Right Fork leaking

[JZ7355]

Hello, I sem to have a problem with my steering. When I am riding my handle bars are cocked to the right. My buddy told me I have a leak in my right fork. When I checked the right fork, there was a build up of dirt and oil residue. the left fork was clean. Does this sound like the cause to my problem. If so is it an easy fix and how much, please help!!!!!!!!

 

[ca03busa]

your fork leaking isnt causing a problem , but the way your bars are cocked is whats causing the leak. first , do you do alot of wheelies? because i had this problem a while back ago.the bike went into a high speed wobble after a wheelie ( luckily i held through it) and the forks got binded up in the sliders. i think theres 4 bolts above your fender,and a couple up top that clamp your forks , also loosen where the 4 bolts hold your front axle . get someone to hold the front tire and straiten it back out . it might take a time or two to get it perfect , but that will fix that . as for your seal , that is caused by the fork twisting and staying like that for a while. you might want to take the fork to a dealer to change the seal and check fluid because forks are very complicated , being the slightest bit off on fluid will cause the bike to ride alot different

 

[JZ7355]

Thanks for the reply. I do not do any wheelies, so i cant imagine what caused this. I will take it to the dealer, and hopefully it wont be too expensive.

 

[JZ7355]

I took the bike to the dealer, bought them some donuts and they realigned my forks. Thank God nothing was bent. Just some serious NEW YORK CITY potholes.

 

[ca03busa]

lol , thats cool . i had really thought that i damaged my front end when my bars didnt line up with the direction of the bike . did they fix the seal also ?

 

[Quasar]

Naturally, if a highway bump is hard enough, your handlebars could become cocked (misaligned in their triple clamps) and they would require realignment.

However, once enough fork oil is lost (and you do appear to be losing fork oil from what you've stated in your original post), the steering can and WILL pull to one side.

My cousin blew out one of my fork seals on my 97 YZF1000R and continued riding my bike until it lost nearly all its fork oil from the blown fork. By the time I hopped on it months later, it pulled rather drastically to one side (I noticed this immediately upon riding down the street).

If one fork tube is collecting oily dirt but the other is not, you need to have BOTH forks emptied of their fork oil, have the leaky seal replaced in the leaking fork and have both forks refilled with the same type and same amount of fork oil to return the forks to equal functionality for proper handling.

 

[JZ7355]

Thanks for the responses, I do have a slight leak on the right fork. I will have both fork seals replaced in the spring along with a new chain and sprokets. Its getting too cold a night in NEW YORK to ride. So time to wrap things up for 2006.