[Newfiewinger]

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Hi;

I plan to change the fork oil on my 84 ASP this week myself ( previously done by dealers ). My manual says the fork caps are under spring pressure and to be carefull taking them off. After I take the airpressure off and drain the oil, how much pressure is left. I had a Silverwing that you could easily press the caps back on over the spring.- Is my ASP similar?

Thanks

Grant

 

[Goldwinger1984]

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Hi Grant, you can easily press the spring down with one hand if you use a T type wrench and a socket. Just make sure you don't damage the fork tube if you put it in a vise (wrap it in a cloth and don't tighten the vise too much)to hold it while you are installing the fork cap. Doing it this way will allow you to use both hands to turn the cap.

I normally place the fork leg on a piece of carpet on the floor and lift the fork tube upwith one hand while I press down on the fork cap and screw it into place. Sometimes I find ithelps to screw it backwards until I feel the start of the first thread then twist clockwise until it catches.

Vic

 

[Hobie1]

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I found that I could turn the fork tube instead of the cap and gently thread the cap back on to the tube.

My .03 worht.

hbvi

Dam spel cheqUYER

 

[exavid]

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Newfiewinger wrote:

Hi;

I plan to change the fork oil on my 84 ASP this week myself ( previously done by dealers ). My manual says the fork caps are under spring pressure and to be carefull taking them off. After I take the airpressure off and drain the oil, how much pressure is left. I had a Silverwing that you could easily press the caps back on over the spring.- Is my ASP similar?

Thanks

Grant

It's similar but the spring strength is pretty much proportional to the weight of the bike and the Goldwing is a lot heavier than a Silverwing.

 

[Newfiewinger]

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Thanks for the responses. Do I have to remove the forks to do this? My manual ( HAYNES ) doesn,t say to. There are plugs in the bottom of the forks to drain the old oil out. Am I missing something here?

Thanks again for all the help.

Grant

84 ASP

 

[exavid]

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Newfiewinger wrote:

Thanks for the responses. Do I have to remove the forks to do this? My manual ( HAYNES ) doesn,t say to. There are plugs in the bottom of the forks to drain the old oil out. Am I missing something here?

No, drain the oil, refil from the top. If you had schrader air valves on the caps you could pump in the oil without taking the caps off. Otherwise there's no easy way to get the oil back in. Personally I don't see why after draining the oil you couldn't pump it back in through the drain hole with a Vetrinarian type sryinge or a pump oil can. I'd be tempted to put some heat like a hair dryer or lamp on the lower fork legs to help the stuff come out better.

 

[wolfej1]

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This is a good idea, and I do not see why it would not be feasible. I am going to change my fork oil this weekend and will give it a shot. I will post the results.

If someone has a reason why this will not work, please reply before Saturday..

Thanks

JM Wolfe

 

[Goldwinger1984]

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wolfej1, if you are going to try pumping the oil back in through the drain hole may I suggest that you make a special fitting with a hole drilled through the centerthat has the same size theads as the fork drain plug and then solder a fitting on it that would accept a clear vinyl hose which would be attached to a plastic squeeze botlle (possibly an old, clean gear lube bottle)that could hold at least 350 cc of oil. Then you could hold the bottle with the hose attached to the fitting up high next to the fork leg and squeeze the bottle so that the oil would transfer from the bottle to the fork leg. Make sure you allow for oil spillage volume when changing from the fitting to the drain plug.

Also, crack the bike's air pressure line open a bit to allow air to be displaced during the filling process.

Myself, I would always prefer to remove and inspect the fork internals, but, not everyone enjoys working on a Wing as much as I do.

Please let us know how you made out with this fill process.

Vic

 

[exavid]

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I like the idea of opening up the forks too, but it's getting to be good weather season here, my forks aren't leaking, so I just recently changed oil. Dumped it down the airvalves on top since I have them available. The old oil didn't look too bad when it came out but you never know how long ago it was when a PO had it done. I'll probably pull the forks and check out the head bearings next winter, gotta ride now!

 

[wolfej1]

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Exavid, was it pretty simple to pour the oil down the air valve holes? Did you stick a vinyl tube in the hole and then squeeze the oil done in there?

JM

 

[GWEddie]

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Hey JM, why did you change to another username? You had some pretty good posts with the old profile. Now we have to get to know you all over again.

 

[exavid]

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wolfej1 wrote:

Exavid, was it pretty simple to pour the oil down the air valve holes? Did you stick a vinyl tube in the hole and then squeeze the oil done in there?

JM

Take the schrader valves out, use a valve cap with the little notched stem like those that used to come one bicycles, use a tire valve tool or cut a notch in a small tube. Then youcan fit a vinyl tube into or onto the valve stem. A big plastic syringe works neatly. I use a oil pump can, test it by counting the strokes it takes to pump out a measured amount of oil into a container then you'll know how many strokes to pump down the fork valve. This stuff isn't brain surgery, 10% either way isn't going to make any difference.

 

[wolfej1]

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I changed my name when I forgot my password. I should have tried to get help, but instead I just created a new account. Bad move on my part....

JM