Front End Noise And Oil On Forks

[JohnnyTheCraneGuy]

Hey all! I just picked an 84 1100 with 44k on the clock. I'm going too try my best to keep it short and sweet but anyways when I was test riding the bike I rode for about an hour. I was on the roads a fair amount, enough to bring her up to speed and such. I even went a parking lot to get used to the low speed handling and feeling. Bike sounded great with no unusual or out of place noises. I know I made a mistake when I brought the bike on my trailer. I tied down the bike using cam buckle straps on the handlebars. Well I know I blew the seals when I got home because when I got home and went to go and get gas there was a now a distinct high pitched vibration from the front end that seemed to increase in intensity based on wheel speed and not engine rpms. When I got to the gas station I inspected the front end the best to my ability and found fork oil present on the forks above the seals. My questions and requests for help are:
1. Has anyone else had this issue with the noise? If so, were the fork seals the issue or was it the speedometer assembly that needed greasing/lubricating?
2. Since I have to replace the seals now I figured it would be best to go ahead and rebuild the forks the best way I can and would like some help on getting everything I need to do a complete job. I'm currently looking at a K&L Fork Tube Rebuild Kit on PartsGiant. The kit includes 1 fork seal, 1 dust seal (wiper), 1 inner bushing, 1 outer bushing and 1 circlip so besides getting 2 kits is there anything else that I would be missing? I was looking on PartsZilla at the diagram and noticed that was 6 parts to the assembly on the bottom from what I could tell at least.
The part names and numbers were bottom to top:
METAL, SLIDE 1
4FM-23125-40-00

WASHER, OIL SEAL
36Y-23146-10-00

OIL SEAL
3SP-23145-L0-00

GASKET, UPPER CVR 1UPPER COVE
36Y-23137-00-00

RING, SNAP
26H-23156-00-00

SEAL, DUST
3XV-23144-50-00

3. Is there any other kind of service that needs to be done while I'm already up in there? Don't get any service records with the bike when I bought it today so I'm trying my best to do some PM and catch up just to be safe.

Any help is seriously appreciated and I hope you all happy holidays!

[Sparky84]

G'day and Welcome Johnny

You say vibration ? Or is it just a howl, I used to disconnect my speedo.

Check the posts below and let us know if it's the same as what you're experiencing.



https://fjowners.com/index.php?topic=10874.0

https://www.rpmracingca.com/proddetail.asp?prod=M%2FC%3AFJ41ForkR%2FBKit

[red]

Johnny,

Your seals may still be okay.  Wipe away the oil on the forks, and check back for leaks.  Sometimes, even a leak just needs a SealMate tool, which you can make yourself or buy one.

If the speedometer is howling, you can disconnect the cable for now, sure.  A cheap digital GPS speedometer costs around US$35 from Amazon.  Feed it with a USB cable, mount the display, done deal.  You can get fancy GPS speedometers that give you an odometer and trip meter, if you want.  Some even replace the stock OEM speedometer, for a price.  You can lube the stock speedo if it is howling; that job is not too difficult.

If I was rebuilding my front forks, I'd be looking for better options than the OEM parts.  There are riders here who can give advice on that.

[JohnnyTheCraneGuy]

Thank you Sparky and Red!

I went ahead and reviewed those posts and sure enough it seems like an issue every FJ owner has had too face and now its my turn haha. Fingers crossed that this is the issue in question. Like you said Red, it might be best to go ahead and upgrade to a speedometer that is GPS. I'm sure there are posts on here already that go into more detail on the specific products and procedures other people used.

As for the fork seals I'm going to wipe them and continue to monitor them.

Anyways thank you guys for the quick response!

[Pat Conlon]

Hi Johnny, if you are in the US, there is a shop in San Diego, CA that rebuilds FJ speedos.
https://www.yelp.com/biz/foreign-speedo-san-diego

[JohnnyTheCraneGuy]

Thanks for the link Pat!

Sure enough yall, I went out for a ride after disconnecting the cable at the wheel and tying it up, and the noise (howling) was not there! I wiped the forks and seals to get the oil off of and upon returning there was more oil present on the forks so I'm definitely going to have too attend to that soon.

I'll do some digging here and try to find previous posts, or start my own, related to changing the seals and what parts I should look for that are AEM. But if yall already know of some links please post them here as I will continue to check on this post. Again any help is appreciated!

[Sparky84]

I kept disconnecting mine and used the tacho as the speedo, so maybe get a few checks on that so you can at least keep riding while speedo is disconnected.

Not sure why but after a few years had past I reconnected the speedo and it's been fine since.

[JohnnyTheCraneGuy]

So just for clarity, is it the assembly on the wheel or the speedometer up top that the howling comes from?

[Pat Conlon]

So just for clarity, is it the assembly on the wheel or the speedometer up top that the howling comes from?

It's the Speedo itself.

[red]

Johnny,

I use a digital, GPS speedometer with large, easy-to-read numerals.  Amazon GPS speedometers:

GPS speedometers

You might want to try a SealMate tool for the leaking seals. 
Remove the grit, and often, the seals will still be good.

[JohnnyTheCraneGuy]

I will definitely be looking into that, Red thank you for the share brother!

[Tom Nolan]

I wiped the forks and seals to get the oil off of and upon returning there was more oil present on the forks so I'm definitely going to have too attend to that soon.

I'll do some digging here and try to find previous posts, or start my own, related to changing the seals and what parts I should look for that are AEM. But if yall already know of some links please post them here as I will continue to check on this post. Again any help is appreciated!

Hey mate, did you figure out exactly which parts to order? Where did you eventually order? And did you find any previous posts?

I'm about to deal with this too, on my FJ1100.

All the best

[JohnnyTheCraneGuy]

I ended up ordering a seal mate tool like it was recommended. I haven't had a chance to mess with it since I've been focusing on the wiring at the moment. I was going to wait until I cleaned the seals and inspect after to research the parts and such.

[Tom Nolan]

Aight, thanks!