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All-Balls Racing Fork Seal and Bushing Kits


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I'm just providing some feedback for these. I installed the All Balls Bushing Kit 38-6090 and oil seal with dust cover kit 56-132 no too long ago.  15,000 miles of service on them now and everything is still good. No signs of oil.

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1 hour ago, vfrgiving said:

I'm just providing some feedback for these. I installed the All Balls Bushing Kit 38-6090 and oil seal with dust cover kit 56-132 no too long ago.  15,000 miles of service on them now and everything is still good. No signs of oil.

 

Same.  I installed both a bushing and seal kit in some CBR600F2 forks on a front end swap as an experiment.  Zero issues in 7 years.

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OEM or SKF fork seals are the only ones I would trust. I've heard enough All Balls not lasting long. Price isn't that different.

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Been using All Balls kits for decades without issues. Carb rebuild-kids, wheel-bearing kits, tapered roller-bearing steering (only lower), fork-seals & bushings most recently on my CBR600RR.

 

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5 hours ago, YoshiHNS said:

OEM or SKF fork seals are the only ones I would trust. I've heard enough All Balls not lasting long. Price isn't that different.

 

OEM bushing components, washer, and snap rings is around $62.  All Balls 38-6090 contains all needed components for $40.

 

OEM seals are exactly twice the cost of All Balls. seal set 51490-MN8-305 is $30 and requires quantity of 2. All Balls 56-132 is $30 but contains two seals and two dust covers, only 1 kit is needed.

 

This is my second time running All Balls seals in VFRs for thousands of miles without issues.  If you saw a report of them not lasting I'd wonder how well the install was performed.

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5 hours ago, vfrgiving said:

This is my second time running All Balls seals in VFRs for thousands of miles without issues.  If you saw a report of them not lasting I'd wonder how well the install was performed.

 

This.  ^

 

Every time a customer or friend has said, "I must have got a bad seal", my eyes can't  roll back in my head far enough. 

 

"Did you inspect the tube for rock dings or nicks and stone them out?"

 

Cue the dumbest, blankest look you can imagine right now. 

 

There's usually a very apparent reason your seal failed if you've been riding the bike and it hasn't failed from sitting for years and then bringing the bike out of hibernation.  And when I take their forks apart because "they give up", I find rock dings and terrible workmanship.

 

I don't know how many installs or miles it will take to move some aftermarket seals into the category of, "hmmmm....   maybe they are just fine."   For some people, never I suppose. That's fine, cuz it's not my money or time and it doesn't really matter to me I suppose.  But I own about 40 bikes, 12 of them VF/VFRs.  The costs add up and there are real savings for me when building or servicing another bike, with no apparent repurcussions I've experienced.  Rock dings (and super hard dried bugs) happen, but it's never been a seal's fault for me.

 

Flame me.  Ridicule me.  Tell me, "you'll see".  Fine, I'll be here building another VFR.

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19 hours ago, YoshiHNS said:

OEM or SKF fork seals are the only ones I would trust. I've heard enough All Balls not lasting long. Price isn't that different.

 

IMHO, you don't need to buy Honda for seals and bearings (Honda doesn't make either of them): most automotive bearings and seals are available through other distribution channels for a lot less than Honda charges.

 

The problem I have with AllBalls and, I suppose, K&L and the others, is that they generally use the cheapest functional parts they can find.  So, while the re-packaging is handy and easy to buy (one part number vs. four for a typical set of stem bearings), they can't really undercut the price of quality parts sourced from anywhere other than Honda.  Figure out how to read part and bearing catalogs and you can get OEM quality (or better) at not much more than AllBalls price.

 

Ciao,

 

JZH

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It would be awesome if there were a cross reference on the forum with a few sources. 

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There is weirdly a distinct lack of "bearing houses" in the US.  Well, at least here in the PNW.  But I do still kit my own quality wheel bearings and seals.

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10 hours ago, Captain 80s said:

 

Every time a customer or friend has said, "I must have got a bad seal", my eyes can't  roll back in my head far enough. 

 

"Did you inspect the tube for rock dings or nicks and stone them out?"

 

Cue the dumbest, blankest look you can imagine right now.

I don't like Honda's procedure of pounding in new bearings with hammer either! There's been many reports of bearings being loose in wheels after several replacements. I always use long bolt/all-thread or hydraulic press to gently push bearings in. With no angled cocking like you get when pounding in by hand.

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I have had good luck with Applied Industrial Technologies, NSK, McMaster Carr, and many online bearing suppliers. You can also get Ceramic, and Zirconia bearings if you want to pay the big bucks! Wheel bearings are easy if you have good tools to measure them, or know the size, or bearing number. Many are in the $8 - $15 range and you can pick the ABEC rating you would like. Tapered roller bearings are a bit trickier, but a few minute web search usually finds you the right info. Saves a ton of money if you have lots of bikes. 

 

From the web FYI:

 

The ABEC rating system includes grades 1,3,5,7, and 9. The higher the ABEC rating, the tighter the tolerances are, making the bearing a more precision part. High precision and small tolerances are required for bearings to function at very high RPM, in products like high speed routers that must spin at 20 to 30,000 RPM.

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  • 6 months later...
On 5/11/2023 at 9:42 AM, Captain 80s said:

 

 

I don't know how many installs or miles it will take to move some aftermarket seals into the category of, "hmmmm....   maybe they are just fine."   For some people, never I suppose. That's fine, cuz it's not my money or time and it doesn't really matter to me I suppose.  But I own about 40 bikes, 12 of them VF/VFRs.  The costs add up and there are real savings for me when building or servicing another bike, with no apparent repurcussions I've experienced.  Rock dings (and super hard dried bugs) happen, but it's never been a seal's fault for me.

 

Flame me.  Ridicule me.  Tell me, "you'll see".  Fine, I'll be here building another VFR.

 

I've now got 40,000+ miles on this All Balls set installed on a fork with 200,005+ miles of service life without a drop of oil.  But yeah, "it's the seal's fault!". 🤣

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