Setting Fork Oil Level

[Anonymous]

I know the best way to do this is with a syringe and length of tube. Without spending a fortune for a tool from Race Tech, Progressive or Traxxion Dynamics, where can I find a big syringe like I need for this? I can bodge up a piece of tubing and a level stop, but the syringe is a bit tougher...


Mark

[first timer]

turkey injector. maybe a kitchen iteams store.

-ryan

[sv650]

Check out a large-animal vet.

SV

[Poot]

an oil suction gun (looks similar to a caulking gun , but is a sealed canister that you can pour oil into, or suck oil into)

IF you dont catch my drift, heres a pic from my clymers manual.

http://groups.msn.com/MattsPage/shoebox.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=28

poot

[bwringer]

Any farm store will have lots of big syringes anyone can walk in and buy. I guess the junkies don't usually inject 90cc of heroin. Not more than once, anyway.

I asked my vet for a big syringe once, and he was happy to give me one. (It's the least he could do -- $300 for a dog with a sore throat...)

I've seen glue syringes in craft stores, too.

I've also used a syringe-like thingy I found in the lawnmower section. It's meant to slurp up and measure various amounts of 2-cycle oil for weedwackers and such. It's marked in terms of mixture ratios, but it works fine.

[Poot]

I just spent the night in a hospital (i got into a knife fight....the surgeons won) and asked for a large syringe this morning.

got it! It holds up to 60 ccs, so I should be able to get the precise measurement of 304cc of fork oil in each fork.

do you think i'd still need to measure the level, if I had a very exact amount of oil put in???


poot

[mcconnell]

I recently went to a large animal supply store and bought a 60cc syringe for $3.00 and a 140cc unit for $6.00. But when I changed my fork oil, I used a bent piece of wire with a mark on it to set the level at 5.5"; coincidently the same tool and mark I used on my Goldwing. It's really not hard to do to set the level this way.

[Jethro]

I bought a vaccum pump, you know, the kind for one person bleeding of your brakes? It was about $20 at Auto Zone or something, and attached a long coiled hose (like 4 feet of clear tubing) and cut a 1/8" hole in the end of the tube as high as the manual suggests the fluid to be. Then, as you suck up fork oil, it will stop sucking at the correct level when it reaches the hole in the tubing.

[Anonymous]

I measure down with a metal ruler and adjust the oil level until correct pouring only a little bit in at a time.

[Poot]

now, when taking the level, i'm supposed to tilt the bike (the forks are still attached) until the forks are completely vertical....

i started to do this, but i didnt want to keep going....could I still get an accurate reading if the level is still the same on either side, with 302 cc of fluid in there???

I used a little metal rod, with the appropriate level marked off, and both are now even, but I never tilted it fully forward. I just dont want to take the front forks off, really.


poot

[Jethro]

Poot Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2005 5:58 pm Post subject:

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now, when taking the level, i'm supposed to tilt the bike (the forks are still attached) until the forks are completely vertical....

Tilt the bike side to side? I don't understand what you are saying. The bike should be on the centerstand and still for the complete process. I really think the biggest issue is to make sure you have the same level in each leg. A little higher or lower won't adversly affect anything as long as they are the same.

[Joe Nardy]

Actually, I believe the forks are supposed to be perfectly vertical when the measurement is done. The factory service manual shows this being done with the forks removed from the bike and in a vertical position. But, I agree with Jethro that a couple of millimeters probably won't make a noticeable difference. Getting both forks the same is more important.

Joe

[Jethro]

Ohh, I get ya. Shows how well I read.

[Poot]

yeah, the silly clymers manual says to tilt the bike forward while the forks are still attached, until they are vertical..... 8O

they're nuts if they thing im going to do that..... I'm going to put in 302cc for each, and measure to make sure they are both equal.

thanks guys

poot

[Anonymous]

Actually, I believe the forks are supposed to be perfectly vertical when the measurement is done. The factory service manual shows this being done with the forks removed from the bike and in a vertical position.

Joe is correct. They assume you have the forks off the bike and held vertically.

I got the forks all back together this weekend and all went well. As it turns out, I didn't need the syringe at all...The reason being is that my 1100E forks are air assisted. When the forks are fully collapsed, the oil level specified in the manual is RIGHT AT the air hole. So I simply over-filled and let the extra run out until it stopped. Presto, equal oil levels with no thought on my part.

One thing to note is that if you collapse the fork and then fill it with oil, it will overflow a LOT because it takes a minute to get oil throughout the bottom of the leg. Don't ask me how I know that one... The way to do it is to extend the forks and put in the recommended amount of oil (or slightly less), then work the tube up and down to circulate oil throughout the damping and anti-dive systems and get all the air out. Then you can compress the fork leg and either let oil run out the air hole until it stops or slowly fill the extra up to the hole. The manual mentions nothing of the overflowing part, BTW...


Mark