Leaking ktm 450 R/H fork

[Brett WilliamsMember]

Hi. Recently “inherited” my sons ’04 KTM 450 EXC. The R/H fork is ALWAYS leaking. This is despite numerous (3 or 4 now) seal changes, bush changes – all done by local bike shop, using OEM parts. It seems that if there is a tiny bit of air in the forks, the seal leaks. Purge the air thru the bleeder and problem goes away. Just sitting in the shed, there is usually a 50mm pool of oil on the ground, oil on the rim/tyre and down the shaft. What is the best fix and how many dollars should I be looking at?
I have seen a pair of forks advertised on ebay from an ’09 450 EXC. Will these fit?
Any advise from OB experts would be appreciated.
Cheers Budge

[Nick DoleMember]

Hi Budge,
You probably have a decent scratch or vertical score in the tube. For what it’s worth to re chrome the tubes of get the 09 forks, they slip straight in. Internals are way better than the 04.

[murph the surfMember]

Hey Budge
My 07 525 fork seal became a joke
Was changing it every 2 rides or so
If you look in the “Tech Help” section and go back to page 6 you will see a thread called “Furked Fork” Lucky I am a fitter by trade so the fix didn’t cost anything
The devcon held and I got many more thousands of kms out of the old girl before selling her
Hope this is not the issue with your bike
Worth a look though
Cheers
Murph
P.S. With the bore flogged out where the bush sits it enables the inner leg to move around too much in the outer tube, thus causing the seal to leak. Best of luck.

[Brett WilliamsMember]

Thanks guys. Appreciate your advise and will keep you posted on the remedy. Cheers Budge

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