01 st1100 41,000 miles. I think the fork seals are fine, just that I weigh around 240 lbs and was wondering if I needed heavier fork oil than 10 weight.
Good to know Mark, I'm taking notes for when mine comes up. I'm also thinking about fork springs, timing belt, clutch and coolant lines all at the same time, since the front end will be out of the way.You also might want to really think through when you should loosen the fork caps as after the forks are off the bike it is *really* hard to do. BTDT too!
There is mention of it on here but honestly, its pretty easy to figure out. When you remove the cover, the bolt is going to mark the cover for you . Then before you put it back together, cut the section out where the bolt chewed it up on removal and it will slide right in.Anyone know if there's a post about "relieving the timing belt cover" ? I'm looking at a fork, clutch, timing belt job myself.
I finally took my forks out tonight and I'm a little unsure of how thorough I need to be. The left fork was easy once the cap came off. I just let the spacer fall out and the short tube (about 8 inches long) come out and left the spring and all other parts inside. I pumped all the oil I could out and left it to drain overnight. Do I really need to take it all apart as the oil should run out anyway?When you have gotten the forks off, the first thing to do is to remove the fork caps, carefully they're spring loaded. The left fork cap comes right off, then you take out the spacer, washer and spring, turn upside down to drain the oil. The right side fork cap is attached to the plunger rod for the cartridge and has to be unscrewed from the cap. Once the right side cap is removed the plunger rod will slowly fall down into the fork. You remove the spring, spacer and washer same as the left side, remembering the sequence they go back. To drain all the oil from the left fork, you pump the fork. To drain the right fork, collapse the fork and pump the plunger rod. The assembly of the right fork is complicated by the rod which falls down into the fork. The extra pair of hands holds the rod up with a coat hanger, while you put the spring, washer(s) and spacer back. You'll need to compress the spring while you thread and tighten the cap onto the rod. I changed my oil at 63,000 miles and I still don't believe the amount of crap in it. Remember to clean the outside of the forks well before disassembly, otherwise dirt might get into the oil seal, DAMHIK.
Yes.Can I not just measure the amount of oil in volume and place that in with a syringe or something similar?
:Mark's Homemade Fork Oil Gauge.
Interesting, I'll have to check that measurement myself next time. From a practical standpoint I've never used any other method besides the quantity method for 35 years and 450k miles and typically get 40-50k miles per set of fork seals. So it would seem that if I am reducing the air space it doesn't affect the seals. It may change the ride characteristics a bit, but I have no idea by how much or if it would even be noticeable on a bike like the ST.I've checked/compared a number of times over the years and using the so-called "quantity" method always overfills the forks by a fluid ounce or more. Reducing the air cushion space above the fluid by an inch less than spec may not be a good thing.
When I fitted the hyperpro fork springs they said to leave an air gap of 150mm,I just used a strip of cardboard with a mark on it and filled the oil till it touched the bottom of the cardboard,Interesting, I'll have to check that measurement myself next time. From a practical standpoint I've never used any other method besides the quantity method for 35 years and 450k miles and typically get 40-50k miles per set of fork seals. So it would seem that if I am reducing the air space it doesn't affect the seals. It may change the ride characteristics a bit, but I have no idea by how much or if it would even be noticeable on a bike like the ST