can't stop forks leaking

When I first got my Kawasaki KZ1000 1982 CSR I had the fork tubes recromed and the fork seals changed. When I took it all apart I noticed some convolutions in the outer-tube where the oil seal sits, but it did not cause any issues and the forks were fine for a few years. I noticed some oiling the other day and decided to change the fork seals. Changing, no issues but one leaked. Thought I damaged the new seal and replaced it again. Still leaking and the other started as well. Thought the convolutions are now causing an issue and I back filled / bedded the gaskets in to liquid (silicone) gasket. One was good,, the other was good for 40miles and then showed a little misting. Thought this will do for the MOT, passed the test and came home and now both are badly leaking again. Now I think maybe the guide bushes are to be replaced as there is too much play and the gaskets can not accommodate so much? Before I go in there again, has anybody else some ideas I can change or try to make the stay dry?

If you can feel the play then your bushings need replacing, some are NLA from kawasaki but if you take measurements WEMOTO have a big stock, you might need to phone them as they don't have all their stock listed. The top bushing on some models was never available as a seperate part.

That is you likely problem assuming your seals were installed right and your oil level and air pressure (if used on those) is within spec. Just to confuse it IIRC there are some misprints regarding oil level in the manuals.

thanks for this. yes, I can feel some play in the tube. When you say top bushing, do you mean the one just under the fork seal in the outer tube or the one on the end of the inner tube?
In terms of the play on the tubes, I have seen a diagram on the internet showing that 5-7mm play is possible. This is measured between the tubes when fully extended, i.e. nominal distance +2.5/-2.5 to nominal distance +3.5/-3.5

So I will look for some bushes I guess.

I have found the diagram

Where did you have the tubes rechromed? The fork tubes are hard chrome. My understanding is that the hard chrome process requires they be ground to the correct diameter after plating.

yes, this was a professional company offering the re-chroming and machining service. They did a very good job.

Can you share the company name? I called every place I could find a few years ago and couldn't find anyone that would do hard chrome, at least in the US. I'm sure there will be other looking to have fork tubes rechromed if someone is doing it.

Regardless of anything else use only factory Kawasaki seals, or Honda or Yamaha or Suzuki if they had motorcycles that used the same size seal. You can go to Dennis Kirk or the like and usually they will list which aftermarket seal they sell fit which models of the various brands and you can then order the correct seal for any of those that use the same size seal. Don't use aftermaket seals because they will leak every time.

Can you share the company name? I called every place I could find a few years ago and couldn't find anyone that would do hard chrome, at least in the US. I'm sure there will be other looking to have fork tubes rechromed if someone is doing it.

I am pretty sure it was Pitted Forks
www.pittedforks.co.uk/index.php
but they are in the UK. The service was excellent. I posted the tubes, They did the machining and chroming and it came back. No hassle, all very easy. And they still look good. This was about 8years ago, maybe longer.

Don't use aftermaket seals because they will leak every time

I have no commercial interest in any company providing aftermarket seals, but I never understood the argument. I am sure you have experienced poor aftermarket products, hence the reason for your comment. But Kawasaki, Yamaha, Suzuki and Honda are predominantly engineering companies designing motorbikes and not oil seals. They would go to an oil seal company and asked to be supplied with the right product. There are so may oil seal companies about and the technology is not complicated. So the question is, why are there so may aftermarket seals but yet I hear arguments against them?

True enough, but are you using aftermaket seals in this quest for seal? If so try not using them and problem will most likely be gone. If you are using factory seals then procede to more involved process of repair. Trust me in 50yrs nearly of riding, don't use aftermarket seals unless you enjoy the every 500 mile replacement.

I used aftermarket seals and not OEM. I used seals made by Vesrah DR3.The funny thing is that if I look at Wemoto for my seals, they are £8 for the pair and I paid £12. Assuming Wemoto's seals are OEM seals, they are cheaper.

In my industry there are lots of replacement parts for products available, which are not OEM supplied, but work well. So I really don't understand why companies supplying the aftermarket, can't get it right and give themselves a bad name by seemingly providing a product, which is not fit (or only fit for 500miles).

One other question. How do I know I buy an OEM component? Who does a fork seal needs to be described to be identified as an OEM component?

If the forks are slightly tweaked, the seas will leak.
Steve