section8joe
XS650 Addict
I'm changing the oil for first time since I've had the bike. I searched throughout the forum and I just want to make sure I'm adding the proper amount of oil. I going to be adding 7.5 ounces. I just wanted to make sure this the right amount for my 83 heritage special.
From XSLeo
From XSLeo
Tom if you think fork oil don't get hot try running a few miles of bumpy road and stop to feel the forks.
In the manuals they speced different weights of oil for the forks. The early years used 30w motor oil, then they speced 10w30 oil. The later years speced fork oil.
The weight of the oil controls the speed at which the forks move. A thinner oil = faster, thicker = slower.
The cost of trying a few different oils won't be much. So experiment some. I tried several oils. 10w30, 5w20, Regular ATF. I plan on trying some different fork oils sometime but the ATF works fine.
Ok, to change the oil look down at the bottom of the forks, you will find the drain screws. Outside each fork. Phillips head bolt. Remove the bolt, pump the forks up and down to pump out the old oil.
Now up at the top of the fork where they go through the upper tree, loosen the clamp bolt. It releases the tension of the tree on the fork tube. Now you remove the fork cap in the top of the fork tube. Different years had different caps. Yours might be a 17 mm Allen head or a big nut not sure on the size.
I built a 17 mm tool for my caps. Get a metric bolt with a 17 mm head and a nut. Use a few flat washers and a lock washer. Now tighten the nut very tight on the bolt. Put the bolt in the cap and use a wrench on the nut to loosen the caps.
Remember to put the drian screws in before filling.
With the caps out, springs out, forks compressed just pour 7.5 ounces in each fork. Or a bit more and draw the extra out. so you have the 6 inches down as described earlier. Put the springs and caps back, Tighten the clamp bolts.
You might want to flush the forks before the new oil. I used Kerosene. Remove the caps and springs as descibed, pour in 8 ounces or so of the cleaner of your choise, Pump the forks to speard the cleaner around, drain, do repeat till the cleaner comes out clean. I then flush it once with oil to get the cleanr out, let drain over night, then do the fresh oil.
Leo