element51 Posted March 6, 2009 Share Posted March 6, 2009 Hey guys, I am planning to change the oil in the forks of the weekend (not a thorough cleaning, just flushing the oil). I have a bottle of medium wt fork oil and a 1980 xs400. I found the drain screw, but how do i refill the forks? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimR Posted March 6, 2009 Share Posted March 6, 2009 Hey guys, I am planning to change the oil in the forks of the weekend (not a thorough cleaning, just flushing the oil). I have a bottle of medium wt fork oil and a 1980 xs400. I found the drain screw, but how do i refill the forks? To Refill :- remove the rubber bungs at the top of the fork, push down on the metal cap & remove the circlip. The cap will then come out (take care as the cap is under spring tension) and refill through the resultant hole. Regards Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KFunk Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 To Refill :- remove the rubber bungs at the top of the fork, push down on the metal cap & remove the circlip. The cap will then come out (take care as the cap is under spring tension) and refill through the resultant hole. Regards Jim I'm in the same boat, and can't figure out what you mean Jim. There's a rubber plug at the very top thats easy to access on my bike (somewhere above part 28 in this pic), but theres nothing underneath that but an immovable piece of metal. It looks like you mean part 20, but that must be hidden by the chrome covers, i.e. parts 33 and 34. Am I gonna have to disassemble a good bit of the front end to get those out of there and access the cover you speak of? Anyways.. it appears my left front fork seal is leaking bad, and it bottomed out on a bump while pulling into a parking lot yesterday. Besides the seals, I think I need to change the inner fork tubes... theres some bad pitting on the left one and some pitting on the right one. I'm shopping ebay for better ones, or may try to get some at a bike salvage yard here. Until I get that stuff, I just wanted to top off the oil and keep the bike somewhat safe for riding around town.... unless you guys think i should park it until its done... Yes, I rode it 110 miles yesterday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YPVS TONE Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 Looking at the picture you take out the bung at the top of the fork item 20 and if you look inside the tube you will see item 23 which as jimr has said you need to hold down ( i found a long extenson bar from a socket set used to work ).Once compressed you should see the circlip which you need to prise out with a small flat screwdriver.As jimr has said again be carefull as this is under spring pressure and sometimes it helps if you loosen the top yoke bolts that clamp the fork tubes and squirt a litle bit of wd40 down the top to help it come out. Tony. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
element51 Posted March 9, 2009 Author Share Posted March 9, 2009 I'm in the same boat, and can't figure out what you mean Jim. There's a rubber plug at the very top thats easy to access on my bike (somewhere above part 28 in this pic), but theres nothing underneath that but an immovable piece of metal. It looks like you mean part 20, but that must be hidden by the chrome covers, i.e. parts 33 and 34. Am I gonna have to disassemble a good bit of the front end to get those out of there and access the cover you speak of? Anyways.. it appears my left front fork seal is leaking bad, and it bottomed out on a bump while pulling into a parking lot yesterday. Besides the seals, I think I need to change the inner fork tubes... theres some bad pitting on the left one and some pitting on the right one. I'm shopping ebay for better ones, or may try to get some at a bike salvage yard here. Until I get that stuff, I just wanted to top off the oil and keep the bike somewhat safe for riding around town.... unless you guys think i should park it until its done... Yes, I rode it 110 miles yesterday. Actually, I did the fork oil change two days ago. Once you remove that rubber cap, you have to push down hard on the metal plug. Once it's all the way down, you will see a circlip, which has to be removed in order for the metal plug to come out. To hold the metal plug down, I drilled a hole halfway through a broom, and stuck a 1 1/2" or so skinny pipe into that hole. I then took the handlebars off and clamped the broom down on the handlebar mount. Basically you want the broom+pipe tool to push and hold the metal piece down while you work on removing the circlip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator drewpy Posted March 9, 2009 Moderator Share Posted March 9, 2009 might have to whack it down as sometimes it gets a little rusty. get a partner (the wife) to pick out that thin, stupid, piddling, little bleedin' circlip which pings across the freekin garage and take fookin ages to find. put some copper slip in there before reinserting. and ALWAYS use yamaha O ring in there, as normal O rings are not the same size, then the top cap won't blow off under hard braking and get lost in the middle of no-where and you'll have to ride home with soggy suspension!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KFunk Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 might have to whack it down as sometimes it gets a little rusty. get a partner (the wife) to pick out that thin, stupid, piddling, little bleedin' circlip which pings across the freekin garage and take fookin ages to find. put some copper slip in there before reinserting. and ALWAYS use yamaha O ring in there, as normal O rings are not the same size, then the top cap won't blow off under hard braking and get lost in the middle of no-where and you'll have to ride home with soggy suspension!!!! Ah, yes I made an attempt myself earlier. Soaked it in PB Blaster and gave a few whacks and moved it, but couldn't hold it down well enough to remove circlip, and I quickly gave up. No wife here. Would it be wrong to ask the new g/f to help? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
element51 Posted March 9, 2009 Author Share Posted March 9, 2009 Ah, yes I made an attempt myself earlier. Soaked it in PB Blaster and gave a few whacks and moved it, but couldn't hold it down well enough to remove circlip, and I quickly gave up. No wife here. Would it be wrong to ask the new g/f to help? I think the broom method is quick and easy. I dug up a close-up of the broom method http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e360/vel...le/DSCF0915.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KFunk Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 I think the broom method is quick and easy. I dug up a close-up of the broom method http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e360/vel...le/DSCF0915.jpg I don't have a broom, or a drill... but I figured out how to do it with a 3/8" ratchet, 1/4" adapter, and 1/4" drive socket: I went ahead and changed the oil in both. The right side was really rusty and the metal plug wouldnt come out even with circlip removed. I ended up bouncing on the front of the bike and shot myself in the groin area with the fork spring/plug. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator drewpy Posted March 10, 2009 Moderator Share Posted March 10, 2009 I ended up bouncing on the front of the bike and shot myself in the groin area with the fork spring/plug. :lol: I had to drill one and buy a slide hammer to shift it, that's after a rebuild the year before!! I remember sending one, when I was restoring the bike, to local engineers who had to lathe the plug thin to get out the spring. The foreman told me, the operator was banging the fork down to push out the plug and visually checked every time to see how much it moved. the last time he looked the spring wasn't there and as he looked around, the spring hit him on the head. must have shot 30 feet in the air and took a few seconds to land best £20 I've ever spent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimR Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 :lol: I had to drill one and buy a slide hammer to shift it, that's after a rebuild the year before!! I remember sending one, when I was restoring the bike, to local engineers who had to lathe the plug thin to get out the spring. The foreman told me, the operator was banging the fork down to push out the plug and visually checked every time to see how much it moved. the last time he looked the spring wasn't there and as he looked around, the spring hit him on the head. must have shot 30 feet in the air and took a few seconds to land best £20 I've ever spent Hi Drewpy, hence why I added caution to removing the plug ... back in the 80's I nearly lost an eye (by my own fault) as the clipwas removed and the spring forced the cap out a while later !! Regards Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-man Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 I don't have a broom, or a drill... but I figured out how to do it with a 3/8" ratchet, 1/4" adapter, and 1/4" drive socket: I went ahead and changed the oil in both. The right side was really rusty and the metal plug wouldnt come out even with circlip removed. I ended up bouncing on the front of the bike and shot myself in the groin area with the fork spring/plug. That's smart thinking. Me, I wasn't as smart, left an imprint on my chest from the screwdriver handle end, as I pushed down with it with one hand while prying out the retainer clip with the other. Nice patina on them bars, btw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimR Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 That's smart thinking. Me, I wasn't as smart, left an imprint on my chest from the screwdriver handle end, as I pushed down with it with one hand while prying out the retainer clip with the other. Nice patina on them bars, btw. Hi G I guess it all would be well fixed with gt85 /wd40 Regards Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-man Posted March 14, 2009 Share Posted March 14, 2009 Hi G I guess it all would be well fixed with gt85 /wd40 Regards Jim ...like anything else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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