pkpk:
Late this season I discovered the factory dust seal deformed on one side of my 07 ST1300 front wheel. I removed the axle and spacers and figured out what must have happened was the dust seal had somehow spun in place and sort of melted. My guess is this seal must not have been properly seated from the factory. The important thing here is the seal never detached from the wheel and it was still sealing.
However when replacing the seal, it would not come out easily and I wound up with a fair amount of seal material in the seating trench. This trench is very narrow and somewhat difficult to dig anything out, let alone material that appears to be stubbornly bound to the aluminum surfaces. I've been successful at getting probably 50% of the material out of that trench but a substantial amount remains to prevent proper seating of a new seal. I've been trying to dig it out with an exacto blade and application of Goo Gone but with only limited success. Any ideas on how to make that material loosen up for easier removal?
Deplorable, thank you!:
a 90* pick and something more caustic than goo gone---or a whole lot of patience.
Those dust "seals" (I use that term very loosely) really do not fit that tight to the axles or actually seal anything when new-typically they are simply there to keep the big stuff (sand) off of the axle and bearing, as your bearing is already shielded. Moisture often gets right by that dust "seal" -but it does limit the amount of moisture and dust.
Aprilian:
Paul, can you melt it a bit with a heat gun? Also consider using dental tools since they have a broader scraping surface than a pick. The Ace Hardware in Rosemount has a container of used (clean ;)) ones at the counter. A picture would help me come up with other suggestions since I don't have a good image of waht you are up against.
pkpk:
Dental picks. Hmm, why yes, I have some of that stuff. I'm not sure about the heat gun though. I've been known to do more damage than good with my two level heat gun. I suppose I could have Lloyd lecture it for 10 minutes and see if that loosens it up some. ;D
I attached a pic describing the issue. The needle is in the trench, which is still 30-50% full of material.
Aprilian:
Do you have the new seal? Can you confirm that the sloped piece (beneath the needle) is not part of the original seal? That would certainly describe why the material was stuck to it and why you have a "trench" - if that is part of the seal you are trying to take the outside material off it 1 pinhead at a time. Also, I have not heard of anyone making a seal seat that has the profile like the p-trap under your sink. No point in tooling up for a recess behind the seal. The ones I have worked on have a 90 deg seal fitting in a 90 deg seat.