Fork oil mishap!!! Doh! (in best Homer Simpson Voice)

[Anonymous]

Thanks, but I'm looking to keep the $50 in braided brake lines for the anti-dive. It's really important for me to have the stock look.

I guess you could gut the anti-dive unit and keep the shell there with the line attached. You would have to check and make sure that the brake fluid and fork oil could not mix, but that would be it.

If you want the stock look, then the best choice would be to install the cartridge emulators and disable the anti-dive with the interal mods done for the emulators. They do cost money, however...

Mark

[Jethro]

Well this weekend I spent some time on this project.

Bought 2 1/2 gallons of kerosene, and 2 quarts of Bel-Ray 15 wt. fork oil. I learned that it is really easy to pull the fork legs out of the fork mounts, so thats what I did. I figured the flush was really important, and since I wasn't pulling the fork legs themselves apart, I really wanted to spend time with it. So off came the front fender, and out came the tubes. I used a 800ml plastic squeeze bottle used for watering plants to hold the kerosene- kind of like a giant mustard squeeze bottle. That worked really well. First I did a flush with the drain screw and anti-dive unit off. Black gunk poured out of my forks! A few more flushes and the kerosene was coming out clean. Then I put the anti-dive and drain screw back on and filled with kerosene and pumped the upper fork tube about 40 times. Turned it upside down and some more gunk came out. I repeated the process a few times, the I hung the forks upside down for about 4 hours. After that I flushed with the Bel-Ray twice each leg (uggg, that stuff is $8.95 a quart!), then filled with 246ml of the fork oil per leg and remounted on the bike. Now all I need are my Progressives and I'm done!

One question though, on my upper fork legs is the hole for the air. Does this hole need to be in line with the hole in the lower fork mount and air equalizing coller? I threaded that 12mm screw in while the fork tube was out and it looked like the screw bottoms out before it hits the tube itself. I just don't want to distort the fork tube or damage the screw.

[Jethro]

One question though, on my upper fork legs is the hole for the air. Does this hole need to be in line with the hole in the lower fork mount and air equalizing coller? I threaded that 12mm screw in while the fork tube was out and it looked like the screw bottoms out before it hits the tube itself. I just don't want to distort the fork tube or damage the screw.

Anyone? I really don't wanna mess up my fork legs or air screws.

[Anonymous]

Anyone? I really don't wanna mess up my fork legs or air screws.

Hey Jethro,

In absence of any other replies, I would say yes, line it up. I don't have my manual here today (man, does work get in the way of all the important stuff... ), but I can check it for you tonight if you don't get a good answer before then.

Mark

[Jethro]

Hey Jethro,

In absence of any other replies, I would say yes, line it up. I don't have my manual here today (man, does work get in the way of all the important stuff... ), but I can check it for you tonight if you don't get a good answer before then.

I have both a factory and Haynes manual and niether say anything about toruqing down the air bleeder bolts or if the fork tubes need to be positioned in a certain way. Sure hope I don't mess up the fork legs or air bleeder screws.

[Joe Nardy]

Jethro,

I do not believe the holes need to be lined up. I think the air screws seal the fittings connected to the air lines, not the holes in the fork tube. The seal for the holes in the fork tube are provided by the o-rings in the assembly the fork tubes slide through. As long as the holes in the fork tube are unobstructed and the o-rings are good you will have a good seal and the forks will hold air. I think the method to add air to the forks is to loosen the screws to allow the air to equalize between the fork tubes, pump air into the valve, then close the screws. I could be wrong but this is my understanding. I do not remember the screws having anything to do with the holes in the fork tubes.

Joe

[Jethro]

Cool. I was just worried because the manual says to slacken the bolts before removal, but that might be just to relieve the air pressure.