Changing fork oil

[Leckbass]

I want to change the fork oil, is there a drain on the bottom? Or should I pull it out from the top?

[enforcer]

I want to change the fork oil, is there a drain on the bottom? Or should I pull it out from the top?

Support bike. Remove wheel. Remove damper bolt through the hole on the bottom of the lower. Drain. Replace bolt. Remove fork cap. (Careful, it's under spring tension) Fill with fresh to manual spec. Reassemble.

[Leckbass]

Thanks enforcer, sound easy enough

[enforcer]

I wrote a more in depth one here that addresses changing the seals as well. I use ATF as well.

http://www.intruders-alert.com/viewtopi ... =13&t=3737

[Leckbass]

I'll remove the damper bolt, let the fork completely drain, then replace the damper bolt, then remove the top crome cap and refill, right?

[Leckbass]

If you regularly change your fork oil, the above is fine. When I did mine for the first time, they had obviously not been done in a long time, if ever. There was all sorts of muck in there, and it took me 2 different sessions of filling the forks with ATF and working the springs to get all the muck out. I highly recommend for your piece of mind that you completely disassemble the front end and clean those forks out, at least the first time. After that, doing the above is ok, I suppose. YMMV.

Man... I knew you were going to say that...

[scootermcq]

If you regularly change your fork oil, the above is fine. When I did mine for the first time, they had obviously not been done in a long time, if ever. There was all sorts of muck in there, and it took me 2 different sessions of filling the forks with ATF and working the springs to get all the muck out. I highly recommend for your piece of mind that you completely disassemble the front end and clean those forks out, at least the first time. After that, doing the above is ok, I suppose. YMMV.

Man... I knew you were going to say that...

Flush em out with mineral spirits and leave the forks on the bike.

[Leckbass]

I know it's not too difficult, sometimes there's no time...

Spent more time working on Friends bikes then I get to spend on my own recently

[Leckbass]

I know you're right, time to just do it.

I was hoping to change the front end seals and everything at the same time when I did new rear shocks.

[enforcer]

I know you're right, time to just do it.

I was hoping to change the front end seals and everything at the same time when I did new rear shocks.

Don't let them scare you. It really is easy. If you do the seals, a complete tear down will really let clean the innards, and reassembly is a breeze. These forks are way simpler than my BMW cartridge forks. Just be careful with the damper bolt, the head breaks of really easy.

[Leckbass]

Which parts do you replace when opening the forks up?

[enforcer]

12,14,and maybe 16 depending on condition.

And 9, again depending on wear. Suzuki recommends you change 9 & 16 every time you change the seals, I say to that.

[sgtcall]

You may also want to look at this.

http://www.intruderalert.ca/indexa.htm

[Leckbass]

I went to order the parts online, I only looked at OEM parts, I was a little taken back by the cost. I checked some of the links on this site, but they didn't carry the pieces. Any suggestions

[Leckbass]

Thank you, I definitely want to go original parts, I just got the part numbers so I'll check it out on eBay, when I did a total on Bike Bandit it was over $150, 50 bucks sounds a lot better

[enforcer]

Thank you, I definitely want to go original parts, I just got the part numbers so I'll check it out on eBay, when I did a total on Bike Bandit it was over $150, 50 bucks sounds a lot better

Save money on the dust seals at least. (Genuine ones are ridiculously priced) You shouldn't need anti friction metals, unless they're worn so bad the tube can wiggle around in the lower with the tension off of the spring. Reuse the dust seal if you can as well.

[Fred]

Its a common size from Honda CB 400 to harleys 3 dollar each proper twin lip seal---150 dollars my arse.