Fork Oil ...

[Nomak]

what weight fork oil do you use with progressive springs?  I changed the fork seals and put in 10wt and the forks were stiff as hell would hardly budge ... cause me to wipe out ... I got new forks on the way and will be changing the seals again what are your recommendations?

[Jazzzzz]

lots of people go up to 15wt with progressive springs, but you can stick with 10wt or even go down to 5, whatever works for you.  I prefer the 15wt myself, but I weigh around 185.

Did your forks not have enough travel/lock up on you?  Might have put too much oil in the forks when you swapped your springs or redid the seals.

[StevenE]

Standard is 10W I think. Adding thicker oil will give you more damping. That's an easy mod to add more damping, unless you race on the track.

The thicker the oil, the lesser it will withstand heat. And there is a lot of heat generated in your forks on the track. But then again, if you are racing, you probably already installed the cartridge emulator by Race Tech. I hear it's great stuff.

[mjm]

what weight fork oil do you use with progressive springs?  I changed the fork seals and put in 10wt and the forks were stiff as hell would hardly budge ... cause me to wipe out ... I got new forks on the way and will be changing the seals again what are your recommendations?

you put in TOO MUCH OIL or TOO MUCH PRELOAD or both

[Lukewarm Wilson]

you put in TOO MUCH OIL or TOO MUCH PRELOAD or both

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If your short on size and weight use 10wt and cut your spacers to half the recommended length you'll be right if these don't work you've got way too much oil in there  

[Nomak]

I think I put too much oil

[number1]

so how much are you suppossed to put in.

[Lukewarm Wilson]

I think by memory ( hope i'm right) about 130ml in each leg hopefully someone will back me up or prove me wrong  

[Faxxxy]

Quick thread-jack here..
Is fork oil its own thing, or are you guys putting motor oil in your forks?

My forks are in the back of my truck because I could not figure out how to get the failing seals out of them. I figured I was going to take them to the shop and have them done..

[Jazzzzz]

fork oil is its own thing, should be available at any motorcycle dealer in the parts dept. along with the chain lubes and other various and sundry goodies

[Nomak]

the manual says ... 382 ml or 12.9 US oz... I think the prob was that I eyeballed 13 OZs ... the dood I bought my forks from had 1.25" spacers in the forks I rode them like that for a good 5xxx miles and it felt fine ... after the seal and oil change since the forks didnt budge at all I didnt put the spacers/preload back in but even after that the forks would hardly compress ... well this time I shall measure it properly ... wish me luck this is my third set of forks on this bike ... man my crash ratio sux  :lol:

[Jace009gs]

I'm not sure on the manual's suggested amount of oil but 12.xx something sounds like a little much for me when I did my forks/seals. The manual gave a ball park figure as that is good enough because I'm sure the 12oz is completely bone dry. If you put the seals in, spacer in, spring in and pull the tube up there should be 3" of space where the ruler doesn't get in the oil.....kinda of the same thing as a dipstick for forks...

I will double check the 3" and edit my post as soon as I find out what page I read that on...note to self highlight that for future use.

[scratch]

377ml to 382ml, if you are using that method of measuring your fork oil. I don't remember what the measurement is for measuring the level.

Progressive suggests .75 inch preload spacers. This would be good if you're over 130lbs and/or an aggressive rider.

Best to set your sag, with you aboard in full riding gear, to 1.5 inches. Sometimes it can be difficult to set your sag properly and accurately with only a solid spacer; I use 1/8" thick washers from Orchard Supply.

[Nomak]

intially I dont think Imma put in any preload at all ... I m a fairly agressive rider and weigh bout 160lbs ... how much fork oil is recommended if the manual is incorrect? Ill make some preload later

[scratch]

The manual is correct. 377ml is a suggestion for the stock springs. 382mls is the correct amount for, again, stock springs as stated in the manual.

I have measured 350ml when I put in Progressive springs.

So be careful, if you put in over 350mls in with Progressive springs you will definitely suffer a stiffer ride, most likely from hydraulic lock.

[Blueknyt]

said it before, Ive read in a few forums and talked to a former racer/Motorcycle shop (mechanic) a few times, he claims if your running specially valved forks or special race forks then put in the amount they specificly say. IF however your running mostly stock NON adjustable dampening forks, compress the fork tube into the leg with the spring installed and add till the level is about 6 inches from the top of the tube. you can vary the dampening with the diff weights of oil.  ive got progressives and Emulators in mine, and im a heavy dude. ive never adjusted the emulators as previous rider was slightly lighter then me. but i went to a heavier oil cuz i like a ride with a lot of feed back and stiff suspention.  

ive changed forkseals in a few bikes and have use the same oil fill methode. seems to work well for me. ive still got some oil left over from completing the katana forks this past weekend (yeah forgot to take my camera to work with me for a writeup, but i still have my spare GS front end to do yet)

[Faxxxy]

I gave up..
My forks are in the back of my truck and they are going to the shop to have the seals replaced..

I have jerked, pulled, and even hammered on them with a rubber mallet..
Those fork seals are not coming out..

I just hope they can get me done quick and cheap..

[Jazzzzz]

IF however your running mostly stock NON adjustable dampening forks, compress the fork tube into the leg with the spring installed and add till the level is about 6 inches from the top of the tube.

the installation manual that comes with Progressive Suspension's progressive springs says to measure the fork oil with the fork collapsed and no springs installed - likely because their springs are long enough that they would stick out far past the end of the tubes once the tubes are collapsed.

140mm of oil, as suggested by the Progressive guys, measures out to just a hair over 5.5 inches.  I installed my springs yesterday via Pantablo's method and measured the fork oil by depth rather than volume, since I didn't have a large syringe to use for adding the new oil.  I haven't ridden the bike yet since I'm working on a few other items too (repainting my exhaust and changing my footpegs) but I set the sag and bounced the forks quite a bit, etc.  The response seems much better, with no lockup and a good stiff feel.  There is a downside though - the progressives are noisy; stock springs were totally silent, these squeak a bit (I installed them with the tightly-wound side down as recommended to control noise).

[Nomak]

Jazz, I dont know wot brand my springs are but they are progressives (ie type) did you put any preload?

The manual is correct. 377ml is a suggestion for the stock springs. 382mls is the correct amount for, again, stock springs as stated in the manual.

I have measured 350ml when I put in Progressive springs.

So be careful, if you put in over 350mls in with Progressive springs you will definitely suffer a stiffer ride, most likely from hydraulic lock.

how much do you weigh? how do the forks "feel"? ...

[Jazzzzz]

I put in 1" of preload - I weight about 185 in full gear.  I used 15wt oil.

The forks are smooth - they compress quickly for the first couple of inches and then stiffen up noticeably.  As I said, I have not had a chance to ride the bike yet, so I can't really comment on diving during hard braking, big bumps, etc. yet - I'll find out tonight once I get my exhaust painted and put back on, along with my new pegs.