:D Hi all, I simply wish to replace my fork oil on my 2006 GS500. I'm hoping someone knows of a youtube link on how to do the oil change without a fork seal replacement.
I am writing from the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia and would love to hear from anyone around the world or locally.
Absolutely loving my Suzuki, it is my first motorcycle.
If you have found a good video for fork seal replacement, just stop at the point that they dump out the fork oil and then skip forward past the seal replacement to where they are refilling the fork with new oil.
You just need to support the front of the bike so you can take the forks off, remove the top fork caps, dump out the old oil, refill with desired oil and air gap, and then put it back together.
Remember to set the air gap with the forks compressed.
Maybe you already found this video but it goes over refilling the forks with the "turkey baster" method:
Thanks very much, yes I did find this vid, I was hoping it was simply taking out a screw at the bottom of the forks and topping up from the tip lolol. How wrong I was, Again Thanks.
You could do it with the forks on the bike if you can figure out a way to suck the oil out of the top of the fork tubes. A big turkey baster with a length of tube attached and some patience might work.
You will never get all the oil out that way, but it would be better than nothing.
Thanks very much Bluesmudge. Appreciate all the suggestions.
I notice you have a profile picture, is that what they call an avatar. How do I add a profile picture???
I think you need to get past your 5 initial posts before you can post an avatar, IIRC.
jdoorn that's what I was thinking too! But I couldn't remember... it's been a while!!
If that's true then you just have to post one more time... then go to Profile and in the dropdown menu go to Forum Profile and one of the first options it gives you is to have an avatar or not.
Make one and upload it to photobucket or imgur or whatever site you'd like and then copy/paste the link into the box :thumb:
Idk what it would be like on a phone though, this is how it looks for me on a good ol' fashioned PC :embarrassed:
Quote from: Brettsky64 on April 12, 2016, 04:52:20 PM
Thanks very much, yes I did find this vid, I was hoping it was simply taking out a screw at the bottom of the forks and topping up from the tip lolol. How wrong I was, Again Thanks.
You can do it that way, but it's actually harder. If you've never done it before taking the forks off the bike can seem intimidating, but it's really very easy. Take the front wheel and fender off and it's just a few more bolts to loosen after that.
@Brettsky64,
I'm a bike wrenching novice but I managed to change the stator gasket, and I finally got around to tightening the cylinder head nuts then eventually checking the valve clearance. It gets easier every time. However when researching the fork oil because I was considering putting a better spring in, it appeared that there was going to be plenty of 'gotchas'. I thought it would be a 4 hour job but in the end the local bike shop did it for $90 including oil, and I was happy with that, I thought it was going to end up costing AUD$250. I may do it myself next time if I do decide to put new springs in.
Meanwhile this might be useful http://beergarage.com/GSForks.aspx (http://beergarage.com/GSForks.aspx)
Quote from: Bluesmudge on April 13, 2016, 06:23:58 AM
You could do it with the forks on the bike if you can figure out a way to suck the oil out of the top of the fork tubes. A big turkey baster with a length of tube attached and some patience might work.
You will never get all the oil out that way, but it would be better than nothing.
Can you please elaborate on it? Since I have a hand pump which I can use to suck the old fluid out. Thank you.
Quote from: maverickfhs on July 18, 2016, 08:28:57 AM
Quote from: Bluesmudge on April 13, 2016, 06:23:58 AM
You could do it with the forks on the bike if you can figure out a way to suck the oil out of the top of the fork tubes. A big turkey baster with a length of tube attached and some patience might work.
You will never get all the oil out that way, but it would be better than nothing.
Can you please elaborate on it? Since I have a hand pump which I can use to suck the old fluid out. Thank you.
Please...just....don't....
This is a really crappy way to change fork oil. It leaves a significant portion of the old oil in there, and the part it leaves is the nastiest, gunkiest stuff. Plus, setting the level is harder with the forks still on the bike, and the whole process takes longer and is more work than just pulling the tubes off.
Back before I had the spring company I could be snarky on the internet and say things like, "Half-assed methods lead to half-assed results, if that's what you're happy with press on.".
Of course, I would never dream of saying such a thing now... :)