How much fork ing oil

K

kenco

XS650 Enthusiast
Messages
57
Reaction score
0
Points
6
Location
Kent, England
Hi everyone, just joined the sight.

Can anyell me one tell me what a good quantity of oil is for the front shocks. At the moment the springs arr standard. Is it best to keep to the standard amount. And finally does anyone know what the forkis in ml

Thanks, Ken
 
- depends on your fork...there are different types, tube diameter, external springs, internal springs, without damper, with damper, different dampers
XS1-external spring-no damper...........................34mm...240ml oil​
XS1B-internal springs-no damper.........................34mm...223ml oil​
XS2-TXA-int spr and cartr damper.......................34mm...135ml oil​
TXA-XSC-int spr and cartr damper.......................34mm...155ml oil​
XSD and some 447-internal spr and cartr damper....35mm...168ml oil​
XSSE-XSSK-int spr and cart damper.....................35mm...169ml oil​
 
Hi, Thanks for the reply. I have put in 175ml of oil in. I've 650D forks. So hopefully it will make bit of an improvement. As its project bike at the moment it probably wont be road worthy for a few months.

K
 
Let me start by saying this is my first build and I'm a newbie, I have a 79 that was a barn find and appeared to be bone stock. The year is verified by the vin# and title. I was trying to make sense of the information above but it is greek. Two question about the front forks. First of all upper tubes measure out at 34.06 mm. Does this mean they require 34 mm fork seals or am I measuring the wrong spot? Secondly how much and what type of fork oil should I use?
 
If you really do have a 1979 model then it should have 35mm forks. You measure the chrome inner tube diameter, the part showing below the lower triple tree and above the rubber dust wiper and lower. Stock amount of oil is 169cc or about 5.7 ounces per leg. Use a bit more, about 7 ounces per leg. The forks will work much better like this. The recommended oil is 10wt. fork oil.
 
200w.webp

Any further technical help
is meaningless without pictures.
200w.webp

The lowers all the way down to the axle is what we need to see. And shoot up the triples too please. There's a lot of "fixed" front ends on old barn bikes. We've seen some real lulu's.
 
IMG_2133.jpg
IMG_2139.jpg
 

Attachments

  • IMG_2132.jpg
    IMG_2132.jpg
    65.4 KB · Views: 191
  • IMG_2131.jpg
    IMG_2131.jpg
    70.8 KB · Views: 185
  • IMG_2134.jpg
    IMG_2134.jpg
    86.7 KB · Views: 168
  • IMG_2135.jpg
    IMG_2135.jpg
    113.1 KB · Views: 188
Here are some pictures. I hope these help. Sorry bike is all in pieces right now been doing a lot of polishing and powder coating. The upper tube diameter is 33.86 sorry hard to read. I just assumed it was stock because of there where no wrench marks on double stacked bolts that hold the neck in place until I disassembled it.
 
Last edited:
It appears you have earlier 34mm forks there, maybe from a '74-'75 model.
 
Great thanks! yeah looks like 74-75 lowers if everything is straight yes 34mm seals.
when assembling the tubes into the triples the second tube should slide easily all the way up into the top triple. If it takes some wrestling to get that second tube in and when you look down from the top, it's not centering with the hole, good chance you have a bent lower triple.
 
Thanks for the help did not want to order wrong seals. One other questions. If it has 74-75 front forks and the spoke rims are from the same 74-75 is there wheel bearing size difference and neck bearing size difference between the 74-75 and a 79
 
No, but there are brake caliper and disc differences. The late style '79 caliper will not fit on the 34mm fork leg. Early and late discs differ in offset but will mount on either wheel. You must match disc style to caliper style and caliper style to fork type (early to early, late to late).
 
5twins said:
No, but there are brake caliper and disc differences. The late style '79 caliper will not fit on the 34mm fork leg. Early and late discs differ in offset but will mount on either wheel. You must match disc style to caliper style and caliper style to fork type (early to early, late to late).
Click to expand...
Thanks that is helpful. I would have missed that.
 
ps the book calls for 6 oz (175cc) of 10-30 motor oil in 34mm forks and states that quality fork oil may be used.
 
inxs said:
- depends on your fork...there are different types, tube diameter, external springs, internal springs, without damper, with damper, different dampers
XS1-external spring-no damper...........................34mm...240ml oil
XS1B-internal springs-no damper.........................34mm...223ml oil
XS2-TXA-int spr and cartr damper.......................34mm...135ml oil
TXA-XSC-int spr and cartr damper.......................34mm...155ml oil
XSD and some 447-internal spr and cartr damper....35mm...168ml oil
XSSE-XSSK-int spr and cart damper.....................35mm...169ml oil​
Click to expand...
I have a XS1B, would putting slighly more oil in improve performance?
 
A time honored way of changing fork action at low cost; vary oil weight, and fill. Improved fork action in early forks is a bit of an oxymoron. Varying the tire pressure can change the harshness. I've put several thousand miles on a 70 and have ridden behind worse forks but it'll never be a modern sport bike ride..... If I have to put a lot of miles on a stock XS, Siligrips, soft silcone hand grips help take the sting out of frost heaved northern USA roads.
 
So, when I built my XS2, just as an experiment I tried el cheapo Walmart 30 weight hydraulic oil. Cheap as chips, and I’ll tell you the truth, it’s been in there for over a year and a half and thousands of miles and I can’t tell any difference in function over my other XS650 which has Maxima 10 weight fork oil in it. You might think it would feel a lot different but it does not.
C992514A-56FD-4209-9DE0-E846517A1268.jpeg 876E73FE-B467-47F3-8C7A-BBB84C17F340.jpeg 946F1123-16E7-4317-8255-33F2A163754E.jpeg
 

Similar threads

F
SR500 Forks extension options
Replies
5
Views
674
arcticXS
A
P
'76 XS650C Build / tracker-scrambler / Need help/ Newbie with xs650
2
Replies
30
Views
2K
2BallCane
2BallCane
P
1976 XS650 keeps blowing main fuse
2
Replies
21
Views
2K
MaxPete
MaxPete
toglhot
Hydraulic clutch build.
Replies
9
Views
461
650Skull
650Skull
Signal
XS 850 Re Model
2
Replies
27
Views
2K
Signal
Signal
Back
Top