Archive of BMW Motorrad Club Cape (2006 - 2019)

FORKS WEEPING OIL - Stanchion has worn itself loose!! I bought my 1150GSA end Feb on 32000km. It had a noticeble shudder on the front end under braking, which was not a warped disc. The steering head bearing was replaced at cost of R880.15 and the shudder all but disappeared. Monitoring the problem soon exposed oil smudges from the stanchion post of the RH-fork top only. The stanchion is that metal post bolted to the steering head that is hard-pressed into the fork tube. Ja is daaie ding. My dealer told me it was a sick 'o'-ring and we replaced that and the shudder was gone. After 20 000k's(3 months in my language) it came back. My dealer and I pondered and prodded and soon saw the stanchion was not homed into the tube. closer inspection by lifting the black rubber boot showed the stanchion had a shoulder as wide as the dust-boot. ALL WRONG my boy said my dealer. This is not the right stanchion. Now see the exposed bit of shoulder and compare it with the proper stanchion in the "B" photo Looking at the proper BMW 1150GSA stanchion shows the shoulder is supposed to be 5 mm wide, not 30mm wide. Also, the deep pressed in real stanchion has the fork tube fixed by three punched indents firmly marrying the tube to the stanchion. The real stanchion next to the fitted rogue, the rubber boot hides the 30mm wide stanchion post Going back to my fitted forks I see no indents, only a grub screw near the tube top, holding the wider stanchion in place. Are you following me? stay with me here, I need help. Does anyone here in this room have any knowledge to impart on how a 'rogue' stanchion would have been fitted? Is it just an unusual stanchion from BMW or is it really an after market adapted tube, done by some clever mechanic? Please help shed light if you can End of story is I need to replace both fork tubes. But I'd sure like to unravel the mystery meantime. ________________________________________________________________________ Cuveat emptor - buyer beware, this was not picked up before, not in a 20-point check and not in a service. No one is infallible. We are all very human. If you gonna buy a bike 2nd hand get it looked over VERY thoroughly by someone who KNOWS bikes. Andyman, Yup that's me standing up in the traffic