Fork oil changed this morning

[wheel spinner]

OK.. I took my time in deciding how I was going to change the fork oil and decided to change the oil while the forks are on the bike. I am retired so I have plenty of time to work on this longer... so... I unscrewed the allen screw at the bottom of the fork and surprisingly the oil came out pretty clean... I took out 200ml ... I pumped the fork several times and more came out... after all the oil came out I put the screw back in and tightened it... I went to the right fork and unscrewed the screw and the oil in that fork was right clean too.. BUT.. very little oil came out with pumping the fork.. only less than 100ml ... hmmmmm... after all the oil came out I put the scrw back in and tightened it... I unscrewed the caps... and I started off with 200ml of Valvoline Maxie Life ATF... and poured it in each fork... tightened the caps.. and pumped the forks... both were still going down quite a bit... so I added another 50ml... and now she is a lot better... I will take her out for a test ride later this morning and let you all know how 250ml will do... I do believe she will do a lot better without dumping forward... :tup:


:lmao:


Update.


I took her out for a run and it rides very nice and smooth... going over holes and bumps is smooth,... and stopping is the best part... it doesn't throw me forward... very nice... Thanks Spud and Weld for suggesting Valvoline Maxie ... I believe this is most of the reason why it runs smooth.... :)

[Weldangrind]

250ml is the volume I used on my TW200 as well. Made all the difference.

[roundhouse]

I have some fork oil in the garage and still have not done this. I need to. Thanks for your observations.

[Emerikol]

I need to do both the Hawk and the DR. I'll use ATF in the Hawk, but I'm going to spring for the right stuff on the DR. I need to take the front brake apart on the Hawk and see why the front brakes aren't even smoothing out the disc except for a small ridge 2/3rds of the way down. The lever is really stiff until it breaks rearward, too. Sort of like a trigger pull. The whole thing just needs to be taken apart, cleaned up, lubricated, and put back together.

[pete]

it's about time I changed the fork in my bike... been in there a year now..
will try 2.5 weight / 7CST see if I can get the compression damping
a bit more compliant on the small quick hits..
I could put a thicker spacer between 2 & 4 shims letting No2 open more
before it contacts No4 and gets stiffer... but if it dosn't work it's a full
strip again to change it back.. so being a lazy bugger I will try thinner oil first..


.

[Emerikol]

I can relate to being a lazy bugger. I think I'm going to add about 1/2" to 1" of spacers to the top of the springs on the Hawk to see if it rides any better with the fish oil changed out to ATF and a little extra preload.

[wheel spinner]

I can relate to being a lazy bugger. I think I'm going to add about 1/2" to 1" of spacers to the top of the springs on the Hawk to see if it rides any better with the fish oil changed out to ATF and a little extra preload.




yea... I like things simple and easy... so I did try just removing the screw at the bottom of each fork and replaced them with no problems but I was ready to remove the forks if I had to... and I read where Spud had researched ATF Valvoline so I replaced fork oil with Valvoline Max ATF and I still see a difference.,.. You will like it... Weld and I used 250ml in each fork.. makes a difference ... :tup:

[JerryHawk250]

I changed mine a few weeks ago. I used the same ATF and used a 1 inch spacer. It feels much firmer than before. Big improvement. Next is the mushy worm out stock rear shock.

[Emerikol]

I changed mine a few weeks ago. I used the same ATF and used a 1 inch spacer. It feels much firmer than before. Big improvement. Next is the mushy worm out stock rear shock.
Jerry, what are you thinking for the rear shock? I know that there have been some experiments at replacing it, but haven't really paid much attention. If the front forks and new tires (whenever I get around to purchasing the new tires and shoehorning them on, along with new tubes) make a big difference, I may revise some of my thoughts on the Hawk as more than just an around town runabout. The biggest thing I don't like about the Hawk is that it runs out of legs after about 63-65mph, and it feels really unstable and sketchy at those speeds. Not sure how much of that is tires, how much is suspension, and how much is operator error, but I really don't like the thought of coming off of an unstable bike running at full tilt. I have some time off planned for a little later on in the year, so I think I may try to get all the odds and sods together and really dig into the Hawk. We'll see how it goes. Having a one-and-a-bit year old toddler running around the house does tend to change the plans a bit.

[JerryHawk250]

This is the one I'm looking at. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074K56B75/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_.3oUBbC2XEGPT or this one which is closer to stock length.
http://s.aliexpress.com/nEfAvEbe?fromSns=Copy to Clipboard