Author Topic: Fork O/H  (Read 1608 times)

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Offline martinfan30

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  • 2000 KX500
Fork O/H
« on: February 08, 2009, 03:45:45 AM »
Well,  last night I pulled my forks apart to clean and re-seal.

Right leg looked great. Left leg had some issues. The valve was clogged full of alu. shavings. The rebound rod had very slight rust spots.  The inside of the top tube had some scoring, I assume from the shavings.

Why the shavings? Poor cleaning after the machining process?

Also, I ran out of fork oil after the first leg was done. Used Honda 10W. The other leg I had to fill with BelRay 10W.

Will I feel a difference between the two? I wanted to ride today and tomorrow, so I just did it. It's kind of a mental thing for me, knowing that it's not just right having two brands in the forks.
2000 KX500
2005 XR650L

Neither are stock, and both are great desert bikes.

Offline KXcam22

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Re: Fork O/H
« Reply #1 on: February 09, 2009, 03:15:21 AM »
Martinfan,
  You won't feel a difference.  My 92 used about 550CC per leg and the oil comes in 1 liter bottles so I would reuse approx 50cc per leg of the cleanest old fork oil to avoid buying 2 bottles and then having the almost full (but open) one sit until the nex fork oil change.  On my KX I used to flush the forks out once a season with varsol then let them drain and dry - no disassemble other than removing them from the bike.  It helps to remove the aluminum deposits (from wear) that collect in the base valving.  I doubt this will work on my new bike which has dual chamber cartridge forks. You might find the 10W to be too heavy.  I used Kayaba 01 (or Belray equivalent) which is 5W. I never did get mine to be perfect in terms of nice compliance and no bottoming so maybe the 10W will do it, who knows. Incidentaly, my seals lasted from 92 until I sold the bike in 2008. Cam.
« Last Edit: February 09, 2009, 03:20:54 AM by KXcam22 »

Offline martinfan30

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  • 2000 KX500
Re: Fork O/H
« Reply #2 on: February 09, 2009, 04:06:22 AM »
Martinfan,
  You won't feel a difference.  My 92 used about 550CC per leg and the oil comes in 1 liter bottles so I would reuse approx 50cc per leg of the cleanest old fork oil to avoid buying 2 bottles and then having the almost full (but open) one sit until the nex fork oil change.  On my KX I used to flush the forks out once a season with varsol then let them drain and dry - no disassemble other than removing them from the bike.  It helps to remove the aluminum deposits (from wear) that collect in the base valving.  I doubt this will work on my new bike which has dual chamber cartridge forks. You might find the 10W to be too heavy.  I used Kayaba 01 (or Belray equivalent) which is 5W. I never did get mine to be perfect in terms of nice compliance and no bottoming so maybe the 10W will do it, who knows. Incidentaly, my seals lasted from 92 until I sold the bike in 2008. Cam.

Cool. I weigh 230, so the 10W may be good for me. I followed the step by step in here, and it wasn't bad. I just wonder why the one leg had all that aluminum stuck in the valve?
2000 KX500
2005 XR650L

Neither are stock, and both are great desert bikes.