2010 California Vintage - fork dust seal removal

[QTreiber]

Hello,

My 2010 California Vintage (~10,000 miles) has a leaky fork seal.  Before removing the fork I would like to try using a sealmate (http://sealmate.net/) to salvage the fork seal.

I tried to remove the dust seal to get good access to the fork seal but it would not move.

My bike has the type of dust seal shown in this tutorial:

http://motoguzzimaintenance.wikifoundry.com/page/Moto+Guzzi+Metal+Stone+Fork+Seal+Replacement

I am worried about damaging the dust seal or the fork leg. 

Any hints would be much appreciated!

 

[Rich A]

Did you remove the spring? I seem to recall that doing that made a difference, but I might be having memory issues.
Rich A

[Ncdan]

If the seal is leaking do yourself a favor and go ahead and replace the seals on both forks instead of chasing a problem that will continue sooner or late, sooner most likely. If there is fluid coming from the seal, it's a bad seal, period.
Just my humble opinion.

[guzzisteve]

To get the dust seal up you must sneak a flat edge between the top of leg and dust cover & pry it up, then move around to opposite and do the same all the way around equally. It's a snug fit.

[Perazzimx14]

If the seal is leaking do yourself a favor and go ahead and replace the seals on both forks instead of chasing a problem that will continue sooner or late, sooner most likely. If there is fluid coming from the seal, it's a bad seal, period.
Just my humble opinion.

In my experience about 95% of the time the seal is not the problem but a speck of dirt holding the seal off the fork leg allowing oil to escape. This is why Seal Mates or a thing piece of plastic work so often. They clear out the obstruction and the seal lip can now rest against the fork leg effectively sealing the system. It is rare for a seal to be cut, torn or otherwise "breeched".

Most of the winter I rode my DR650 sidecar rig w/ no fork gaiters  and the seal started to leak pretty badly from all the dirt, dust, mud snow and ice. I had to do some fork maintenance so I ordered new seals. New seals came in and were the wrong size so I washed the old ones up with soap/water and reinstalled them along with some neoprene gaiters. Still leak free several hundred dirty, dusty, muddy miles later.  I was amazed at how much dirt was built up under the seal. It took some scrubbing to get it all clean.

[Phang]

dust seal is interference fitted, a blunt screwdriver or hard plastic edge should be able to lift it if you work around the circumference patiently.

this picture should give you some idea what is underneath