XJ550 Oil leak and fork seals

You guys helped me a ton last time--

I've used the search, but I have an oil leak from left side engine cover, I had to get in there to tighten up the cam chain and didn't recall anything that could leak except the crankshaft seal.

I can't seem to find where to buy one? Any help? Same with fork seals, mine is starting to weep fork oil out of both sides now. I'd also like to put stiffer springs in as my bike has a tendency to dive pretty hard on braking.

 

You sure that's where it's leaking from, not just where it's dripping from?

I had a leaky cam chain tensioner body gasket on my '81 550, and that's where it ended up dripping from (after migrating along the rear of the motor making me think I had a base gasket leak.)

It could also be the crankshaft seal (rare but it does happen.)

XJ4Ever carries all of the necessary parts to rebuild the forks as well as anything else you may need.

 

A potential tool to consider for leaking fork seals: http://sealmate.net/

I bought one, because they are so cheap, but haven't had to use it yet.

I'm also buying new (progressive) fork springs for my XJ550, and decided on these. With the free shipping, they are the cheapest here:

http://www.amazon.com/Progressive-Suspe ... 73RBP8D7W3

 

The "SealMate" will not fix fork seals that are leaking because they're worn out; in fact it has the potential to make them worse. All it does is clean out any accumulated crud; which is rarely the sole cause of leaky forks especially on a 30+ year old street bike.

A hunk of 35mm film can accomplish the same thing as the SealMate.

 

Yep, sealmate type things are more aimed at the off road sector where seals can leak due to crap rather than age related hardness/wear, as bigfitz says, it could make them worse on this bike since it could open up any nicks in the hardened seal.

If the forks are diving, it's possible that it's just down to low/old fork oil. I don't know (or care) what weight you are but bigger riders tend to prefer heavier than stock oil grades. Also if the springs are in spec, on most bikes it's possible to preload them with a short spacer under the top caps.

P.S. if you fill in your location it will help people to guide you to the best place to get spares. For instance, I'd suggest Earl street motorcycles, but I'm in Crewe England & highly doubt you are near enough. Shame really since Ben at Earl st. Is great, seems to be able to get most stuff for most bikes next day.

 

New progressive springs with 15wt fork oil will help with the fork performance -

need to replace seals as well it sounds.

 

I'm going to try just replacing the seals and refilling with oil and see what that does for me..I should get to it in the morning. I haven't taken my left side cover back off because the screws are starting to strip, anyone have a solution for that? I was thinking if I did get them out I'd replace them with stainless bolts.

 

Get yourself an impact driver.

 

The excessive diving could be symptomatic of the oil loss too.

 

Yeah I am thinking it is also, I got one fork apart this morning and it was filled with a small amount of sludge and no oil, explains why it's been diving so hard. I'm assuming you need a blowtorch to get the old seals out, because they wouldn't budge...picking up a torch tomorrow.

Once I had it on the center stand for a while it became obvious that the oil leak is from the oil filter housing.

 

I spray a liquid wrench around my seals before removal and allow it to soak down in there for about 15 min, then heat the tube with my MAP torch until the liquid starts to bubble or boil, the bubbles help you to see that you have expanded the space between, it can still be a pain getting them out with a screwdriver, usually they fly out so fast i don't know were they go in the garage i personally like to reuse them to put the new ones in. guess ill find 50-100 of them in the corners when i move!

 

Do you think a regular propane torch will get hot enough?

 

yes, i just buy MAP cause its the same price around here and i use it alot and work in my non heated garage in the winter. It might take a bit longer though with propane since MAP is usually 2-3 times hotter, and better heat transfer, it depends on what tip you have on it though, i have a nice electric one i got with an adjustable tip.

 

I meant to ask, my fork spring is more tightly coiled at one end than the other , and it looks like the progressive springs I see for sale online, did XJ550's come with progressive springs stock or?

 

Most motorcycles come with springs in them, instead of your new air shocks, basically they remove the spring and replace it with air. haven't taken one apart but have been following KTM's new design with their rear air shock on their dirtbikes, most front forks on new dirtbikes are switching (or have switched) to air. Our Yammahammers come stock with the springs you pulled out, i dont know if progressive made them (or if they were even in buisness in the 80's) Im assuming that yamaha makes them...

 

You're interchanging the TERM "progressive" and the company, Progressive Suspension.

Yes, the stock springs were also progressively wound. New springs from Progressive Suspension are also progressively wound; and a great improvement over the stock springs. The difference is not something that's readily noticeable just looking at them.

You shouldn't need to use excessive heat to remove the old fork seals; did you get the wire retaining clips out OK?

 

i always use heat. but not "excessive" that would melt the seals....

 

I ended up buying a seal puller , looks like a miniature pick-axe and it popped the seal with minimal effort and no heat. Using the old seal to seat the new one was a great idea, thank you!

Everything went together fine, but when I went to pull the next fork seal, I couldn't get the damper rod unscrewed. I made a ghetto tool by inserting a 1/2 inch reducer into a 5/8" spark plug socket but the reducer is spinning with how hard this one is torqued in. I also bought a threaded rod and jb-welded 3/4" nuts on each end but once again it busted the jb weld.

Now I've got the bottom of the fork filled up with PB Blaster hoping it will loosen things up, does anyone know where I can buy a 5/8" plug socket that is actually reversible? My toolbox, Autozone, and Ace Hardware all came up empty.

 

TIP-: instead of gluing one nut either end of the threaded bar, lock two nuts tight together at each end (feel free to gum them up good too ) That should give it a bit more strength before they unwind :wink:

 

lol hate to say it but harbor freight. they gots the junky stuff, just take the rubber fuel hose they put in them (for holding the plug) out, insert your extension in the opposite end. and i use an impact on the damper bolt.

 

Sorry I should have mentioned that's what I did, I used two nuts jammed together on each end with JB weld slathered on the threads. This might be the excuse I've been looking for to buy a welder if I can't find an appropriate sparkplug socket

 

oh and bring a 19mm socket with ya or grab one off the shelf to make sure the hex end on the plug socket is 19mm

 

If foolber's suggestion doesn't work out or you can't bear harbor freight then yes, I'd say it's new toy time That's the right attitude to have working on these old bikes, don't see a problem, see a solution waiting to be found...

 

Great success! Thanks everyone....I ended up buying a 19mm Allen at HF in a set for 30 bucks. Took two men with breaker bars to get loose and nearly stripped the bottom bolt and the hardware store didn't have an m10 pitch 1.0 to replace it with. Someone in the past used loctite on it :/

The dive I was experiencing is nearly gone so I think I'm good with the stock springs.

 

you should locktite them every time. Bikes take alot of jerking, bumbs, rattling, shaking, all that good stuff and bolts tend to get loose and fall out. But in the repair manuals i have read (alot) they always say to locktite damnner bolt, bolt. But im glad you got her together, next time try to borrow an impact or put your allen wrench on there while someone is holding it for ya and "impact" or hit it a couple times with a rubber mallet.

edit - and dont forget a new copper washer on the damper bolt!

 

Cool, glad you got sorted.

Loctite... D'oh! Bet they did that 'cause they couldn't hold the damper rod to tighten properly when putting it back together & just bodged it.

Glad to hear you sorted the problem, what weight oil did you use? If the dive is nearly gone but still not what you want you could drain the oil & swap for 5 or 10 weight heavier grade

 

I used 10W - I am going to swap it to 15w once I find a set of replacement bolts for the lower allens , I've spent an hour on google without success - anyone have any ideas?

As best I can tell they are m10 x 1.0 20mm socket cap bolts

 

I wouldn't have thought them that hard to get, even if you have to get a hardware store to order in. Just make sure the steel is of a decent tensile strength (I.E. really cheap stuff can be 6.6 or less, ideally you want at least 8.8 or even 10.8, if there's a number stamped into the head it'd be best to match or exceed it)

Failing that, possibly Chacal would have them (XJ4ever)

 

www.Bikebandit.com

$3.10 a piece

 

What did you search for? I can't find them, only a triumph damper rod bolt

Looks a cool site though that, got a bit of obscure stuff...

 

no searching. go to my garage and put in your make and model, then go to OEM parts and find the part you want from looking at the blown up images, everything has a number tied to it. kinda hard to see some of their images, but i do believe it was number 16 on the list.

 

Am I just being dumb? I go to XJ550 & oem parts, it says no results :?

EDIT-: Oh I see it now, was just clicking OEM parts before and bringing up no results, found the drop down bit on the left that's pretty damn cool you got that sort of service over there for bikes this age!!! 8) Lucky bar stewards!

 

yes sirr, there are other sites just like that except prices are different, but i use bikebandit cause of the "bandit bucks" basically for every $25 you buy you get $1 to use one the site for anything. so i rack up stuff when i order parts for customers as well as myself. and the blow up pics are extremely handy and free!!!

they wont ship to the UK??? i gues i never looked

edit - and i was looking under my bike. 82 XJ750j. Winter what is your bike, please put it in your signature THANKS!!!

 

I didn't look tbh, at least winte.r is sorted though 8) but I guess if they do that may be the place to find obscure bits for my baby... I may have a look 8)

EDIT-: bike in sig would help a lot, I searched XJ550 on there from the original thread title but guessed at a '81 max :lol:

 

Yea they are super handy, like for instance, if you have an 82 XJ550 and you want a part but only have a parted out 82 XJ750 you can use bikebandit to see if the part numbers are the same, if they are then you know your safe to use that part from that bike, pretty sweet deal.

 

Only trouble is, nowhere I've found has heard of, let alone stocks parts for my bike

That's a handy feature though 'cause if you can at least find a part number on part X, it could be cross-referenced there to see if it's common to bike Y 8O

Bet they don't stock HSC33 carbs though haha

EDIT-: well they list them (for 700 airhead) but not in stock, I only need $2001.44 for a set, and another coupla hundred for jets & needles lol :cry:

DOUBLE EDIT-: Sorry winte.r not wishing to derail your thread, discussing the link foolber sent you for your damper rod bolts, here it is again :wink:

http://www.bikebandit.com/houseofmotorc ... #sch227051


If that worked properly it should take you to an '81 550 seca (guessing here) but as a general pointer I think the bolts are number 21 on this list (obviously may differ though so check correct bike if I got it wrong!)

 

XJ4Ever does. Ask him.

The best online parts number reference is a dealership that runs a good version of the Yamaha online factory fiche.

I like this one because the diagrams are nice and big. If a part has a price, it means that the system thinks it's available somewhere. Be forewarned, it may take 3 months; but the system will pull it from whatever dealer had it and ship it. Here you go: http://www.yamahapartshouse.com/oemparts/c/yamaha/parts Unfortunately, it's USA-market not world market.

I haven't bought parts directly from Yamaha since I joined XJBikes; now it's just a good reference. Much better than Bike Bandit (they're tied into the same system but take a whopping markup.)

 

xj forever is a wopping markup