Would it be a mistake

[Evo160K]

Would it be a mistake to cover the oil seal and retaining ring on an FXSTC fork with a bead of RTV?  I just rebuilt the fork at 10,000 miles (one OEM seal was leaking badly) and was surprised at how dirty and deteriorated they were.  They were under the OEM dust seals.

Thanks for your thoughts,

[Reddog74usa]

It would be a waste of some good RTV. You need to tear it down and find out what is cuasing the leak. If not it won't get any better until you do.

[rageglide]

Sounds like a kludge that won't amount to much.  Did you use aftermarket seals?   I've never had issues with Harley seals, but I have had issues with James seals being a loose fit.

[Evo160K]

Obviously my original post was confusing.  The old leaking seals were Harley seals, I got plenty of miles on them, no complaint there.  I replaced them and all of the other repair parts yesterday during the rebuild with Harley seals, bushings and etc.  I'm not trying to patch an old seal.  I'm trying to provide additional protection for the new Harley seals by putting a bead of RTV over them.  What do you think?

[Lucky Pete]

Unless you are riding enduro courses on it you are perhaps over thinking it

As an aside next time you get a leaky seal go down to the local dirt bike shop and by a seal cleaner or use something similar - often that will fix it

[rageglide]

I would say RTV probably won't bring much benefit. 

Keeping crap from accumulating at the sealing lip will extend the life of the seal.  As ugly as the rubber gators are, they keep the fork tubes and seals in great shape (unless they trap water).

[rbabos]

Seal lips under a small amount of pressure is what makes the seal. RTV won't offer any pressure or a fine contact sealing point to do anything.
Ron

[Deye76]

Someone mentioned aftermarket being loose. What about a little RTV on the outer face of the seal?

[rageglide]

I'm sure you could use a bit of RTV on a loose fitting seal.  Personally I'd get one that fits properly.

[Evo160K]

Thanks good people, appreciate your comments.

The new seals fit great, no issue.  Old Harley seals lasted 90K miles, that's not bad, but they were really deteriorated and crumbling.  I use the big dust seals on top, of course.  I was thinking a bead of RTV over the new seals might give them added protection. 

Would it hurt anything?  If no, I'll do it.

[Deye76]

I'm sure you could use a bit of RTV on a loose fitting seal.  Personally I'd get one that fits properly.

I agree.

[Burnout]

My seals kept going bad and I discovered it was from the bugs that got stuck on my fork tubes were roaching my seals. I put a set of gators on the forks and have had no leaks for years.

[rageglide]

My seals kept going bad and I discovered it was from the bugs that got stuck on my fork tubes were roaching my seals. I put a set of gators on the forks and have had no leaks for years.

  Exactly.  I'm pretty sure that was the reason why gators existed on most of the old bikes.  To protect the old technology fork seals.   The low profile caps also help and when new wipe a fair amount of crap off. 

On my bmw dual sport the front facing Ohlin shock needs frequent rebuilds due to the bugs and dirt.  Last rebuild I put a sock over the shock...