Bodge Jobs, my word.

[stevezx7r]

Just been on stripping the front forks of my newly aquired d6.

After seeing the oil squirting up through the seal I had a closer look and it was then that I noticed the pitting.

Anway, it seems the previous owner decided to bodge the job (I presume for it's last MOT) by ramming some cloth between the dust seal and oil seal. I guess this was in an attempt to slow the oil down. Bodge jobs never cease to amaze me.

So, I've stripped both forks (one bottom bolt decided to stick but I got that sorted eventually). I've dotted and circled the bad areas with permanent marker which needed attention on the stantions then used some two pack liquid metal to fill the holes. I've pasted this into the affected areas which I'll smooth down with some wet'n dry once it's gone off.

From one bodge job to another Hopefully mine should last a while longer.

I wouldn't care, it looked like the previous owner had tried to smooth down some areas where it looked like it had been panel beaten but he failed to do anything about the bad scrapes right at the top of the stantion As soon as he tried to put a new oil seal in, it would be damaged.

Anyone else had any similar experiences with bad bodge jobs?

[General Gman]

I bought a GSXR750 a few years back, and on the way home noticed some splashes on the inside of the screen.Found it was brake fluid !
Took off the reservoir cap, and instead of a nice rubber bellows, it had a load of gaffer tape covering it.
When I got home I put some new gaffer tape on - lasted until the day it was written off by a blind Mondeo driver

[Flymo]

Didn't buy it of Martin did ya

There's a rumour thats he's good at fixing bodging stuff ;D

I did the expoxy/ chemical metal with my first set of pitted forks only lasted a few months before they started to leak again, eventually got a half decent pair of eblag for a very resonable price (can't remember exactly but was somewhere in the region of 30 - 40 quid)

Hope you get it sorted if not just top the fork oil up and bung some new rag in there for the next MOT

Flymo

[amorti]

The worst ones I have found have always been electrics. Removing a wire is *not* as simple as cutting the new bit out and putting solder on the old bits before half-heartedly wrapping it in black tape, and will let if go brittle and snap, just a matter of time.

I have done countless creative solutions, but never bodging as I always go on the theory that I will be keeping the bike a while. Biking is risky enough as it is without adding the chance for random mechanical failure to the mix.

[CD]

The one bodge I have found better than doing it "properly" is twisting cut wire ends together and covering with a heat shrink sleeve. These bodges seem to last when the "oh so neat" soldered joints can snap off.

[wills]

Going a bit off topic, but the previous owner of my house had bodged, bodged and bodged again. Or at least her builder had.
It's cost me an arm and a leg to put matters right. The bathroom sink screwed to the pine cladding but not the wall behind wasn't too bad to fix, but the porch with no foundations and bricks laid on bare earth cost £££s to sort. Grrrr

[bobh]

My daughter's just moved into a new house - well, new to her, anyway. The previous owner had had quite a lot of work done on the shell, but it needed finishing off inside, so she employed a guy who had already done some good work on her previous flat to do the necessary before she moved in.

After a couple of weeks he noticed that the drain in the yard was backing up, so dad was asked to go over with his drain rods (dads get all the nice jobs). No chance - the previous owner's builder had put a load of unused concrete down the drain and it had set solid. But of course when tackled he just said "Prove it - it could just as easily have been your man".

So the drain was dug up in the yard. But the blockage extended all the way out into the street, so the water company had to be called in. Fortunately they discovered that the connection between the pipe from the house to the main sewer had become displaced, so they put in a replacement pipe at their expense - phew.

This was in Montpellier, France, by the way. An English, builder wouldn't dream of doing such a thing, would he?

[CD]

Of course not....

My house (OK, its now my Ex's) had a supporting internal wall that was partly built onto the clay. To the correct depth, but with no concrete bearer under the wall. It was built around 1970.

I wanted to remove an intenal wall between kitchen and dining room which supported the bedroom floors. An RSJ was specced out by a structural engineer who required an engineering brick layer to double up the internal supporting wall. He said these days they would not build with a single brick.

When we dug out the floor and footing to take the engineering bricks. There was no concrete under the last 6 ft of the supporting wall!!!! It was all acro propped so safe (enough-ish) but we got building inspector over the same day. We mass filled it with concrete.

Phew!!!

[hermy90210]

I know this may be a month old thread but here's the case i'm putting forward....
Due to being a poor student in the midst of the summer holidays with no student loan to work on i was gutted when i found out my 92 divvy 600 failed its MOT.

This was due to headlight misalignment (which it seems to have failed on a couple of times in the past), rear pads needing replacing (still had some life in them but the guy was being picky), but worst of all... the front right fork was leaking oil, was very light when i noticed it as i pulled up for my mot, made worse by the fork test, must have happened the day of or day before the test.
SOOOO i took it to be repaired as i dont have the tools to do it myself, looked like it was just the seal gone and decided to get both redone as the other would probs go soon too.
On picking up my bike i notice the front feeling a little soft, and when i pull up what do i find.... the LEFT was GUSHING oil, all down the back of my left caliper....

So, i slowly take it back to my mechanic, who then fits another seal. but he says that both forks seem to be slightly pitted, waste of £120 maybe? I'm now guessing that to stop this problem i should either get them ground and rechromed, or get a second hand pair from another '92, or get brand new forks....... This is mainly because even though it's not leaking oil as such or dribbling it anywhere, there is still a light film of oil on both forks once they've been compressed, leading to a slight tell tale oil circle at the furthest point it's traveled to.

You see, i need it to get through it's MOT, any ideas on a DECENT bodge to sort this for the short term while this student tries to scrape some pennies together for a (possible) used set of forks?

Am started to get tempted by the packing behind the dust seals...

[stevezx7r]

Don't be tempted to pack the forks - the oil will get past in no time at all. It may be ok for an MOT bodge but, tbh, fitting a pair of gaitors is the best option as the MOT guy isn't allowed to remove them to check for leaks You still have the safety issue to contend with such as the oil leaking onto the breaks etc. My fix (they're still not back together yet as i'm awaiting new seals) is the wet n dry/liquid metal approach. It's worked in the past so here's hoping.