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Fork Oil swap


Haygood

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If I undo the bolt on the bottom of the fork, the fork oil should drain, right?   Would I be able to reattach that bolt to the damper assembly with the forks and wheel still on the bike?  

 

I'm thinking if I do a fork the right way and measure the oil level properly, maybe I could then put it back on the bike and measure  its oil level with the spring and such in place.  From then on, I'm hoping I could do fork oil swaps by just draining from the bottom bolt and topping up through the top cap.  Any thoughts?

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The bolts might just catch OK using an impact gun is my experience.

3rd gens had a specific drain bolt

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I know on a 6 gen you need to remove the front axle to gain access to the bottom bolt to allow you to drain the oil. From looking at photos of 5 gen forks they look the same so you are going to have to support the front end to get the wheel off the ground, take the brakes off their mountings and tie them up before removing the axle and wheel to gain access to the bolts. Tip, loosen the bolts before undoing the top caps to keep pressure on the inserts so the bolts will not just turn and use new copper washers when replacing.

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It only takes a few more minutes of wrenching to remove the forks, and you will be suprised at the amount of crap that will be in there.

If you're going to do it, do it properly my old boss used to say as he would kick me up the arse.

Changing the oil will not get rid of the sludge at the bottom of the forks.

However, it is better than not doing anything.

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The socket head bolts are not drain bolts, they hold the end of the damper cartridge in place. Oil flow will not be that good as the damper and oil lock piece fill the end of the fork leg. If you want to drain the oil you need to remove the forks. You don't need to take the socket head bolt out during a fork oil change unless you want to remove the damper and/or replace the seals and bushings, and then you will want a new copper sealing washer when you do the reassembly. 

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The damper bolts are shallow head hex caps, which means that there is less metal there to engage with the Allen wrench, compared with regular socket caps.  If you try to remove those bolts whilst upside down or lying on the ground you are more likely to strip the heads than if you have them clamped in a vise (or even inserted into the triples from the top) where you can see what you're doing.

 

Also, if the bolt spins, easiest way to get it out is using an AIR ratchet, second easiest is to pull the forks APART whilst wrenching on the bolt (compressing the forks is the wrong direction, but it is frequently advised anyway!).

 

Ciao,

 

JZH

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