36mm fork seals?

[stinky78]

hi all, I was was just reading through the Minton mods and in the section about forks it says the following -

At this point, you have to decide whether you are going to install air caps. If not, purchase a pair of 1976 Yamaha IT400 fork seals and install them in the fork legs. If you are going for the air-fork option, install 1976 Yamaha YZ250 fork seals. These seals have less friction than any seals we’ve used. Yes, we know. The XS650 has 35mm fork tubes and the recommended seals are designed for 36mm tubes-but they work.

has anyone tried this? I tried searching but came up with nought.

 

[gggGary]

I doubt it, seems like a dubious change... I have had quite good results with parts pyramid brand fork seals. Per advice of someone on here and later Yamaha factory practice a bit of lithium soap grease between the wipers when installing seems like a good seal life extender. Madness is going on 5 years, over 8,000 miles, on a set of seals.
Air forks were a "thing" in the 80's not as much anymore. Air pressure increases fork stiction. I have been hitting my seals with tungsten disulfide before installing in an effort to minimize stiction and improve life.

 

[grizld1]

I tried Minton's recommended 36mm. seals 25 years ago. Seals leaked from the git-go, and yes, they were fresh, Japanese ARS seals. If you want better performance, install Race Tech cartridge emulators and springs, and read up on tuning the suspension.

 

[stinky78]

Thanks for the responses guys, my query was more of a hipothetical one, but I was prepared to try it if others had done so successfully, I’m happy to try stuff like that if it is a known fix, but not really into experimenting if it means I might have to pull my front end apart again in a couple of weeks, and Grizld1 don’t worry I’ve used Racetech stuff before so I already have all the parts for my forks including emulators and springs, just waiting to get my tubes back from the platers.