Tele fork oil seals

[bevanclark]

Hi folks, I bought replacement fork seals from Draganfly a while back and have just attempted to fit them. I expected to be able to do so by putting them in the freezer and warming the seal carrier, but I could not get them home. Following sone measuremrnt I can see why - the i.d. of the seal carrier shoulder is 45 mm. The new seal o.d. is 46.43 mm.

Is it really possible to press these in with almost a 1.5 mm press fit without wrecking them ? I'm no expert, but it seems a very large compression for such a small diameter seal.
I made a brief video clip:
https://youtube.com/shorts/OWPlpTsrh00?feature=share

I'm in N.Z., so if I wreck the seal, my bike is off the road for a long time.

Cheers, Bevan

[nevhunter]

Can't see you making them fit without altering something. I've used double lipped seals (neoprene ) but It's a while back so I'm no use with specifics. I put a small oil drain screw in the bottom of each fork. Nev

[Mick D]

Hi

I don't think there is any chance of the seals fitting with those dimensions. When I restored my FH I replaced both the seals and the holders, (both sourced from Draganfly), they were a good fit and no problems encountered.

Probably best to get in touch with Draganfly, they may have had a 'quality escape' or your holders may not be standard, either way I wouldn't attempt to fit the seals.

You could probably measure what you have and obtain generic lip seals to suit locally.

Regards Mick

[Paul Gasson]

Hi Bevan, I have a pair of seals recently bought from the club spares person handy, these measure 46.54mm (1.832”) diameter and look like the parts you obtained from Draganfly. My holders are at the workshop and I will not be there until tomorrow but happy to check then and advise if you do not get an answer before. I think the old seals are around somewhere as well so will check those. Hope you get it resolved quickly. Paul

[Roger Gwynn]

Doug Richardson used to make stainless holders of smaller size to use more readily available seals, you may have a pair of those or from some other source. In any case if you experience a problem with a part supplied by a bona fide dealer your first recourse should be to approach them. The seal dimensions are 1.828 x 1.25 x 0.375 Note these dimensions are in inches.

[dennis.t]

I bought oil seals and bushes from Draganfly in October 2022 and they fit perfectly. Looks like you were unlucky. I agree you should contact Draganfly for them to check the dimensions of their oil seals.
Dennis

[bevanclark]

Thanks for the advice everyone.

Paul- it would be interesting to know what the I'd of your seal holders are - might show if I have smaller dimensioned ones as has been suggested.

I'll see whether I can find a local supplier I think. It is probably a couple of years since I got the seals from Draganfly so is pretty pointless contacting them, given I'm on the other side of the world as well.
Cheers,.Bevan

[JohnnyBeckett]

hi i had a new set fork seals that come with a ariel NH a few years ago and they was from drags and i did think about fitting them i just did and they fitted perfect in the old housings and no leaks

[bevanclark]

Well....problem solved I hope - have got replacement seals from a local engineering supplier identical to the ones in the forks for NZD 9 (the price of one beer at the pub). I guess my seal holders were machined internally by someone to fit a metric seal. So, wasted a fair amount on the ones from Draganfly that don't fit ! Not their fault, and how was I to know.......ah well.

[dennis.t]

The main thing is you got things fixed. Save the Drags seals for your next Ariel
Dennis