| Author | Message | ||
     Advoutlander |
Does anyone know how much HD charges to change the fork oil (rebuild the forks)? | ||
| Verdad |
Not sure what labor is locally for you, but speaking as a rider currently with his Uly in a local shop (vicinity San Diego), I can tell you labor is $90 per hour (!). Hopefully that'll give you some sort of starting point for an estimate. Russ | ||
| Arry |
The maint. sched. says change fork oil every 10k mi., but that is probably not practical (my opinion). What is your reason for changing oil/rebuilding? | ||
| Advoutlander |
I'm at the 20k service, ive done everything myself apart from the fork oil. There is a loose/rough feeling coming from the front when leaning on the corners. | ||
| Cyclonedon |
I just had both fork seals replaced and it cost me around $400. Anytime you have a dealer work on your bike, it's going to cost you some big money. | ||
| Cyclonedon |
I really don't think motorcycle dealers make any money on selling motorcycles, they make their money on selling parts and labor installing them. | ||
| Advoutlander |
How do you know when the fork oil needs replacing other than being part of the service interval? | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
A seal ONLY need changing if it leaks. If they don't leak then leave them alone is my advice. Just change the fork oil if you feel 20K miles is enough time on the original fork oil. Do it yourself. Ask yourself how many hours you have to work to cover the cost of having the fork oil changed by the dealer. Sure, doing it yourself is a pain but paying through the nose is a much bigger pain. AND you learn something when you do it yourself. I've done mine twice. You'll need the service manual. And just because you change the oil does not mean you need to mess with the seals. Changing the oil is a breeze compared to changing the seals and really, to change seals and the dust seals isn't that hard either. Just more time consuming. Your time and the cost of a couple of bottles of fork oil from Harley is way better than bending over and spreading your cheeks having a dealer tech do it. Never let a dealer touch your bike unless it is for warranty work. From my experience, if a dealer removes 30 parts he'll only end up reinstalling 28 of them and call it good. Then you'll find out about that the next time you work on the bike yourself and of course it is too late to complain. (Message edited by electraglider_1997 on October 13, 2013) | ||
| Advoutlander |
I think i'll wait until front tire is worn, I dont have the time to do it myself or can afford to have the bike down as its my only transport. | ||
| Skifastbadly |
When I blew a seal (oh, not that joke again).... Let me start over. I had a fork seal leaking and decided to replace it myself. It wasn't very hard, but you need a shop manual to help you through the re-assembly and proper fill level, etc. I think someone with the mechanical proficiency to have done the rest of his work himself could probably change the oil in both forks in a couple of hours. | ||
| Uly_man |
"There is a loose/rough feeling coming from the front when leaning on the corners". And. "I think i'll wait until front tire is worn, I dont have the time". Put it this way. How DEAD do you want to be? | ||
| Advoutlander |
If the wheel bearing and axle are fine and the fork seals are not leaking oil then what am I to do. I cannot have the bike down as I need it 24.7. I'll take it to the dealer to fix. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Advout, If you are running Dunlop 616 tires then it may be cupped tires that is causing the roughness you write about. Bad cupping wear can actually cause you bike to bounce the front end and 616 are notorious for getting cupped wear patterns. You need only run your fingers across the tread and you'll know what I'm referring to if they are indeed cupped. | ||
| Uly_man |
"then what am I to do". I would say take it to a dealer and ask them to do a road test. They will be able to tell you if it is safe to ride. It should cost very little to do this. Be safe is all I am saying. | ||
| Arcticktm |
If you find a dealer that does it the same day (you say you can't have bike down), I would be surprised. Best of luck, though. If you change your mind, fork oil change can be easily done in an evening, if you don't need seals. +1 to Electra on all he said. Only trick at all on oil change is you need to be able to compress the spacer sleeve to disassemble and remove springs. I have made this work with a small tie down, though it may slightly deform the hole in the spacer (won't hurt anything). You do want the SM for this to be safe. You will save double the SM price the first for oil change you do yourself. For seals, I did take the fork off and take to a dealer (happened to be a BMW dealer). It's a normal Showa fork, so you do NOT need (and I avoid) a HD dealer. If you are hearing/feeling that in the front, you really should think about pulling the wheel right away and at least checking your bearings for gritty feeling. It's far less likely that the forks are causing this, IMHO, unless you have some fluke failure where a bushing is getting ground up in there. |
