leaking fork seals . . . again

This should be a straightforward job, boys. One of my main fork seals was leaking so I took off both of my 41mm wide glide forks and installed new seals. Removed the Progressive Suspension springs and reinstalled the original Harley springs, which are a bit longer, so the front end sits an inch or so taller. I poured in 12 oz. of 30 weight fork oil in each fork.
I noticed that the main seals were sandwiched between two flat metal washers with a snap ring on top, so I reinstalled the same way. Both seals leak now about an equal amount. WTH? Too much oil? Wrong weight? Too many washers? The forks are Showa wide glide.

Not for nothing josh but every time i check on here your bike seems to be oozing something or leaking,lol. jess teasing.

Just a few minor leaks . . . and except for the small leak at the rocker box seal, the motor and tranny has been leak free for several years . I've been trying to find an exploded view of wide glide 41 mm forks showing all the parts but can't find one online.

My forks called for 12 but mechanic advised me to put in 10.

What does your manual say for oil volume??
How did you drive the seals in?? Usually take a length of PCV pipe with the same diameter as your forks....41mm= 1.6ins then split it,put it around the fork tubes with worm gear clamps and use the PVC on the tubes like a slide hammer to drive the seals in square.... 1.5"ID pipe should work for you
Found this online from another board, don't know if yours is there...
http://www.hdforums.com/forum/oil-a...fork-oil-capacities-all-years-and-models.html

I think my forks are around 2000, give or take a few years, and I think from an FXST, which would put the oil in the 10 oz. range. Tattoo helped me change the seals and he seated them using a small drift pin and working around the seals. This may have been the mistake.

First, I'm going to loosen the drain screws at the bottom of each fork and drain 2 oz. from them and see if that remedies the problem. If not, I'll have to remove the forks from the bike and install new seals.

What about the washers; one under and one over each seal? It seems to be the correct spacing as the snap ring fits snugly in the retaining groove.

It wouldn't be unusual for the seals to be ok using a drift pin very carefully. I've done it years ago. But, I do think you may have too much oil in them. Especially is you didn't totally disassemble them and clean all the parts. On my current Fatboy forks I used the PVC pipe trick.

Well, I removed 2 oz. out of each fork yesterday and will go on an early morning ride today and see if that helps. Going to be 100 today with high humidity - no afternoon ride!

You know since BOTH legs were leaking it has to be something in common. So if taking some of the oil out doesn't stop the leaking, I would suspect the way the seals were installed. Also, make sure your slider tubes aren't pitted from road grit. AND, I hope you put some fork oil ON THE SEALS when you re-assembled the forks.

sometimes the forks look smooth and infact have surface imperfections i take 3.000 grit wet sand paper and clean the upper half of the tubes that are exposed . i always install with the pvc pipe method . if it gets passed the inner seals removing oil is not going to solve anything. the inner lower seals are not sealing againts the shaft what we are dealing with here is a mini ram josh .with a control amaount of pressure and rebound

Nope, didn't put oil on the seals before install - should have known better on that one. After my ride yesterday, about 40 miles or so, the left seal stopped leaking and the right one only a very small amount - almost none.

As soon as my new seals arrive, I'm going to change them anyway and this time do it right.

There's a fork seal tool you could try before you have to take the forks apart again...The commercially available one is called a sealmate,but you can make your own...
Here's a video showing one made from camera film...just skip ahead to the 45 second mark...It also shows the sealmate... You can also use a cell phone screen protector...

Here's the sealmate to give you an idea of the shape needed,the liitle "hook" on the end

Thanks buddy. I just ordered one ($7.99 + $2.49 S&H). I would have made do with a piece of film but didn't have any.

Well, tried the Sealmate a couple of times and the seals still leak. Have ordered a new set and will change them again.

In the meantime, I have sprung a leak in the transmission main shaft seal. I got a James seal kit and changed it and it still leaks. I even called James to make sure I put the seal in correctly. I've also ordered a new seal and will try once again to plug the leak. !