fork oil level on a 78 gs550

[Guest]

anyone know what it is?

[tom203]

Probably in this Basscliff pdf file- 72mB- don't cram it in your iphone

http://www.mtsac.edu/~cliff/storage/gs/GS550_77-82_all.pdf

[8ball]

The, above, manual uses a capacity not level, which I find is never correct. For most of the conventional forks I've ever serviced I usually set the level between 110 and 120 mm, fully compressed and spring removed. You can adjust from there if you need more, or less, initial damping. The higher the level, the more damping is felt at the beginning of the stroke.

I have to do this, as well on my 550. The manual shows 190ml as the capacity. I will figure out what that corresponds to in the way of fork oil height and see if this bike is anything at all like other ones I have done....

[barnfresh 78gs]

thanks 8ball! thats what i was looking for!

[8ball]

Alright, I said I would update after I did mine:

The previous owner of my bike installed Progressive Springs in the forks of my bike. The instructions for them tell you to set the level at 140mm (even if an OEM recommendation is higher, they say set it to 140 mm, because the PS springs displace more oil than stock springs). This was about 200ml of oil.

If I had stock springs, I probably would set them at around 130 mm, as a starting point.