I have been rebuilding a 1976 T3 Cali for a while and now that its actually up and running well and on the road I have noticed a slight weep of lube oil from the left fork. I’m not worried about this at the moment and there doesnt feel any problem when braking. I have had a look at some manuals but they deal with full fork overhauls rather than only replacing the fork lube oil. . I looked of FAQ’s etc and couldnt see anything on this.
any advice appreciated
the oil does nowt but lube the sealked shock they are like big versions of the damper inthe rear shox, maybe new fork seals is all you need. The “oil” is actually ATF fluid
GB has the fork lube no real affect on braking perfomance at all ? does the bottom spring not need some lube ? if I wanted as a check to replace the fork lube is it simply remove top screw at yoke ,remove drain plug at bottom of fork ,drain and refill from top ?. I have never taken these apart before and sometimes a diagram in a manual is not that clear
It’s just lube, the damping is done by the sealed cartridge dampers
Use ATF and poor in from the top after you unscrew the dampers
Mine would not drain as the fork seals had let water in and mixed with the ATF to make mayo
Chock under the engine before taking the fork top bungs out, or the bike will fall on its nose!
Yes, exactly that. It’s 70cc (i.e. 0.070 of a litre) per leg for a T3 California, did it the other week on my S3 though that takes 60cc per leg. Sounds like you might need a new fork seal in the long run though by what you describe. Ideally done with no wheel or mudguard fitted so you can pump the fork leg to make sure it’s all out, or do as Don suggests and push on bars a little to get all the oil out.
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[QUOTE=WILLYD] is it simply remove top screw at yoke ,remove drain plug at bottom of fork ,drain and refill from top ?italianmotor2013-07-06 14:29:26
Summary ~ Actual oil quantities vary, need to look up the exact amount depending on the model. The top centre allen screw only attaches the top end of the damper, take this out then need BIG allen key to unscrew top cap off (mine is 14mm). This might be a barsteward to shift, may need loosening top yoke clamp / piece of steel tube over allen key for more leverage / get a mate to help. As Ray says this releases the springs which will shoot out the top unless you chock the sump or do only one leg at a time. Ditto (sort of) if front wheel is off the ground (chocked higher), it will drop down! THEN you can take drain screw out with a jug or something underneath, if nothing appears to happen try poking wire up the hole, there may be mayo or sludge preventing it running out, guess how I know Previous oil change I thought LH side was empty, no it wasn’t, just didn’t drain so it ended up with 2 lots of oil in! That’s what came out that THIS year! HTH EDIT: yes of course refill at top, need a very accurate measure for only a few 10’s of CC’s! I discovered a small plastic measuring cap which came with some bottle of summat or other can’t remember what, but it goes from 5 to 50cc. EDIT #2: refill before replacing the cap.
Mike H2013-07-06 10:44:18
PS: I got one of these this year, (select 14mm) http://www.toolbuddy.co.uk/franklin-hex-allen-key-socket-12-drive-choose-sizes-6mm---19mm-1794-p.asp
If you get loads of mayo I would drop the stations off the fork tubes and change the seals while your at it
Also leaving bike out in the hot sun for a few hours helps with mayo removal …!
I use a marked syringe to fill the fork tubes , old advice was also to use 2 fork seals BUT modern seals DO only require 1 seal. To be fair it is NOT a major worry I did this ONCE but it was when I had the bike apart engine out and took the fork legs off the bike, undid the top and bottom , let it drain upside down Bigger 'ole y see, replaced fork seals and filled with oil. made no difference to the fork action whatso ever.
When I aquired the bike the prev owner had been running it with NO top nut in either side …go figure