Panhead Front End

[henry187oc]

Hope everyone is having a great Xmas!!

i came home to a xmas suprise from the old panhead. There was a big puddle of oil on the rim and dripping down to to the tire and floor. i wiped down the forks and found that the oil was coming from the bottom of the forks (not the drain plug).

not only am i new to the game and do not have alot of knowledge when it comes to these older bikes but all the past bikes i've had have been Springer front ends so i do not have alot of experience with fork oil issues.

does this mean i need to replace some seals or is the fork done and need to be replaced?

any help would be apprciated.

Merry Xmas!

[Rubone]

A couple of things to consider. The fork is rebuildable and new replacement stuff is generally not nearly as good as original stuff. The lower end of the leg is sealed with two paper gaskets. If the fork does not have functioning vents in the caps it will never seal.

[dukekleman]

Henry,
As Robbie mentioned, there are 2 paper gaskets located at the end of the dampener rod. One on each side of the dampener rod cap. The dampener rod end is rectangular shape to locate itself in the bottom of the outer fork leg. This prevents rotation of the dampening rod when torque is applied to the nut. The insert it locates itself into is also replaceable. Noting that your lower fork legs have been chrome plated always adds more complications when try to get things sealed correctly.

With all things said, there are multiple areas for oil to leak from on the end of the fork leg as you pointed to in your photo. The most common issue is oil following the threads on the end of the dampener rod wicking between the thread and the nut. This leak occurs slowly over time.

Hope this helps,
Duke

[Omarttentmaker]

I was told years ago that when replacing the larger of the 2 gaskets to double up on those, mainly due to the fact that they are gonna be repop. The 2nd caveat is to make sure the surface way down in the bottom of the leg is super clean. What I ended up doing is buying a piece of wooden round stock to match the I in the leg bottom as close as possible, then cutting a piece of 120 grit emery and gluing it to one end of the wood. Make the wood long enough that it sticks out the top of the leg, insert it in the leg and use a lapping motion to clean any leftover gasket material from the bottom surface. Sound like a PITA, and it is, but it allows that sealing surface to be clean enough to install a couple new gaskets.