Fork oil seal - New part number?

[Goldentie]

This morning I went to the local BMW garage in order to buy an oil seal for the fork. The spare part that was given to me had part number 31422311988 instead of the 31421232655 that I was able to trace from the BMW OEM parts on-line. Kindly the gentleman in the shop insisted that the specific part was replaced by the new item-number and that it’s the correct seal for the R65. Is there a way to check it?

(By the way when I did search the models related to this number it appears to be suitable for more recent models...)

Thank you for your patience
Stavros
R65 1983

[georgesgiralt]

Hello
A fork seal has to match the diameter of the plunger (to seal it) and the diameter of the hole it fits in. Thickness is less important as it protrude from it's location.
So you can remove the seal in place and check with the new for dimensions.
Before dismantling, you can check that the fork of the new machines are the same diameter than the R65 one... This would check for the inside diameter of the seal  
It could be that BMW had to find/buy a new stock and rationalized the parts thus reducing costs...

[Barry]

Fork seals are generic items. They are not usually manufactured specifically for the forks of one make and model of motorcycle. As long as the OD and ID are correct they should be fine. Our seals are 46mm OD and 36mm ID. Height is approx 9mm.