Motion Pro’s Seal Mate is a tool that’s absurdly expensive for what it is (a simple thin/flat piece of plastic) but incredibly cheap for what it does.
Most fork seal leaks result from a tiny bit of debris lodged under the seal’s lip, not actual seal damage. The foreign matter holds the lip out, away from the chrome tube’s surface, allowing oil to pass by freely. If the invading nugget is removed before the lip starts to hold this new, deformed shape, the leak promptly disappears – all without the expense and hassle of fork disassembly and seal replacement.
But how can we get the debris out? Our method has to be gentle enough to avoid damaging the delicate seal lip, and it has to be precise enough to avoid pushing junk up into the fork’s interior, where it could cause wear and/or interfere with the fork’s oil flow management by clogging an orifice or getting in between shims. The Seal Mate offers a convenient solution that meets both of these criteria.
Before swapping seals, use a Seal Mate to “floss” the seal/chrome tube interface. First, slide the dust cover out of the way to gain access to the seal. While you’re at it, go ahead and clean the area between these two (use a cotton swab or the edge of a clean rag), and flush the dust seal out with some silicone spray. Wiggle and slide the dust seal up and down the chrome tube, spraying it with more silicone, until it stops leaving a dirty trail. You certainly don’t want to clean your fork seal, only to have a particle currently residing within the dust seal promptly migrate to a new home where it will cause another leak!
Now, slip the Seal Mate’s hooked end under the fork seal lip, and ease it gently around the fork-tube’s circumference before extracting it – along with the mischievous crumb. Take care to gradually alter the angle of the Seal Mate so the hook starts out facing up, but ends its orbit pointing down. This will ensure that it has corralled any debris toward a tidy exit down and out. In most cases, the problem is solved in just a few minutes. If not, at least you know the next couple hours of labor are truly necessary.
One Seal Mate has saved us many afternoons playing fork mechanic, not to mention liters of fork oil and a half-dozen replacement seals. However, keep in mind that significant leakage equals a change in fork oil level that may impact fork feel and performance. And there’s no way to know exactly how much oil was lost, so you can’t just poke a syringe into your bleeder valve and replace a specific quantity. Still, the work involved in restoring fork oil level to spec is much, much less than what’s required to replace a seal.
Aside from the Seal Mate’s spendy $6.79 MSRP, our only complaint about the Seal Mate is its fragility. Although this is understandable, given that this tool has to be very thin to do its job, be aware that it is extremely easy to crimp the plastic during use, or even in storage–don’t just randomly toss one in your trail pack (where you really should keep one handy); place it between flat things that will protect it, instead of damaging it (try the map pocket). When using it, lube it’s hook with a little oil, and don’t use force to jam it under the seal lip; it’ll find its way in if you’re patient.
Motion Pro Seal Mate
Seal Saver (single) MSRP: $6.79
Seal Saver (12-pack) MSRP: $81.48
Motion Pro, Inc.
3171 Swetzer Road
Loomis, CA 95650
Phone: 650-594-9600
Website: www.motionpro.com
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