| Author | Message | ||
     Tipsymcstagger |
I thought I'd seen a pretty good thread with a bunch of pictures detailing the fork service process but I can't seem to find it in the archives. Am I dreaming or is there such a thread? I've got the whole front end apart to replace the steering head bearings and ignition switch and figure I might as well service the forks while it's still in pieces. TIA. Tipsy | ||
| Dr_greg |
Do you mean a fork oil change? I'm doing one on Saturday and I could take some pictures during the process... --Doc P.S. I did post some pictures of my "homemade" fork tools a while back. | ||
| Hemibee |
Tipsy I can't locate the thread you are talking about but I did print out a copy of it and will email it too you. PM your email address to me and I will get it to you. | ||
| Tipsymcstagger |
Yes Dr. Greg...by service I mean fork oil change. Hemibee, sent you my email address...thanks! Tipsy | ||
| Gamdh |
I had this one marked???? http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/384 2/249047.html | ||
| Tipsymcstagger |
Looks good. Thanks guys! Tipsy | ||
| Dr_greg |
Tipsy, Note that the link posted (very nice, BTW) is WAY more than you need if you just want to change the fork oil. --Doc | ||
| Tipsymcstagger |
Thanks Greg...I know...I'm not changing the seals. I won't take more apart than I have to  Tipsy | ||
| Hmartin |
This one keeps showing up as well: http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/327 77/153628.html?1178891937 | ||
| Jphish |
Dr Greg - OK OK - I've got 12K on the Uly and time to change fork oil (actually a few K over - dont turn me in to BMC as a maint violator) Nothing is leaking or needs replacing I'm aware of, except of course the fluid. So taking the minimalist approach, whats the least amount of work / procedure necessary to accomplish the task. ie; shortcuts. Thanks Pal, j PS: will be riding thru NM next spring - will provide ample warning in advance. | ||
| Froggy |
For what its worth, my bike had the fork oil done at 10k, then never since then. At about 41k I rear-ended a car and destroyed the forks, so I am kinda glad I didn't bother doing it at 40k like I said I was going to  | ||
| Armymedic |
Changing fork fluid this weekend too. What do you need prior to starting apart from new fork oil? I have a ratcheting strap that'll work fine for compressing. 32mm socket. 11/16 wrench. service manual. time. Anything else? | ||
| Brucen |
I usually buy an extra bottle of fork oil and use 1/2 in each leg to flush the fork out. I use a piece of tubing taped to a ruler and a mityvac to set the oil level. | ||
| Dr_greg |
Well, no real shortcuts, IMHO. I'm on vacation in Colorado this week; I'll try to respond more fully when I return. Don't sweat the 12K; some folks don't seem to ever change it. --Doc | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Haven't changed mine in yet and over 21,000 miles. | ||
| Armymedic |
Mine came with the extended warranty and I'd like to, for whatever reason, keep that in effect! | ||
| Rays |
Armymedic, I've done the fork oil change on my Uly several times and have also replaced the fork seals - this info should supplement the links above with all the detailed photos. It does make reference to the factory service manual so I would recommend that if you don't already have it. TOOLS. These are the ‘special / homebrew’ tools that I use for carrying out the Ulysses fork oil change or the Ulysses Fork seal replacement.  • Jack – I use the lightweight hydraulic jack in combination with a piece of ½” pine to prevent scratching of the muffler jacking points. I have also pictured a car scissor jack that can also be used as an economy alternative. • The deep reach 32mm socket is very necessary in my opinion. The fork caps are made from alloy and are relatively thin and can be easily distorted by using 2-jawed tools. The deep socket allows clearance over the rebound and pre-load adjusters. • The ¼” drive T27 Torx tool is useful for removing the front mudguard and fork protectors – these are installed with loctite from the factory and can be easy to damage with poor fitting tools. Please note that this is T27 not a T25 – a T25 will look like it fits but will strip the head of a tight screw. • The lightweight tie-down strap is used with a seat hook from an old Hills children’s swing to compress the fork for disassembly. One side of this hook could be cut off but it can be used quite satisfactorily as pictured. • The ½” drive imperial Allen key set is very useful for working on the Ulysses front end – steering head, triple clamps & brake calipers all have imperial allen heads. • The piece of cardboard is my oil level-measuring device (crude but effective). The oil level is measured with the rebound adjuster fitted, no spring and the leg compressed – please refer to page 2-52 in the manual. The cardboard strip is inserted until the right-angle bend touches the top of the fork leg. The oil level is clearly visible on the cardboard when the strip is removed. The lower line is the standard factory spec for ’06 and the line 5mm higher is what I use on mine. 1. Purchase the fork oil - the Standard fork oil is HD Type ‘E’ and is available in 1 Pint bottles. Each fork leg takes approximately 18 fl oz of oil so 3 bottles are required for an oil change. The standard HD oil is pictured in Fig 1 with the special tools. 2. ‘Crack’ all of the fasteners that might give you grief once the bike is jacked up (brake caliper mounts, front axle (Caution: L/H thread) & triple clamp bolts. 3. Support the rear of the bike on a race stand (you could come up with alternatives such as a rod through the rear axle supported on car stands but I have a race stand and it works well) and raise the front of the bike by jacking under the muffler (see Fig 2). This is reasonably stable but you could provide additional support via tie-downs to a roof beam. 4. Remove the front mudguard and fork protectors. 5. Remove the front wheel and brake caliper – I hang the brake caliper from the lower triple clamp to keep tension off the brake line. 6. Remove the handlebars and place on the dummy fuel tank using an old towel or similar to prevent scratches. This allows clear access to the fork caps and in my opinion is worth the extra effort. 7. With the lower triple clamp screws nipped up and the upper triple clamp screws loosened the fork caps can be loosened using the deep 32mm socket. 8. Loosen the lower triple clamp of one fork leg while holding the fork leg to prevent it dropping down rapidly. Lower the leg enough to allow clearance between the top of the rebound adjuster and the bottom of the upper triple clamp and while supporting the fork leg, work the Stopper Ring (item 19 Fig 2-72) up and over the outer tube. I use a cardboard box under the fork leg and use both thumbnails to keep the ends of the stopper ring from scratching the fork leg outer. 9. Now the fork leg is removed, the disassembly procedure is as follows: 10. Clean the fork slider (the chrome section that the fork seals contact) as the outer can move to the bottom of the slider once the fork cap is released and any debris below the normal fork travel could damage the fork seal. I am suspicious that I didn't do this well on my last fork oil change because I had a seal start to leak within a week or so of the oil change. 11. Remove the snap ring from the rebound adjuster assembly (item 8 – Fig 2-72). 12. Take note of your current pre-load setting and remove the preload adjuster (item 1 – Fig 2-72). 13. Remove the fork cap from the outer tube (you should have loosened this while the fork leg outer was held by the lower triple clamp – the first time I did this the cap was very tight). The outer will now pull down and provide access to the collar that needs to be pulled down by the tie-down strap. 14. Place one side of the Hills seat hook in one of the holes in the collar, attach the tie-down between the other end of the seat hook and the bottom of the slider fork (in the recess where the damper centre bolt is located). Use the ratchet to compress the fork spring enough to disconnect the rebound adjuster assembly (item 9 in fig 2-72) from the fork cap. WARNING: the first time I did this I didn’t read the manual properly and I removed the rebound adjuster from the damper rod assembly - that creates a headache by requiring the rebound adjuster to be set-up from scratch. Please refer to Fig 2. – if you look at the damper rod assembly you can see the rebound adjuster assembly still connected. 15. When you remove the fork cap there is a spacer that has three hardened steel pins mounted in a plastic ring that sits in the fork cap and protrudes through the cap and contacts the preload washer (item 5 – fig 2-72). This preload washer sits on a plastic slider piston (item 6 fig 2-72) that fits into the top of the collar that you used to compress the spring. Sounds complicated but if you lay everything out in order as you remove them it is a straightforward process to keep track of what goes where. NOTE: The reason that I mentioned this piece is because it is not shown as a separate item in the parts diagram in the Maintenance Manual (Fig 2-72). The pins are just visible on the bottom of item 3. 16. Release the tension on the tie-down (gently), remove the collar and spring and pour the old oil out. Holding the rebound adjuster assembly, stroke the damper while holding the fork upside down to empty the damper of fork oil. I use 500ml or so of kerosene to fill and flush the damper and fork out and leave to drain while I repeat the above steps on the other fork leg. 17. Once the fork is drained, add the fork oil and measure the oil height as described on page 2-52 and proceed to reassemble the fork. I use a piece of insulated electrical wire to loop around the rebound adjuster assembly as it is prone to slide down into the fork leg while you are trying to get the spring and collar in position and compressed enough to refit the rebound adjuster assembly to the fork cap. 18. Refit the fork cap to the fork outer and tighten by hand, refit the preload adjuster and adjust to the setting recorded during disassembly, refit the snap ring. 19. Refit the fork leg to the triple clamps (remembering to fit the stopper ring as you do this), tighten the lower triple clamp bolts and nip the fork cap up with the deep 32mm socket using the triple clamp as your fork holder. 20. Once you have the second fork leg fitted I take the opportunity of having the handlebars removed to tension the steering head bearings – I’m not sure if this is overkill but it only takes a few minutes. 21. Refit the handlebars, front wheel, brake caliper and mudguard and you are done. NOTE: don’t tighten the front axle clamping bolts until you have correctly tensioned the front axle and allowed the fork legs to position correctly by applying the brakes a couple of times while pushing the bike forward. Please feel free to contact me as I am happy to help. My Uly now has 85,000km and I have done all of the fork work ever done on this bike (I was quoted $300 for the fork oil change as well) so I don't think there is any bad advice contained here . I'm sure any mistakes will be pointed out by the technical audience.  | ||
| Jphish |
Rays - Thanks for taking the time to demystify the fork oil change. Printed out to use as supplement with service manual. j | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
I never loctite anything on my ULY and nothing ever loosens and drops off either. Maybe because the old dried loctite still serves it's intended purpose. | ||
| Dr_greg |
NO, No, no!! You don't need to do that! Yes, it's in the manual but it's entirely unnecessary. Unscrew the fork cap (it does not need to be very tight, BTW), let the upper slide down, put your compression tool in the collar and compress the spring, slip a plate under the "nut", and unscrew ALL the stuff on top! It all comes off as a unit. Well, at least for me, since I have preload set at seven lines (virtue of being skinny). If you have preload cranked down the pins may prevent getting a wrench in there, so perhaps the "heavy-set" guys may have to remove snap ring, etc. I'm still on vacation, hence I don't have the manual to use the proper terms for everything. If you disassemble the preload adjuster, etc., it's not a big deal, but NOT doing it (if you can) does classify as a "shortcut." --Doc P.S. Here are MY fork tools (all homemade): 1. Spring compression tool (plywood + two slotted bolts)  2. 1/8" Plate to insert under "nut" to keep spring compressed (holes unnecessary  ):  3. Weighted nylon cord to tie under nut on damping rod to prevent it sinking out of reach:  4. Special fork oil height measuring tool:  | ||
| Armymedic |
Wow Rays, thanks for the thorough response! I have the service manual too and a cradle with lift. Sounds like I'm good to go! | ||
| Froggy |
If I had a dollar for every thing that has came loose and fallen off my Uly, regardless of loctite or not, I could buy a BMW that wouldn't literally fall apart | ||
| Rays |
Dr Greg, fair point on the shortcut for the lightweight guys - I have my pre-load screwed down a lot more than that because I leave it set for two-up work all of the time and hadn't considered the lighter chaps.  I like the woodwork sneaking into the special tools section - very versatile material. |
