The Forking leak went away now what?

[Anonymous]

Ok. I put air in my forks of my 79 GS850G "they have had 0 air in them sence I got the bike" I wiped off the shock oil and went for a ride "About 10 miles" I got back and parked the bike. Its been a few days now and no oil has leaked out sence I wiped it off and put air in them. Dose the air have somthing to do with compleating the seal? Or have I simply leaked all my oil out? How do I check oil level? Is it bad to run the bike with low/no oil in the forks? Well actualy I am not that dumb and will not ride it with no oil but with just the level being low am I going to hurt anything? thanks in advance for all the help.

[RacingJake]

Your oil provides damping or anti-dive when braking and going over bumps for a smooth ride and keeps the front wheel in contact with the ground along with the springs. If low or none at all the lower sliders will hit the bottom end of the tubes making all sorts of noise (Bad). Its easy to tell if you have no oil in the forks, just sit on the bike apply the front brake and push down on the handle bars. The front end will drop real easy until you hear a bang. If there's oil in there it will provide alot of resistance and you should not be able to bottom out the sliders (no bang)
Its alot of fun to replace the seals and to drain all the oil out and even harder to tell how much oil is in there. You have to move the sliders up and down to force all the oil out once you remove the springs and slider retaining bolt. I would just add 4 oz of oil and see if that made a differance.

Jake

[Anonymous]

Ok I did that thismorning and I "140LBS" can not bottom out the forks as of thismorning but I did here a lot of air swashing around in them while aplying the front break and pushing up and down on the front end.

[RacingJake]

I would jack up the front end of the bike, vent off the air and remove the fork caps and the o-ring seal disk and add 4 oz of oil in each fork. Its not going to hurt anything and if starts leaking around the seals you can keep rag wrenching it or just replace the seals. My old GS1100 had a seal leak for years and I never added any oil, just kept rag wrenching until a few months ago when I'd finally replace them.

Jake

[Anonymous]

Ok so from what you are saying it will not hurt a thing riding the bike with low or no shock oil right? I understand the ride wont be as smooth but I just dont want to cause any damage. This is especialy important as we are trying to buy our first house verry soon and can not aford expecive repairs. The one thing that did worry me it the iol got all over the breaks causing them to not opperate properly and now it is on the front tire as well. It did this because I parked it and it sat whiel I waiting to learn more about the seals. Normaly it would not have leaked all the way down to the tire.

[RacingJake]

Sounds like you have a major leak if it cover the wheel and brakes. I would go ahead and buy news seals for about about $25. There is oil residue inside the tubes and springs that should provide some lubrication but not much for a few short rides if you really need to use the bike. But I would'nt ride it to long until you add some more oil. You could use 30 WT motor oil for the time (cheap) until you replace the seals and fork oil with the right type.

Jake

[Anonymous]

Ok I orderd my seals today. The shop told me there were only 1 in each side and could not give me an exact price but said they would be 12-$21 each wich the later would be ok so long as I can ride agan. Now here is the next problem. Is there anythign ells I should replace while I am at it?

[RacingJake]

Nope, just the seals and oil and you should be good to go.

Jake

[Anonymous]

Fork Rebuild

I'd replace the teflon slider's as well ... but that can get expensive.

Kurt

[Anonymous]

My shop manual recomends SAE10-20 Dose that sound good or is there another wieght that works good? Also how do you go about adding the iol? My manual seems to lack any info about this.

[redliner1973]

Most Suzi Air forks take 15w fork oil, many others on this forum use auto trans fluid which can vary from 10 to 30w depending on type. :twisted:

[Anonymous]

Honda 15wt fork oil good. you wont need much. there is a website you can go to to show you how to change your seals if you have never done it. It's about a 3 hour job. Heres a link that will help.

http://www.redzgixxersite.com/howto/forkseals/

[Don Lobacz]

Sorry I didn't see this post earlier. Stock seals will leak if there is no air pressure beneath them. Air them up to approx. 15 psi, and if they still leak then they need to be changed. I wouldn't change your seals yet. You have lost substantial fork oil, however (did you spray down the brakes thoroughly with a can of brake-clean?). The oil needs to be close to the normal level and consistent between each fork. I would drain and replace the fork oil with new. It's quite easy:

1) Put the bike on the centerstand
2) Let the air out of the forks
3) Loosen the top pinch bolt on ONE fork (work on 1 fork at a time)
4) Remove the fork top (careful, it should have some spring pressure on it)
5) Remove the small drain screw at the bottom of the forks and let the fluid drain.
6) Replace the drain screw
7) Measure the correct quantity of new 10 or 15 Wt fork oil and pour it into the fork top.
8) Replace the fork top and tighten the pinch bolt
9) Repeat steps 3 - 8 for the other fork
10) Air the forks up to 15 psi. I use my home air compressor for this. Set the pressure in the compressor to 15 (not the regulator but the actual tank pressure - run it up or down to achieve this) and this will perfectly equalize your fork pressures (push and hold the chuck for a few seconds on the fork nipple and then 'pop' it off quickly). You can play with the pressures up and down a little (approx. between 12 and 20 psi) to suit your riding, but both forks need to be equal pressure for safe and efficient operation.

If you don't have any leaks you can save the new seals for later (you'll eventually need them). One bottle of fork oil should do both forks.