| Author | Message | ||
     Adrian_8 |
Have an 06 Uly that is long overdue for a fork oil change. What is the best weight oil...I know to service manual calls for Harley oil type E but there might be something better. The manual makes mountains out of mole hills sometimes on service, are there any shortcuts to changing the fork oil? | ||
| Treadmarks |
Hi Adrain, This past weekend I did a barsnake, new syncs and a fork oil change at 7000 miles. Since the wheels were off I figured what the hell might as well do the forks too. With the front end hanging, remove the wheel, front caliper and front fender. Turn your preload adjusters down to about two lines and remove each wire retaining clip that is around your brass rebound adjuster. Now remove the preload adjusters by backing them out till they come off. Be careful not to lose the pinned washers if they come out with it. Use an allen wrench or allen drive socket to loosen the top clamp only on each side of the tree. Use a 32mm or 1 1/4" deep well socket (I used a 1 1/4" open end wrench) to loosen each fork cap. It would be best to use a six sided socket, if available. Loosen the two lower clamp bolts on one fork at a time, gently lowering fork until the top of the fork tube, is about 1 inch below the bottom of the top clamp, Retighten one of the bolts to hold the fork in place, then gently remove the fork wire ring clip over the top of the fork. Loosen lower bolt and gently remove fork from trees. Repeat for other side. Remove the already loose fork cap by hand and dump out the fluid by turning the fork upside down and working plunger rod a few times. Try to get a look at the condition and color of the fluid. Mine was red like tranny fluid then turning black as I pumped the damper. There are two ways to go from here for setting your fluid level- by volume or by height. If you wish to set your fluid level by volume let the forks hang upside for a while till they stop dripping, clean everything up, add your choice of fluid and your preferred volume, hand tighten cap and reverse the dissassembly procedure to assemble. If you choose to set your fluid level by height (Strongly Recommended) then to remove the cap and spring assembly, you will need to compress it about 1" to gain access to the damper rod retaining nut. To compress the spring and spacer, I used a standard trailer tie down by hooking one end in the axle hole, and hooking the other end to a stainless steel "S" hook and hooking it into the hole in the side of the sleeve that sits on top of the spring. Just use a clean rag to grasp the sleeve, compress it with one hand and take up the slack in your tie down with the other hand. Hold the fork cap with one wrench (5/8"?) and loosen the damper rod nut with another wrench (9/16"?). Remove fork cap and adjuster together, dump out sleeve and spring, invert fork and stroke damper rod to purge remaining fluid, like this:  Now, I wanted to flush out my forks so I filled each tube with 1/2 quart of fluid of choice and pumped damper to circulate fluid and then drained again like this: While the forks were hanging out to dry, I hand wiped everything with a lint free cloth, then recovered forks and wiped them as well. Position fork upright allowing housing and plunger to fall. Pour in 1/2 quart on fluid of your choice, recover damper and pump till fluid comes out, then pump to bleed till no air bubbles are present. Now, the manual calls for 4.45" from the top of the compressed tube to the top of the fluid level. Since the 06 Uly's have a tendency to dive, I subtracted .20" from that and set mine to 4.25". In addition I used Mobil 1 synthetic ATF instead of type "E" fluid. Follow the instruction in the manual carefully, to set your damper rods equally, and reverse procedure to assemble. | ||
| Stevenknapp |
I wouldn't tinker with the fluid unless it's known to be the same viscosity. I used Amsoil, they said it was the same. | ||
| Chadhargis |
I'm going to be installing Wilbers fork springs. According to them, I need to use 10wt fork oil with a lower level (I can't think of it off the top of my head, I have it written somewhere). | ||
| Adrian_8 |
Questions..I have done conventional forks but not the "upside down types". After I take the pre-load adjusters all the way out you said to unscrew the cap..is this cap under pressure like the old style forks? | ||
| Treadmarks |
It is under pressure, but still connected to the damper rod. | ||
| Adrian_8 |
Got er Done...Three observations..the oil quantities were not the same in each leg..the first leg measured 16oz after I spilled maybe one oz. dumping it out into a measuring cup. The second leg with no spill had slightly less than 15 oz. The forks have had no obvious leaks. Second obs..was the handlebars were not centered in the clamps. Stand straddling the front fender and look at the knurled part of the bar and eyeball where the bars are left and right..and thirdly the forks were not all the way up against the spring ring. Some bikes have grooves cut into the outer tubes for adjustments up and down but the ULY does not so I assume the forks should have been up tight. Thanks for the help guys... |
