| Author | Message | ||
     Jraice |
Looking to change my fork oil this month while I polish the rims and change the tires (bike will be on stands anyways) and because I am approaching 11,000 miles on my bike. Any tips? Never done it before. Its an Ss by the way. Any changes to amount of oil or weight I should think about? | ||
| Froggy |
Do what I do, put it off till your 30k miles overdue, slowly buy all the parts and tools you would need, then on the Friday before the weekend you had set aside to do it, rearend a car at about 60mph. Thats the easy way to drain the fork oil.  | ||
| Jraice |
Ill keep that in mind | ||
| Bromanowski |
I would just pull them off and have a dealership change the oil. You need the fork compressor tool to do it and having them do the work is cheaper than the tool. That's what I'm going to do next summer. I already have too many projects going on during the winter break. | ||
| Jeffroj |
"...having them do the work is cheaper than the tool." That depends on which stealership you take them to. | ||
| Firstbatch |
Here is a good thread with pictures on the procedure. http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/384 2/249047.html | ||
| Froggy |
http://www.amazon.com/Ratchet-Strap-16-Gray-MT1021 6/dp/B000YSZJQ8 - $6.91 | ||
| Bromanowski |
yeah but with a ratchet strap the forks don't move straight. You can mess up the seals and bushings using one. Most dealerships should be under $100 to do it. There's a lot going on inside so I'd rather have someone that knows what they are doing do it anyways. | ||
| Andymnelson |
"Most dealerships should be under $100 to do it." Maybe the should be (I'm not one to know?), but most are over $300 for the pair if you bring the forks in removed from the bike. | ||
| Rays |
Whatever you use (ratchet strap, hands or expensive tool), you are actually compressing the spacer and spring - zero force on the seals and bushes. Once you have the top cap undone the fork outer can slide all the way to the bottom of the fork inner. USD forks look complicated compared to conventional forks but they are really not that bad when you get them pulled to pieces. | ||
| Gentleman_jon |
It's almost always a better idea to take Buell forks to a suspension shop than a Harley dealership. The reason is that 99.99 per cent of Harley forks are not cartridge forks, and the techs are often not familiar with that type of fork as a general rule. Plus a suspension shop can advise you on spring rates, and re-valving the forks to accommodate your weight and riding style. just my .02¢ | ||
| Rhun |
I change the fluid in my race bike twice a year and have no special tools. On one of my street bikes a seal was leaking so I pulled the fork and removed the pieces down to where I'd do a fluid change, then took it to the KTM dealer. $15 labor. | ||
| Speedfreaks101 |
I bought my spring compressor for about 100.00. It paid for itself the first time I used it. You can increase the viscosity of the fork oil if needed based on your weight. Al at American Sport Bike has everything you need and can point you to the correct oil based on your weight. Buy yourself the service manual & do it yourself. It is only nuts and bolts and you will know that you did not take any unsafe shortcuts. | ||
| Boney95 |
I'm about to attempt this myself. I don't have a compression tool, going to try and use a tiedown. Messing with forks gets me a bit nervous. | ||
| Firebolt32 |
I haven't been able to find a parts list of what would be needed for a fork oil change. Anyone that has done it that could let us know what parts of the forks should be replaced each time would be greatly appreciated. I plan on doing an all fluid change at 15k. Seals, grommets, o-rings, etc... | ||
| Deanbush |
I called an aftermarket suspension specialists and was talking to one of their techs about sending in forks for my weight and specific riding style. While we were discussing the mods I asked why do you need to change the fork oil at the recommended intervals. He said that the basically the only reason the fork oil needs to be changed out is because the oil in the "orifices" of the suspensions settings do not get exchanged with new oil and therefore the oil in the orifices become dirty and ineffective over time. I asked him if you could back all of the suspension adjustments to the fully "open" position and "cycle" the suspension,forks & rear shock, to flush out the orifices. He said it will work to an extent depending on how many times the suspension is cycled and also as long as there are no large dirt particles stuck in the orifices. So at my 10,000 service I backed out all of my settings and basically jumped up a down on my bike at least 50 times to cycle in new oil to the orifices. Reset my suspension settings back and went for a ride. The bike felt and handled different than before and was a little jittery but after 20-30 miles she settled down and handled as good if not better than before. Now I am fairly light at 145 lbs and I keep my fork sliders clean, my seals have never leaked not one drop, and I do not ride alot of very bad roads and when I do I pick the smoothest cleanest line I can. So now I will back out the settings at least every 2,000 miles and flush out the bad oil. Now if the seals start to leak that is more of an issue. For me removing the forks every 10,000 miles just to replace the oil is way to time consuming and I think is unnecessary at least for me. Just thought you might like to know the main purpose in changing out the fork oil. | ||
| Greg_e |
Wouldn't it be nice if there was a drain plug and a fill plug? | ||
| Pabuell |
I would question the suspension techs argument on this one. Fork oil is just like any other oil, it breaks down over time and does not perform properly. And, if you "flush out" the dirty particles from the orifices in the fork by simply pumping the same oil through the same fork assembly, where does the contaminated oil go? Right back into the fork, so you are cleaning nothing at all. Regular fork and shock maintenance is a must if you wish to keep your bike riding/handling as intended. | ||
| Pabuell |
I would question the suspension techs argument on this one. Fork oil is like any other type of oil; it breaks down over time and does not perform properly. Pumping contaminated oil in a sealed system in order to dislodge any dirt in the orifices will only result in pumping that same contaminant through the fork assembly. Nothing is getting cleaned in this manner. Regular suspension maintenance is a must if you want your bike to ride/handle as intended. For what its worth, a typical years mileage for me is between 10-15K, and I have my fork and shock disassembled and inspected every spring (or every 10K miles)and reassembled with fresh oil and seals as needed. A local race shop does my shock for $75 and the dealer cost is $125 for the forks (but I don't take them to the dealer). | ||
| Pabuell |
Sorry for the double post, I thought I had deleted the original when I was interrupted while typing! | ||
| Brucen |
When I changed the oil at 10,000 miles I found that the right fork oil was dirtier than the left. My seals were fine. This says to me that dirt and brake dust manages to get into the fork even though the seals are in good shape. This convinced me that it is a good idea to change the oil at the recommended interval. I use a compressor that looks like a ring with two threaded holes & a pair of threaded rods to push down the springs enough to get the cap off. I use a mity-vac to set the oil level. It is not that difficult. | ||
| Boney95 |
Be careful if you use a tie-strap, or this will happen. Im going to buy the compression tool needless to say. Lucky me the collar is only $5.00.     | ||
| Spatten1 |
My collar looks like that now, still using it. | ||
| Spatten1 |
DON'T use heavier oil. I did, and the compression response is not so good. | ||
| Boney95 |
Also, don't work on your forks in your dinning room, with carpeted floors. I dumped probably 5-6 ozs of fork oil on the carpet. I didn't even realize I was doing so until I looked down.  | ||
| Fahren |
Spatten1, if you don't mind me asking, how heavy are you, gear included? Heavier oil can help for the heftier among us (like around 175 lbs +). But it also goes with the suspension settings. |
