I tore my front forks down to replace a leaking right fork seal. After removing the Springs, I measured the fork oil level height in each Fork, and the right side was 2 or 3 cm lower than the left, nothing drastic. When I examined the damper Rod piston ring for the right side, I noticed that the piston ring was worn down nearly to the wear grooves, and the wear was visibly non- concentric. The piston ring for the left Fork looked Nearly New, and the thickness all the way around was 2.05 mm. In contrast, the wear on the right piston ring measured 1.9 mm at the ends where it splits, and down to 1.3 mm at its thinnest just to one side of the wear indicator grooves. I purchased the bike with 5000 miles, the bike has only 10,000 miles on it now, and I was not expecting to need to replace bushings and rings at this mileage. I really dont think a slightly lower oil level in The Right Fork wouldn't contribute to this drastic wear, and and when I had the front apart to install Ricor's (since removed), I made sure that the forks were aligned by pushing the entire wheel and Fork assembly all the way up with the Fasteners loose, and then following the proper tightening sequence, and then checking for binding in fork travel. Does anybody have any suggestions on what could be causing one side to wear drastically compared to the other? All the other bushings with the Teflon Coatings look evenly worn between sides.
