Front fork seals

[Bimbim18]

My 2019 Tracer 900 GT is exactly 2 years old with only 8k miles on it and the fork seal looks like this already: 

Is this how fork seals normally go (looks like the rust is bursting through the rubber) ? 

Is it possible the rubber was somehow damaged and caused it to do this? 

 

Im concerned because my last bike I had for 3 years and put 48k miles on it and the fork seals never did that. 

 

P.s. this'll be my first time working on forks, much less inverted ones.. any tips or guides would be greatly appreciated 😁

 

Edited November 22, 2020 by Bimbim18
Rephrased question

[Salish900]

Sorry for your troubles but the photo is unclear. Highly doubtful it is rust, and it looks in this grainy photo more like mechanical damage. Doing fork seals is really not too bad, and there are endless Youtube videos on how to do it. Provide better photos and more description and we might be able to give more specific thoughts. But doing your seals is not too bad for a good DIY home mechanic. 

[koth442]

That's not the fork seal, that's the dust cover. The seals are inside the tube and can't be seen without digging into the forks. 

That being said, I don't think I've ever seen that. It looks very strange indeed! I think you're right, the outter rubber got damaged and the steel reinforcement is rusting. IMO you're safe to ignore it until you want to replace the fork seals. 

[Bimbim18]

28 minutes ago, koth442 said:

That's not the fork seal, that's the dust cover. The seals are inside the tube and can't be seen without digging into the forks. 

That being said, I don't think I've ever seen that. It looks very strange indeed! I think you're right, the outter rubber got damaged and the steel reinforcement is rusting. IMO you're safe to ignore it until you want to replace the fork seals. 

It was much less exposed 2 months ago when I noticed it.  Im assuming the rust is absorbing all the water and spreading like cancer. Thanks for the explanation.  I didn't realize the dust cover was different from the fork seal.  I have always to this point assumed the dust cover was the fork seal.  

 

How often are fork seals replaced anyways?  My only concern now is the rust bursts through the inside and scratches up the forks. 

 

I'll repost a clearer pic.  I took that this morning as the sun was coming up so the glare is pretty bad

Edited November 22, 2020 by Bimbim18
Edit

[betoney]

2 hours ago, Bimbim18 said:

It was much less exposed 2 months ago when I noticed it.  Im assuming the rust is absorbing all the water and spreading like cancer. Thanks for the explanation.  I didn't realize the dust cover was different from the fork seal.  I have always to this point assumed the dust cover was the fork seal.  

 

How often are fork seals replaced anyways?  My only concern now is the rust bursts through the inside and scratches up the forks. 

 

I'll repost a clearer pic.  I took that this morning as the sun was coming up so the glare is pretty bad

 You can gently pry that dust seal down and take a look up inside that area for any corrosion or damage. Another tip, while that dust seal is pulled down smear a light coating of bearing grease in there (on the shiny metal fork leg) and cycle the suspension up and down a few times and then push the dust Seal back up, that’s a tip from Dave Moss on reducing stiction. 

[micah2074]

3 hours ago, Bimbim18 said:

How often are fork seals replaced anyways?  

I have almost 100K miles on my original seals.

[GTO MIKE]

My guess is moisture has gotten in between the cover and the fork and the spring that holds the inner lip against the tube is rusting .if it has a spring . Not much you can do but maybe fill  the hole with grease and seal with some rubber sealant .Its a total tear down to replace . I would keep a keen eye on it  . 

MIKE

[Bimbim18]

Thanks for the replies guys.  Maybe I'll do a complete tear down after Christmas just so I don't have to worry about it.  

While I'm at it didn't Dave Moss recommend shortening the spacers or something in the past? 

Edited November 24, 2020 by Bimbim18

[ontheroad]

I think if you keep letting it rust you might start scoring your fork tubes.

[duhs10]

I wouldn't be able to handle looking at that on my bike.. taking the forks apart is easier than you would think. I would go ahead and replace that sooner than later.

[betoney]

7 hours ago, Bimbim18 said:

Thanks for the replies guys.  Maybe I'll do a complete tear down after Christmas just so I don't have to worry about it.  

While I'm at it didn't Dave Moss recommend shortening the spacers or something in the past? 

It looks like that dust seal is damaged and a small portion of it is missing. 

[Buggy Nate]

100% that is rust. The inside shell of the dust seal has corroded and rusted out to split the rubber. Seen it plenty of times. Sometimes it stems from the fork seal retaining clip and the corrosion spreads to the uncovered parts of the dust seal. I always give them a liberal coat of light weight fork seal grease to prevent stiction and corrosion.