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Fork oil change

I have another question.

(If I recall correctly, my old 1980 something Honda 550F had oil drain plugs at the bottom of the forks.) Drain and refill easy-peasy.

From the steps above it seems the the spacer, washer and spring are the only things coming out of the fork other than the oil. Correct?
A drop-in replacement is only the top part? What of the lower parts - the fork piston and rebound spring?

If a spring and oil viscosity will make major improvements I am thinking of just leaving the forks on and only working from the top. Could a narrow diameter tube be worked low enough to suck out the oil?
 
Hey guys as I'm a first time owner and learning as I go. I was wondering if anyone has used amsoil fork oil? Or if anyone has played around with different viscosity with stock setup?
 
A little background I'm a little over 200 pounds, 99% freeway riding, in California = huge cracks large pot holes and people driving like their possessed or on drugs, makes things interesting. And I do ride 2 up but only once or twice a month
 
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I have it in mine right now. I also replaced my springs with Race Tech spring and Gold Valve emulators. Front forks are much better now. I'm about 250 lbs and ride probably in the same areas as you do if I'm assuming correctly that the 209 in your screen name means you're from somewhere close to Stockton.

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Yes I'm living in los Banos working in Morgan hill. Born and raised in the bay area. Spent years in Oregon and Washington as well
 
Thinking about doing a ride to the top of highway 5 and heading back down the coast one of these days
 
I don't have the money to upgrade the forks at the moment but I'm at 32k and never changed the fluid in the forks. I like amsoil's other products so I'm trying their fork oil. trying to decide if I should go with the 5# or 10# with the stock setup
 
Here's a chart that lists the true viscosity of the fork oils tested, but I don't see Amsoil there. It helps to know the real viscosity, not what's on the bottle. It would be nice if you can compare your Amoils to what Honda spec'd, instead of guessing.

Fork oil weights
 
Thanks that's very helpful. Amsoil has some very specific data on their website, I was hoping to compare it to the stock Honda/showa oil that the bike comes with stock.
 
I didn't try Amsoil with the stock fork hardware. So not sure how that will work out for you. But I did try it after I put in the new springs. The 5w was definitely too light for my liking, the 10w is what I have in now and I like it.

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Thanks that helped allot after looking at the data I'm going with the number 5# from amsoil. I'll report back how that all turns out
 
Thanks that helped allot after looking at the data I'm going with the number 5# from amsoil. I'll report back how that all turns out
The operating weights in centistokes for #5 are quite a bit thinner than the stock Honda oil. Is that what you are looking for or do you want something closer to the stock oil?
 
How big of a difference do you think that would make? I'm looking for close to stock but softer if anything. From what I gathered the 5# would be very slightly softer but the 10# was allot denser if I'm ready the specs correctly.
 
I finely changed my tires, two new PR4's and the 5w amsoil works great slightly softer but just barely, ride is great.

And thanks Dave for the great right up, big help. Took all the guess work out
 
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Remember, everyone, to compare fork oils based on the 40C cSt number. For shocks, compare the 100C cSt number. Forks don't get hot, so the 40C number is the appropriate one.
 
Thanx everybody that made a contribution to this Thread Dave started.
On 12,000 miles, I had no choice but to change my leaking left fork seal this weekend.
Using a combination of the posts, the job of changing the seals when as smooth as my NC does :cool:
If I didn't know better, I would have sworn my NC was grinning at me this morning before "we" left for the office.
 
Gotcha. I was hoping I might find time to 'swing by' wherever it is, as I hope to briefly come to SA soon.
 
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