Fork Oil

[Anonymous]

The Clymers manual for 400-450 chain drive suggests a 50/50 mixture of 10w-30 motor oil and ATF. Has anyone done this or reccomend doing this?

[Poot]

i am trying 100% atf this spring. I'm not sure if you can mix or, for what models you would mix.

[jhw84]

Seriously, guys... fork oil has come a long way since then. Check out Bel Ray for different weights.

http://www.belray.com/consumer/productpages/hpfo.html

I used 15 weight in my bike and it works great.

[Scud]

I'm with Johhny, I mean fork oil is for forks and atf is for...well...

I just did a fork seal replacement on both forks and used Bel Ray 15 weight, very pleased with the results.

Scud

[Anonymous]

Going to replace my forl oil today I doubt it has ever been changed. Would acetone be a good solvent to clean out the forks before I put new oil in? The Clymers manual I have doesn't say how much oil I need to pur in. Anyone know how much I am going to need for GS450S?

[Jeff Tate]

As for cleaning out your forks, buy a gallon of kerosene at any hardware store and use it. I'm not sure in what amount to use for your model of bike but I flushed my forks two or three times with kerosene last summer and then used the correct amount of Bel-Ray 10wt oil in my 1100. I'm sure you'll find out how much oil to use very soon around here.

[earlfor]

Acetone!!!!!! NO as in NO!!!!! Acetone and rubber do not get along well.
Say goodbye to your seals. Rinse with kerosene if the oil youre draining is particularly dirty. I use mineral spirits, but as someone pointed out, it is more flammable than kerosene.

Yes you can use straight ATF or any mixture of oil and ATF. However, modern forks oils by themselves are superior. I prefer straight 30 weight non detergent oil in my forks, but I also like a fairly stiff suspension.

Earl

Going to replace my forl oil today I doubt it has ever been changed. Would acetone be a good solvent to clean out the forks before I put new oil in? The Clymers manual I have doesn't say how much oil I need to pur in. Anyone know how much I am going to need for GS450S?

[Poot]

do you guys think there would be any difference in viscosity between regular atf and mobil synthetic??

I'd probably tend to go towards a little lighter weight oil, seeing as I weigh 150 lbs.

I suppose I could still change that...........?

[Anonymous]

Well I drained and flushed my forks. The oil that was in there was black. Total use of oil was about half a quart. Is this right? I was not able to figure out how much to use (the manual I have does not mention the S models for fork oil) so I measured how much I took out and put that much back in. I ended up going with 100% ATF. It rides smooth now, of course I am only 140lbs. It is pretty soft.

[Rico]

Poot , remember the thinner the oil the quicker the rebound.
Is that what you want?

I know when we were tuning mountain bike forks for small guys like you, the real thin oil in the dampers would get the fork "poe going"

It's not that simple but something to think about

rico

[Anonymous]

So far so good (10miles or so in the rain, 40mph winds, and nasty thunderstorms, I didn't finish in time to beat the storms, I use a friends garage to store my tools and do my auto/bike work). I will let ya know after a few more commutes. Fairly easy to drain and pour in thicker oil, what I drained out seemed to be thinner than what I put in.. I just need to play with it to find out what sits me. Being as this is my 1st bike.

Anybody have a Haynes Manual (something other than Clymers) that tells how much oil to put in the forks for an '80 GS450S? The Clymers for the 400-450 doesn't list this bike in the fork oil capacity chart.

[bradleymaynar]

I googled, but when I followed the link with the capacities I couldn't find anything. Here's the link to the google search. The first link shows a capacity. Don't know how much it can help.

http://www.google.com/search?q=GS+450S+Fork+Oil+Capacity&start=0&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official

Brad tt

[Poot]

thats odd that it doesn't show the fork oil capacity....its got to......but hey, it wouldn't be the first error theyve made (nobody's perfect)


Check all of the tables in case you havent. (not to insult your intelligence or anything 8)

[bradleymaynar]

(not to insult your intelligence or anything 8)

No worries. I've no intelligence to insult!

Brad tt

(Had to edit this. I reread it, and it sounded like I was insulting Jay. )

[gs650gt]

some technical information of GS models

http://ezwebz.com/gs-classic/

this is a german website but the technical data seems accurate and understandable. model names may vary from U.S. (plain GS450, GS 450 E, G, L, S, T...)