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Posted: **Fri Mar 05, 2021 12:22 pm**

2013 Honda CRF250L with approx 800 miles on it.
Going through the process of upgrading the suspension with the full Ohlins rear shock with piggy back and front spring kit/fork caps. My question is would you replace the seals at the same time you are doing the upgrade, even though my bike shows no sign of leaking seals and I have had seal saver neoprene covers on it since I starting riding off road with it. Replace or if it aint broke don't fix?

Thank you

Posted: **Fri Mar 05, 2021 12:37 pm**

Welcome to the site !! $\:D/$

With that little time on it and no signs of leaking , I would not worry about it at this point ..... if you do seasonal maintenance , like servicing the forks , etc. , then you might want to do it , but again , if all looks good , and you do not see signs of leaking , then don't worry about it .... as long as you keep the sand/mud from building up.... then drying , which is what usually kills seals , as the sand/mud will get almost rock hard when it dries , then when the suspension travel goes past that point of the clump , is when the seal will get damaged and leak .... I usually physically wipe my tubes down after every ride , I don't even allow water spots to stay after washing the bike , as they can have Calcium in it ,and that will harden and compromise the surface of the fork tube and then cause the seals to get cut , and then it will leak ,......., but with no leaks and keeping the forks clean , you should be fine for a couple seasons or so . so go ahead and install the cartridges and enjoy the improved ride ...

Posted: **Fri Mar 05, 2021 12:53 pm**

Welcome to the site !! $\:D/$

With that little time on it and no signs of leaking , I would not worry about it at this point ..... if you do seasonal maintenance , like servicing the forks , etc. , then you might want to do it , but again , if all looks good , and you do not see signs of leaking , then don't worry about it .... as long as you keep the sand/mud from building up.... then drying , which is what usually kills seals , as the sand/mud will get almost rock hard when it dries , then when the suspension travel goes past that point of the clump , is when the seal will get damaged and leak .... I usually physically wipe my tubes down after every ride , I don't even allow water spots to stay after washing the bike , as they can have Calcium in it ,and that will harden and compromise the surface of the fork tube and then cause the seals to get cut , and then it will leak ,......., but with no leaks and keeping the forks clean , you should be fine for a couple seasons or so . so go ahead and install the cartridges and enjoy the improved ride ...

That's kind of what I was thinking as well. After doing some research I am going to change my post ride maintenance to include a quick clean of the seals with a seal saver type of contraption to hopefully catch any dirt before it becomes an issue. Thank you for your response. Looking forward to the new suspension for sure!

Posted: **Fri Mar 05, 2021 3:07 pm**

Welcome to the site !! $\:D/$

With that little time on it and no signs of leaking , I would not worry about it at this point ..... if you do seasonal maintenance , like servicing the forks , etc. , then you might want to do it , but again , if all looks good , and you do not see signs of leaking , then don't worry about it .... as long as you keep the sand/mud from building up.... then drying , which is what usually kills seals , as the sand/mud will get almost rock hard when it dries , then when the suspension travel goes past that point of the clump , is when the seal will get damaged and leak .... I usually physically wipe my tubes down after every ride , I don't even allow water spots to stay after washing the bike , as they can have Calcium in it ,and that will harden and compromise the surface of the fork tube and then cause the seals to get cut , and then it will leak ,......., but with no leaks and keeping the forks clean , you should be fine for a couple seasons or so . so go ahead and install the cartridges and enjoy the improved ride ...
That's kind of what I was thinking as well. After doing some research I am going to change my post ride maintenance to include a quick clean of the seals with a seal saver type of contraption to hopefully catch any dirt before it becomes an issue. Thank you for your response. Looking forward to the new suspension for sure!

What you can do is when you ride in iffy conditions ,when you are done just take a putty knife or a thin wide fat blade screwdriver , and pop the Dust Seal (the seal you actually see on the forks) and pull it down , and if you have a compressor , then blow the air at the seal area to blow out any dirt/sand/mud that might have got by ... do not put direct air pressure on the fork seal itself , as you might blow the oil out a bit . just a quick blowing off will do , then wipe down the fork tube , then slide the dust seal back on and push it into place , if you don't have a fork seal driver , you can make due with a large Crescent Wrench and open it up to the size of the seal (just slightly larger than the for tube) , then just tap it into place to seat it into the tube using a hammer on the handle of the Crescent as you are holding it (tap close to the tube to get a solid and square hit on the seal) , and you should be good to go

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