| Author | Message | ||
     Saintly |
So I finally got the factory service manual and proceeded to change the dreaded fork oil. Bike has 13,000 miles now, I didn't do it at 10K like I was supposed to for fear that it would be down for a while. But in light of the recent ark-building weather, I dove into it. Manual says you need 2 pieces of equipment: fork holder and spring commpressor. I say bullSH**(fecal matter), I used my tripple trees as my holder and a ratchet strap as my compressor. see pictures:   The trick is to remove your clip & preload adjusters first (before anything else except jacking up the bike) Then loosen the top tree pinch bolts and loosen the tube caps at least 4 full turns. This eliminates the need for a holding fixture. Then you remove the brake, fender, wheel, and leg assemblies from the bike. The ratchet strap compresses the spring nicely & allows for complete removal of tube cap, spring collar, and spring. see pic:  After that its just a matter of pouring out the oil & stroking the damper rod till all old oil is out. 14 oz. of new type E fork oil & a simple check of the level (book says 4.6" from top of tube). Mine took 13.6 oz. per side to get to the full mark. If I had brake-cleaned the internals and blown dry all parts I could have gotten exactly 14 oz in per side. Anyway, the whole proceedure took 1 & 1/2 hrs for both sides! It was a piece of cake. I could do XB fork oil changes all day long! Theres nothing difficult about it. I cant believe the dealership charges so much for that, what a ripoff! I'll tell you what, If anyone doesn't want to do their own forks, just ship them to me. I'll change the fork oil for $25 per leg ($50 for the pair) with the cost of the new oil included! I'm serious it was actually fun. If I can make a few bucks by doing this I will. | ||
| Rokoneer |
Outstanding post Saintly. Seems like changing the oil in the XB forks has a certain mystique about it that makes doing it yourself a bit intimidating, but your post threw that notion in the pooper! Thanks! | ||
| Mikexlr650 |
have you had a chance to road test it? wonder how the feel/stability has changed? hopefully for the better. | ||
| Hammer71 |
When the time comes you've got mine to do. | ||
| Saintly |
Mike, Yeah I took it out for a ride afterward. I didn't really notice any difference with the new oil, but then my old oil wasn't all that bad looking. My old oil was orange in color, the new H-D stuff was bright red. I also put my preload settings back to exactly where they were before so i wasn't expecting much of a change. | ||
| Buellin_ri |
When it comes time to change my fork oil your post will be very valuable!! Thanks | ||
| Wyckedflesh |
Saintly, I linked this into the Knowledge Vault where the info can also be used for the Upside down Forks on the later model Tubers. Great Work...where were you when I needed to get this done??? ($75 for both forks off the bike plus I supplied the 7w Maxxus racing oil) | ||
| Chainsaw |
Great post man! Mine are, ahem, a bit overdue. | ||
| Surlypacer |
how easy was it to remove the top cap from the damping rod? so you could remove the spring? | ||
| New12r |
I did the same thing and it scared the crap out of me, I will be buying the spring compressor for the next round. You will also note that it will deform the metal tube and not compress in a straight line and that is not very good. I have had no problems with the suspension at all but am really picky about things being perfect. I also swapped out oil to the one at the dealer that said, Extra Heavy, not for street use. I love it with one exception, I have no compression and no rebound and no spring compression, they are all backed out and it is still stiff as a brick! handles like a dream but not so good for the street. Oh and now I cant bounce up third gear wheelies anymore either. | ||
| Gowindward |
I did this service about a month ago. I did spend the money on the tools for the job (Race tech compression tool, seal driver, fluid level g). I also did a complete tear down of the forks and cleaned everything while I was there and replaced seals, and guide bushings. Parts cost was about $35 plus oil. I figured replacing a few parts on my schedule would be far better than doing it at an unscheduled time when a seal failed. As for cleaning, there was a small amount of sludge on everything. The bike had about 15k miles on it which made it an annual service, which I think I will stick to and not the every 10K. As Saintly said the new fluid is bright cherry red, while my used fluid was dark red from sludge. The service manual does a good job on instructions, and while some of it was unclear while reading it before I did the job, but once I had the fork opened up it was very clear. | ||
| Doitindark |
How much does Harley change for fork oil change? I don't have 10,000 miles on yet but my bike is a track bike only. I was thinking of changing the oil next spring. Is it that much cheaper to do it myself? | ||
| Jasonxb12s |
Thanks for the pictures Saintly | ||
| Saintly |
Surlypacer: how easy was it to remove the top cap from the damping rod? Real simple, the ratchet strap squeezes/compresses the spring with ease. You only need to compress it 1/2" so that you can get a wrench onto the two flats of the damper rod. The cap is actually not that tight on the rod, so loosening it was surprisingly simple. New12R: You will also note that it will deform the metal tube and not compress in a straight line and that is not very good. My ratchet strap didn't deform the tube at all. I only compressed the spring 1/2" because that is all that is needed to get access to the two "flats". Also, if you examine the metal tube you will see that it has 2 nylon sleeves on each end. these sleeves only center the spring around the damper rod. There is plenty of room around the outside of the spring between it and the inner wall of the lower fork tube. The ratchet did pull the spring somewhat to the side as it squeezes it, but It did not contact the tube or the damper rod, so I don't believe that it is in any way detrimental to the spring or the surrounding components. | ||
| Moonrunrs |
That's great, thanks for posting this. | ||
| Surlypacer |
Saintly, when you say the two flats of the damper rod. Is that the silver jam nut or are there 2 flats spots on the blue anodized part? | ||
| Fullpower |
the blue anodized portion has a 17 mm flat. | ||
| Fdl3 |
More tips: 1. The ratchet strap method to compress the fork spring DOES work. However, be mindful of two things: 1a. It helps if the ratchet strap hooks are small enough to fit inside the hole of the spring collar; 1b. When it is time to release the compression, make sure everything is lined up and your fingers are out of the way - once you release the ratchet strap tension, the fork spring will spring back into place with some force. | ||
| Fdl3 |
More tips: 2. Tools 2a. Fork cap socket size: 32mm. 2b. Damping rod flat size: 11/16in. | ||
| Rdkingryder |
Bumping an old thread since this one has worked out for me on my Ulysses. Thanks to the OP! | ||
| Racetucker1 |
Hello to all Buell riders. I am new to the Buell scene. I ride a 2003 Lightening XB9S. It has 20k on it, seems to ride ok except I had a fork leak on the right side. I actually have a fork seal tool I made 20 years ago for cleaning fork seals(6 bikes and I have yet to replace any fork seals after a real cleaning of the oil ring) But, my question is this....to change the fork oil I Have to remove each fork tube? Really? |
