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SuzukiSavage.com
/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl General Category >> Rubber Side Down! >> fork oil? /cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1472756180 Message started by batman on 09/01/16 at 11:56:20 |
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Title: fork oil? Post by batman on 09/01/16 at 11:56:20 Being not to organized ,I can't seem to find my Clymer's and need to know how many cc's of oil to use in draining and refilling the forks.I know you can use ATF but I'm not changing seals so I'd like to stay with oil,this leads me to the second question,what weight do I use ? |
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Title: Re: fork oil? Post by verslagen1 on 09/01/16 at 12:06:06 The answer in the tech section, fork seal replacement... 79666B7C730A0 wrote:
And I was kinda careful when I measured it the 1st time. the second fork I just poured it in till it was the same level, about an 1" down for the top with spring in. you're gonna loose some anyway. |
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Title: Re: fork oil? Post by ohiomoto on 09/01/16 at 12:33:41 As for slavy's instructions...what's with pouring the oil in the bottom hole???? Couldn't make that job any harder! LOL Obviously I like to fill my forks from the top. And I also prefer to simply fill the oil to a measured distance from the top and verslagen1 did. And 1" sound about perfect to me. When I raced motocross, I always used a syringe with a scale on the side to set each fork to exact spec (i.e. 120mm form the top) but I just eyeballed it with on our forks using the coils as my guide. If it bottoms out, add a little oil to each leg, if it locks out too early in the travel, take some out. You won't hurt much other than performance if you are low on oil, but you don't want to overfill. I used ATF because it works fine. If I were buying fork oil I would use between 5 wt and 10 wt. I doubt anyone could tell the difference between the two with our crude damping units. |
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Title: Re: fork oil? Post by cheapnewb24 on 09/01/16 at 20:53:03 You'd better not get ol' cheapie here started on fork oil. ;D |
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Title: Re: fork oil? Post by cheapnewb24 on 09/01/16 at 20:56:09 I think it was supposed to be a certain number of inches from the top (with the springs out???)??? I don't remember for sure. |
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Title: Re: fork oil? Post by Ruttly on 09/01/16 at 20:59:56 Newbee do you have a Clymer manual. Cause that doesn't sound right. |
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Title: Re: fork oil? Post by Ruttly on 09/01/16 at 21:14:45 Spring removed , fork collapsed , add 14.91 oz , call it 15 oz easier to measure , that's out of the manual ! ATF works great ! And it's cheap too! |
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Title: Re: fork oil? Post by cheapnewb24 on 09/01/16 at 21:22:41 67404141594C350 wrote:
Not on me... It's somewhere.... Just gotta find it. Maybe I'd be in better shape if I always had that thing handy... You know... having to put the engine back in and stuff. |
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Title: Re: fork oil? Post by cheapnewb24 on 09/01/16 at 21:28:10 Here's a quote: http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1311892806 7E535D5D5F483A0 wrote:
Or, for my bike (see signature) at least, when the level is 75mm (2.95") from the top of the fork tube (when the fork tube is vertical and the spring is out). Here is my fork oil level gauge, btw: http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee201/Digger109/ForkOilLevelToolE.jpg The Vice-Grips prevent the ruler from falling into the fork tube. If you can't easily get the fork tube vertical, just measure the oil level in the middle of the tube. IMHO, the level measurement method is a more accurate means of assuring the proper amount of fork oil is in the forks than is adding a measured amount of said oil. Clear as mud?[/quote] |
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Title: Re: fork oil? Post by verslagen1 on 09/01/16 at 22:07:20 1A3D3C3C2431480 wrote:
While it's cheap, you can't pick your viscosity. I wanted a little heavier than stock... 15wt. |
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Title: Re: fork oil? Post by Dave on 09/02/16 at 04:09:41 ATF has been a suitable substitute for dedicated fork oil for a very long time. When I was growing up the internet did not exist, and in order to get dedicated fork oil the local motorcycle shop was a 2 hour round trip....and I made less than $ 2 an hour at my part time job. ATF was something you could buy easily at the local gas station or auto parts store. ATF is not and exact viscosity replacement - but for most folks it will work just fine and they will only know the difference if they experiment with other weights and have a keen sense of what the forks are doing while they ride. If your local roads are smooth and well paved, the average rider likely won't be able to feel any difference. |
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Title: Re: fork oil? Post by ohiomoto on 09/02/16 at 06:25:21 The right tool for the job... http://www.apriliaforum.com/techtips/rs50/forkpics/bleed2.jpg Or the poor man's tool for the job... http://https://i.ytimg.com/vi/geCe-MHfDpA/hqdefault.jpg Or the "I don't have time to chase down stupid tools"... http://https://www.splatshop.co.uk/media/wysiwyg/HowToGuides/ForkOilLevels/Paioli-Damper-Level.jpg All of the above will work. Or the super lazy way... Put the springs in, lower the bike enough to bottom out the forks, dump oil in each fork until you have X number of coils showing. That's how I roll these days. :) |
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Title: Re: fork oil? Post by Ruttly on 09/02/16 at 06:48:11 Versy ATF is what l always start with if I like it I leave it the only bike I had to change was the SR500. I want equal dampening front to rear, changing fork oil is the easiest way to achieve that . When installing progressive springs follow their instructions on oil level |
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Title: Re: fork oil? Post by verslagen1 on 09/02/16 at 07:54:23 52555452505249523D0 wrote:
Me too... and then go read gary's fork tuning thread and fine tune it functionally. http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1421689358 |
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Title: Re: fork oil? Post by LANCER on 09/02/16 at 07:54:33 Oil ? Fork oil ? ? What is that for ? Should I replace my rubber BB's with that ? ;D ;D |
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Title: Re: fork oil? Post by SavageMan99 on 09/02/16 at 09:00:32 Just chill and put a grease fifty on each fork. No more bottoming, no more leaks. :) :'( |
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Title: Re: fork oil? Post by Gary_in_NJ on 09/02/16 at 13:39:55 ATF type F works well in the Savage forks as supplied by Suzuki simply because the forks themselves do not work very well. The fact that Suzuki suggests an air gap of 75mm is a good indication of the poor damping performance. The down side of using ATF is that you can't "tune" your forks. If you determine that you might benefit from a higher or lower viscosity fluid, you don't have anywhere to go. But given the fact that these are low-grade damping rod forks, you probably would be able to improve much of anything with a viscosity change. |
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Title: Re: fork oil? Post by Ruttly on 09/02/16 at 22:24:14 Oh my my how spoiled we have become. Have we lost the essence of motorcycling ? Back in the 70s when all bikes had inferior forks & shocks & flex frames , that's how you learned to ride. WOT and hang on ,can't ever remember hearing someone saying I need to tune my forks. I would bet most couldn't tell the diff between atf , 15wt , 20wt , 25wt anyways ! Just try to imagine riding a old board track racer with no suspension ! |
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Title: Re: fork oil? Post by LANCER on 09/03/16 at 03:51:01 Yep, the good old days, sagging front forks, rock solid rear shocks and at least 1/2" of packing foam under the seat cover. Yep, love them days. |
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Title: Re: fork oil? Post by Ruttly on 09/03/16 at 06:32:23 I can't tune my forks , But I can tuna fish ! |
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Title: Re: fork oil? Post by Ruttly on 09/03/16 at 07:13:29 Yeah we can't adjust our compression or rebound externally, we don't have anti dive braking system , it's just a set of forks. But what I found is the stock spring is junk , too soft = slow reaction no matter what oil you use. I installed the Progressive fork springs and spent some time trying different spacers cut from pvc to get my sag set where I thought it would be nice,remember I'm using the Ryca lowering kit, found nice feel with my pvc spacer then cut my stock spacer , removing about 1 inch maybe a tad more then filled fork as per instructions "that most people toss out"that came with progressive springs. Fork adjustment is a personal preference so what I like you might not. I think it's a very nice fork with some work for a outdated design , however I wish it had air caps for alittle more adjustment. But I advise installing a fork brace it turns that outdated fork into a different animal. For my riding style I'm very impressed with it ! |
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Title: Re: fork oil? Post by Armen on 09/03/16 at 07:47:25 FWIW, air caps are crap. Too difficult to fine tune the pressure, and the added air pressure under the seals adds stiction. Very early '80s think. Crap. Better to play with the oil level and the spring rate. I bought adjustable fork caps on Ebay to play with preload. |
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Title: Re: fork oil? Post by HovisPresley on 09/03/16 at 07:59:44 I had a GS1000 front end on my old GS750. The air-assisted forks were more of a novelty rather than making much difference. My step-father felt the same about those on his CB900. YMMV |
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Title: Re: fork oil? Post by Gary_in_NJ on 09/03/16 at 08:10:28 6D5E4149422C0 wrote:
As designed by Suzuki, the fork caps are used to clamp the forks to the upper t-clamp. You can only use adjustable caps if you have modified a lower t-clap to work as an upper ot you purchased RYCA's alternative t-clamp. |
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Title: Re: fork oil? Post by Ruttly on 09/03/16 at 11:13:17 Just drill & tap , thread in some shrader valves , using the oem caps I tee mine together and only use 1 shrader valve , no fine tuning needed just add no more than 5 psi ! |
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Title: Re: fork oil? Post by Gary_in_NJ on 09/04/16 at 06:47:32 66414040584D340 wrote:
Adding air pressure has the same effect as decreasing the air gap. Adding oil in 5mm increments givings the rider some control over damping, but in the end a damping rod design can not overcome to poor dynamics of a fixed orifice. By design a damping rod fork will always blow through it's initial stoke at slow speed and become rigid at high speed movements. Regarding the comment about being spoiled; I don't think I'm spoiled by wanting forks that provide a compliant ride while at the same time providing predictable handling, linear fork travel and good feedback. Just because this was difficult to achieve back in the "good old days" doesn't mean it wasn't desirable. I can clearly remember me and my riding buddies tuning our suspensions back in the 70's, so I guess we weren't riding on the same tracks and trails. To me, having a good suspension is the essence of motorcycling. |
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Title: Re: fork oil? Post by Armen on 09/04/16 at 07:38:57 Gary stated: As designed by Suzuki, the fork caps are used to clamp the forks to the upper t-clamp. You can only use adjustable caps if you have modified a lower t-clap to work as an upper ot you purchased RYCA's alternative t-clamp. Guilty as charged. I modified a bottom tree to use as a top tree. |
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Title: Re: fork oil? Post by Ruttly on 09/04/16 at 16:14:13 My RYCA handles fine without modding my caps with air fittings. No more weight will be added to this bike except paint ! Short of using a gsxr or r1 front end , this fork works just fine for the size , weight , power of this bike ! |
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