Replace fork oil without removing forks from bike? (600)

Ghetto · Feb 7, 2006

Just wondering, a friend has offered to help me change my fork oil this weekend. He rechons it may be possible to leave the forks on, do one at a time and drain them from the compression adjustment (I have a 99 600, ie conventional forks) -- ie unscrewing it somehow? and then filling up from the top (after removing the rebound section or something). He was talking about compressing the forks up and down to get the old oil out and to even flush some new fork oil through before adding the final amount of new oil (eg 533mls of #10 oil per leg)

Is this possible? I'm never messed with the forks before, he rechons my fuild level is too low (causing front end bounce) or even empty

If it is possible, any tips? Otherwise i'll follow the service manual and pull the whole thing apart.

TIA,
Rob

mpdgsxr1000 · Feb 7, 2006

Step away from the bike and DO NOT let your buddy work on it

take it to a qualified mechanic or suspension tuner if you dont know what you are doing since fucking up your suspension will kill you.

GSX-R503 · Feb 7, 2006

Yeah for real. I think its almost imperative that you take the forks off the bike anyways to replace oil, springs, etc. Its only like $40 probably to replace the oil at a qualified Suzuki dealer mechanic. Pay the money to have it down or else you could be coming down from a wheelie and headshake or tankslap yourself into a video highlight...

SVS · Feb 7, 2006

Step away from the bike and DO NOT let your buddy work on it

take it to a qualified mechanic or suspension tuner if you dont know what you are doing since fucking up your suspension will kill you.

+1

There are some cheaper, non-adjustable forks that have a drain bolt in the same place as the compression adjuster on better forks -THIS IS NOT THE SAME THING!!!!!!

Do not let him touch your bike

Ghetto · Feb 8, 2006

cool -- ok thanks guys for your input. SVS, that guy had a lot of history with older ducatis etc so what your saying is probably what he was used to. I had a read of the service manual last night and concluded forks are like you guys said, best left to someone who knows what there doing. After reading the manual (and all the steps) and the feedback received here i'll book it in instead.

Thanks guys,
Rob

Cobra870 · Feb 14, 2006

Did an oil change in my forks, pretty straightforward. Everything must be kept very clean and reassembled exactly!

However unless you know EXACTLY what you are doing and have the proper tools to reassemble them if you remove the tubes from the sliders, take it to the shop. If you can get it done resonably, the piece of mind will be worth the cost.

kYE · Feb 14, 2006

+1

if you've got the tools to dissassemble the forks and to adjust the new oil level to exactly the right height, then its quite a rewarding job to do yourself. but you need to know what you are doing (or follow the manual exactly). if you stuff something up the result can be bloody dangerous.

its really easy to take your forks off yourself if you wanna save a few bucks. then take them into the shop to do the rest... shouldn't cost much to have new oil added.

Replace fork oil without removing forks from bike? (600)

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