Fork seal project - slider bushing?
 

Hey guys -
I have my fork apart and am looking at my slider bushing. The service manual says to "replace it of the teflon is worn so that the copper surface appears on more than 3/4 of the entire surface." When I'm looking at it, the inside looks perfect, but the outside is 85 to 90% copper. Is it referring to the inside surface, outside surface, or the part as a whole?

I really appreciate any insight!!

The outside of the bushing is where the wear takes place. So it sounds like time to
replace to me.

Ern

You should have two teflon coated bushes. A fork tube bush (on the inner chrome tube) and a fork slider bush (inside the outer fork tube under the fork seal). So as you can see, one has an outer coating and one an inner coating of teflon. I've never pulled apart a fork or shock that has only one.

Like this;

Ah, forgot about the #3 slider bushing, I was only thinking of the #4, when I mentioned wear-patterns. At $5.82/apiece for #3 and #4 at $8.15/apiece for a total of
less than $30, if you have any doubt I would still replace for the peace of mind.

For me it would be better than re-doing the job later, since you can't re-use the seals
and would be adding that to the cost if you did have an issue.

Ern

Yes, the #3 slider bushing is the one I am talking about. The 'teflon' coating... I'm assuming that's the material on the inside surface of #3 and the outside surface of #4 (as described by pepperman). If that's the case, then my teflon coatings are in perfect condition.

Thanks for the help guys!

If you have the forks apart for changing seals, and the relatively low cost of new bushings then I'd change them. Even if they apear ok they could still be worn thinner causing extra "slop" which could help your newly fitted fork seals to leak again. The GSXR600 I had a while back suffered from this until I changed the bushes. They seemed fine but obviously were worn enough so that when the new seals were in and forks were put together (no oil yet, just slider and tube together) you could push the tube to one side and create a gap in the seal on the opposite side. Too much movement for my liking. Maybe it was just Suzuki's poor build quality and their maching facility has massive tolerences for their machinist's to work to.:icon_lolsign: