
it is in section 13 of the honda manual for newer style fork caps. has anyone got it?
If not I guess it is off to the dealer to copy their manual for the newer updated forks. What a pain in the ASS! anyone got any helpfull ideas?
I wonder now if Dan Kyle would have been so much easier!

Mine started leaking on my 02 at 3000 mi put a set of Vesrah seals in and both started leaking after 3000mi again. No there was no pits or marks on the tubes. The second time I put honda seals in with new bushings and they seem o.k.
The manual only covers the 00-01 bikes which doesn't help you with the new style caps. I made some of my own tools and you need two people to put them back together again.

Scott- good to meet up with you on Sunday at Ash Cave. Hopefully Candi sent you the pics we were able to get on the corner. Since I was the one taking most of them I am sure they were probably horrible.

Hopefully you get the RC back on her feet. Good luck with the seals.

the tool you made. did you screw it onto the damper rod to pull it up?
Or did you use something to compress the spring? My so much for an afternoon job...
get this my local dealer said he would send me customers once I get it done..
Ah nope! Mine 1st.

nice to meet you all as well.
well the pics seemed to have turned out ok. the close-up of your thumb was awesome... just kiddin.
the email attachmennt dropped the last for pics all i got was red X's dunno what happened there. If all goes well (so far it hasn't) I 'll be on the RC by the weekend we'll see

If you blow a seal...does it taste salty?

The tool I have is what I used on my R1 forks basically I found some thick wall metal pipe where the i.d. fit over the fork cap, I drilled two holes oppisite each other. I tapped the holes and used long bolts threaded in the tapped holes the end of the bolts are turned down and screw into the holes on the fork spring spacer now you can compress the spring. Push down on the bolts it's like a t-handle.
Tool #2 is a flat piece of alluminum about an 1.25" wide with a slot cut out on one end wide enough to slip past the damping rod. Once the spring is compressed slip the flat tool under the nut on the damping rod now you can unscrew the fork cap pull the tool out and the spring comes off. Warning you need two people. Hope this helps.

Dragon,

Been there, done that (got the t-shirt)... Don't take your forks to a dealer. None of the current RC manuals have any info on the 02+ forks. You'll need tools for sure. Traxxion Dynamics' are the cheapest and are good quality - $29.95. It takes two people the first time. Crank the preload all the way tight to expose the holes in the spacer tube. Then, attach the compressor tool, compress the spring and slide the damper rod holder under the nut. Check out Traxxion Dynamics site. There's a couple of pictures that basically show you everything you'll need to know. If you really want to make your life easy, buy a 43mm seal driver while you're at it. Also, do both seals - that way you'll have fresh oil in both legs and you won't spend additional time with teardown when the second seal fails.

thanks Marty51,

You Rock!
Got my spring compressor on order this morning/ hopefully I'll be able to get it by the weekend!

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by drsus &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">no, you start noticing oil dripping down the inner tubes at the bottom. You will see that the black of the bottom of the fork legs are soaked with oily stuff.

Wheelies is the number 1 culprit, but tying down the bike wrong on a trailer or truck bed can do it as well.</TD></TR></TABLE>

How do you properly tie a bike down then? You've got me worried I've heard people mention improper tie down on other sites but nobody will say what the right or wrong way to do it is.