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Cruiser
Posts: 79
Austin, Texas | The dealer estimates 3 hours labor and cost of oil to replace fork oil on '08 Vision, to the tune of $225 service and then the oil cost. Also, they drain and refill, not disassemble, clean and refill. I'm not real sure I'm getting my value out of this. Any thoughts? |
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Visionary
Posts: 3773
Pittsburgh, PA | if thats all they do.. i believe you can do this yourself if you have the right tools. and if you dont have the right tools im sure the tools would cost less than that. and you would have them for the NEXT oil change (15k miles) |
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Visionary
Posts: 8144
New Bohemia, VA | it's a snap. Read the manual carefully, do some searches here and you will know more than you need to know. |
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Tourer
Posts: 415
| A buddy of mine is coming South for the VMC Meet in August and will have my local dealer do his. His Canadian dealer told him a butt load of cash plus not really interested in doing it. My guy said max three hours. The mechanic at local dealer says pain in the ASS, would like bike for the day to do it in parts rather than straight three hours. So he will leave it with them and borrow a bike or car from me for the day. |
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Visionary
Posts: 4278
| I have all ways wonder why change the fork oil.
It is just used for damping when you hit a bump. If I had the time cause it doesn't coast much have the oil annualized to see if the oil is war out.
Harley tells you the same BS for changing but do we really need to??????? |
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Visionary
Posts: 8144
New Bohemia, VA | john frey - 2010-08-10 9:11 PM
I have all ways wonder why change the fork oil.
It is just used for damping when you hit a bump. If I had the time cause it doesn't coast much have the oil annualized to see if the oil is war out.
Harley tells you the same BS for changing but do we really need to???????
I think so, even though I've gone about 35,000 on the current oil, it has some dive to it when I use the front brakes at a hard stop that I don't really like. The fluid change will dampen the dive really good up to the first 12,000 or so and then it starts to soften up. No need to analyze here, I know what it is doing. My next move is to change it though before I develop a leak. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 169
The Vic Shop - Central Iowa | john frey - 2010-08-10 8:11 PM
I have all ways wonder why change the fork oil.
It is just used for damping when you hit a bump. If I had the time cause it doesn't coast much have the oil annualized to see if the oil is war out.
Harley tells you the same BS for changing but do we really need to???????
Uuuuuhhhh....Yes, you need to change your fork oil. Not only is it there for dampening, it lubricates the moving parts inside the fork legs. Exact same reason you need to change the oil in your engine.
I hope you don't take this approach with the rest of the routine maintainence of your bike, stacking up alot of undone maintainence issues makes for an unsafe bike.
Like was said above, its a fairly easy process. 3 hrs seems o.k., but it'll probably take less if all goes well. If you keep up with the fork oil changes you shouldn't need to actually do a full rebuild for MANY miles. Slack on the oil changes and eventually the seals start leaking, so you have to rebuild the forks, then your mechanic tells you that you need hundreds of dollars worth of extra parts becasue the oil wasn't changed often enough. A little routine maintainence pays off in the long run.... |
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Visionary
Posts: 3773
Pittsburgh, PA | Years Ago I saw where someone made a kit where I would suck out the old fluid allowing u to install new fluid without removing your forks from the bike.. this might not be the best way to get every drop out, but I bet its better than just leaving the oil fluid in there way longer than it should be. |
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Tourer
Posts: 432
Gettysburg, 2008 Tour Premium | I have a small shop near me and the guys come from working in sportbike shops. They deal with cartrige forks all the time. When they swapped out my tires and did a fork oil 'change' for 1 1/2 hours--pulled the forks and lossened the caps and drainedthe oil. We used 7 wt Maxxum racing fluid. Traxxion Dynamics sells a kit to work on the forks and it is very resonable. I would do this myself but these guys seem pretty good and resonable. I agree with Vicbuilder and recommend at least changing the fluid, Fork oil is under more stress than people relalize and it wears out. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 71
Willmar, MN | I did mine about 2 weeks ago. 23,000 on the bike. I drained the forks and rinsed them out with WD40. The WD40 was BLACK. I used Honda 10wt and it rides like a new bike again. It is hard to believe how bad it is until you change it. It took me about 3.5 to 4 hours but the next time I don't think it will even take 2. |
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Visionary
Posts: 3006
San Antonio, TX | I am getting my forks done at 20000. The book says 15000 but at 14300 I did the tires front and back plus the 15K check up a few weeks later.
Because of the tire expense I postponed the Forks.
Ride Safe |
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Visionary
Posts: 3773
Pittsburgh, PA | For peoplewho done it themselves what tools were needed? |
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Visionary
Posts: 1340
Gainesville Fl Home of the Gators | Done right the job takes 2.5 to 3 hours depending on which series of fork you have, and it is a very important service. Just remember that the liquid volume is only a STARTING point for filling your forks, and will always be low when you measure from the top of the tube as outlined in the manual. Low fluid equals poor dampening, bottoming, and severe brake dive. If you have the confidence then do it yourself, but PLEASE do it right |
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Visionary
Posts: 8144
New Bohemia, VA | I'm reminded once again to park the bike and do the forks. I look at mine, again, with 35,000 miles on this fork oil change, and no leaks, but some dive, especially on hard front braking. I want to keep them going for another good long while and need to them this weekend. I might try the WD40 flush, but I expect a full tune up in the coming year, replacing seals and cartridges, if need be. I really need a full shake down of the whole bike, including bushings, but that's another post.
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what's the real scoop on fork oil replacement?
