81 XJ650 - Rebuilt forks, now the leak is worse

Title pretty much says it all. I rebuilt my front forks this summer, and now the oil seal is leakier than it was before. Trying to figure out what could have gone wrong. Here are some pics of the leakage.




Front left with the dust cover off:


Front right with the dust cover off:


I don’t see any obvious signs of damage to the inner metal parts. There are a few really tiny scratches. Not sure if these were there before I did the work. Pics below, index finger for scale.




I will say, I did not order the special oil seal driver tool to drive these in. However, I have a Motion Pro bearing driver set for seating wheel bearings, and the 47mm driver was the perfect size to evenly push the oil seal into its seating area.



Maybe the tool was wrong, maybe the scratches on the tubes are more serious than I thought. I’ll take any suggestions for what I could do better next time.

 

If the edges of the scratch (or if pitted) are higher than the chrome surface of the tube, then the sharpness needs to be flattened with a fine file or small emery stone. If they stick up, they'll tend to slice into the seal or simply carry oil up. However, those look minor from here...
Your leak looks minor too, no oil pooling on top of the seal... however, need to address the cause.

 

Those tools don't look too dangerous to the surface, possible they scratched I don't know.
I agree with @Rayzerman they look minor but if it catches your fingernail it'll probably catch the seal.
I have a 30"piece of 1-1/2"NOM ABS pipe just for this. It is the exact size needed and no chance of scratching the fork.

 

There actually was oil pooling on the seal of the left fork the day before yesterday. That’s how I noticed this in the first place, but I cleaned it up to get a better look and didn’t think to take a picture. I’ll need to see if I can feel those scratches with my finger, and if I can, then I’ll file them down.

ABS pipe is hard enough to smooth these tubes out? That’s good to know, I can give that a try.

 

I think he meant the ABS was for seating the seals without scratching, not for removing scratches.

 

Ah, gotcha. Well, I did glide my hand over those scratches, and I could feel that something was there. I took a fine ceramic honing stone and gave the forks a gentle once-over until I could barely feel any texture with my fingers.

The seals may already be cooked, but at least now I’ll be in better shape for next time.

 

There is no cure for a leak if the seal is damaged.... however....... in the meantime, rotate the fork tube so the former scratch area is in a different spot, i.e., seal on a smooth surface.

For the old-timers that might remember.... when we bought seal kits in the old days, they came with a packet of grease. One greased the seals, and in particular, filled the groove between the two seal lips. Likely aided install more than anything but if that cavity is filled with grease, my feeling is grit may be kept out of the seal...... what I would also do is put a light smear some grease on the tube below the seal just before you install......... however, I think the main motivation might have been to reduce stiction.........

Dave Moss, suspension guru, suggests a grease application to prevent stiction..... You lift the dust seal (or before you install it), smear grease on the tube just above the main seal. Then work the forks up and down, which will work the grease into the seal and it will mostly disappear.... when you're happy, wipe off the excess and reinstall the dust seal.

Will any of that help a weepy leaky? Who knows. Likely not completely.....