[vijai]

I had fork seal protectors on my Tiger 900 rally pro - something like this. And something terrible has happened. The protectors trapped all the sand and dirt inside and eventually sand particles found its way to the dust and oil seal. Result is, constant scouring of the inner tube to the point where the tube developed tiny tubules through which the fork oil started leaking. This was on the right fork and the left fork was spared. This was caught by the mechanic when I went in for rear brake pads replacement and asked them to check the front as well. Was told good option would be to replace the inner tube since all other fixes would just be temporary. Considering its an ADV and the whole point of getting an ADV is for the superior suspension, I went in for the replacement.

Replacement part took 2 months to arrive - not sure what's happening with the long wait times of spares. Probably Triumph has not yet sorted out their logistics after the recent tie-up with Bajaj. As usual, pretty satisfied with the work done by Khivraj Triumph. Job was done in a day although I left the bike there a week earlier since I had no time later to drop the bike. Labour seems very reasonable overall considering they had changed the seals in both the forks. Oil was also topped up. Bike seem to have consumed ~500ml of oil in 5k kms since last oil change. The remaining oil was returned to me. They also gave the bike a wash and polish which wasnt charged.

They have offered to courier me the inner tube as well which I think will keep as a souvenir and reminder to keep it simple when it comes to protection next time. Over protection is not a good protection I suppose.


Parts and labour cost


The damage. Notice the vertical lines. It looks not so bad in photo but when I saw it in person, it seemed pretty bad.

[dvv]

Originally Posted by vijai

Over protection is not a good protection I suppose.

Bad luck Vijai! But it was a good reminder for me to check on my own fork seal protector; didnt notice anything bad yet, but will keep an eye out for damage with each bike wash.

[Darkcloud]

Originally Posted by vijai

I had fork seal protectors on my Tiger 900 rally pro - something like this. And something terrible has happened. The protectors trapped all the sand and dirt inside and eventually sand particles found its way to the dust and oil seal.

That’s too bad! I have been using Kriega fork seal covers since a long time. They’ve gone through all sorts of dusty, grimy and wet conditions and I haven’t faced any problems with them yet.

Are fork seal problems common in the Tiger 900? Have seen quite a few here too. After reading numerous horror stories about Keerthi Triumph, I would doubt everything they say or do!

I understand you will be wary of these covers but they are not over protection at all imo. If you tour extensively, which would entail you being far from a service centre, then these covers could be the only thing preventing you from being stranded due to fork seal breakdowns.

[Aditya]

Fork Protectors: Yay or Nay? - Posts moved to a new thread.

[Dramitn]

Can we have a poll added to this thread?
That would get us a better understanding too

[skviknaraj]

Originally Posted by vijai

I had fork seal protectors on my Tiger 900 rally pro - something like this. And something terrible has happened. The protectors trapped all the sand and dirt inside and eventually sand particles found its way to the dust and oil seal. Result is, constant scouring of the inner tube to the point where the tube developed tiny tubules through which the fork oil started leaking. This was on the right fork and the left fork was spared. .....

It is recommended by the manufacturer of these fork protectors to turn the protector inside out and clean them when the vehicle is being washed. This way any dirt caught at the edge of the protectors are washed away and do not reach the fork seal. However, can you confirm whether the fork protectors were tight over the inner and outer tube?

As to the how effective the fork protectors are, only time will tell and off course it will vary from person to person.

Looks like this is just bad luck for now in your case.

[VijayAnand1]

Let me share my shilling's worth. Fork protectors are completely different from fork seal protectors. By default, most of the European bikes are sold sans the seal protectors, i.e. the fork seals are exposed by default. Now, it's pretty much a caveat emptor. Fork scoring (as in your case) happens primarily due to dust accumulation, minuscule rust cavitation and pitting, again all these will negatively impact a fork seal's life and will predominantly be the causal for repeated fork oil leakage.

Now, there are two types of seal protectors, seal boots and seal sleeves. Boots (like the ones you see in Duke 390s) do an exceptional job of scraping the fine dust down the slider so that the grime doesn't accumulate inside the main fork seal which were a nuisance in their earlier models of the Duke with repeated seal failures. KTM updated the forks with boots and fork protector (a plastic flap around the innards of the fork) which literally halved any seal failure. The KTM anecdote I'm sharing is aimed to bring more clarity so that it helps you better understand. So, they've used a fork protector and a seal protector.

Now fork sleeves. These neoprene elastic ones are great, looks cool and upmarket, but once they accumulate enough road muck, that's when they turn sinsister. These neoprene ones trap dirty wet fine-muck inside and once dried they act as a grit paper on the slider of the fork because the elastic is tight enough to hug the slider well wound which is enough to cause these scoring marks. In other words, which is effectively a grit-paper taped to the slider. A BIG NO.

These require frequent cleaning especially on monsoons or when one's ridden it enough on dirty sessions so that their integrity is maintained. And in that cause they do a very good job of protecting the fork from stone hits and what not. But once they get dirty enough or dusty enough to accumulate dust and not proper oversight, you can ruin your fork in no-time.

Hope it helps, and good luck.

Cheers!
VJ

[vijai]

Originally Posted by VijayAnand1

Now, there are two types of seal protectors, seal boots and seal sleeves.
Cheers!
VJ

Thanks for clearing it up! I think with how fairly well the forks of tiger900 is covered, for casual touring, I've decided to just leave it and pay attention to the seal area during regular cleaning to keep the muck away. For occasional off-road, probably I'll get a protector that's removable and will be removing it aas soon as its purpose is done.

Originally Posted by Darkcloud

Are fork seal problems common in the Tiger 900? Have seen quite a few here too. After reading numerous horror stories about Keerthi Triumph, I would doubt everything they say or do!

I'm not aware of fork seals being a common problem in tiger 900. That's something new to me. Also, I'm not in Bangalore and my dealership is Khivraj Triumph, Chennai. I'm fairly satisfied with their service. Besides, they showed me the extent of damages well before suggesting a replacement. This wasn't pushed on me. And, I do have the replaced part with me and the damage is visible - now, I could have replaced the fork and dust seal and may be the problem would have gone but those scouring quite evident and it will eventually fail with frequent fork issues. It is what it is, lesson learnt.