Changing my fork oil-- suggestions?

[shortstuff]

I was toodling along last weekend, went to brake at a red light and had the mushiest stopping power imaginable. Arrive at my destination and oh boy! my right fork seal is leaking and my odometer reads 1500 miles. I bought it used with 800 miles, so it was either a Baltimore pothole I bottomed out on, the kid before me did some wheelie practice, or I'm just that lucky.

I've ordered new forks seals and dust seals but I was curious about the fork oil. Specs say Kayaba SS-8 (cant find this anywhere on Google), and mention nothing about the actual weight. I was going to buy some 10W, but if any of you all have swapped out your oil for something else, let me know!

[g21-30]

http://www.racetech.com/page.aspx?id=55&menuid=75

[kkim]

if the bike is less than a year old, it's still under warranty, even if you are not the original owner.

[shortstuff]

Yes! My warranty expired two days before my fork started leaking (FML)

[backinthesaddleagain]

call the dealer anyway, if they are good and want your future business they might, warranty the seal replacment for you, or meet you part of the way.

[kkim]

Originally Posted by backinthesaddleagain

call the dealer anyway, if they are good and want your future business they might, warranty the seal replacment for you, or meet you part of the way.

that's a great idea! it would be a good time to see what your dealer is made of.

[shortstuff]

I've already called them and they said they cannot help me. The salesman added that the fork seals would probably not have been covered by the warranty anyways. I didn't buy the bike from them (and I probably wouldn't have either) but that's not the point-- I'm not a fan of stealerships and prefer to do as much of my own wrenching as I can.

In regards to the race tech oil-- is there a specific one I should consider?

[kkim]

did you get my pm?

[backinthesaddleagain]

Originally Posted by shortstuff

I've already called them and they said they cannot help me. The salesman added that the fork seals would probably not have been covered by the warranty anyways. I didn't buy the bike from them (and I probably wouldn't have either) but that's not the point-- I'm not a fan of stealerships and prefer to do as much of my own wrenching as I can.

In regards to the race tech oil-- is there a specific one I should consider?

had a yamaha enduro bike years ago (before they called them dual sports) dealer warrantied leaky fork seals but owner of dealership (back when they were small hardware/bike dealer and before they dumped bikes to sell honda cars and make the big money), but i digress, said the reason they leaked was because we rode alot of railroad tracks and he wouldnt warranty them again. so i asked him why is there a warranty exception based on number of times the fork moves up and down?

[HKr1]

Originally Posted by shortstuff

. The salesman added that the fork seals would probably not have been covered by the warranty anyways.

Guess maybe some dealers are jerks Kawasaki has replaced fork seals for me in the past under warranty. Even one after a rock had chipped the fork tube.

For fork oil, have been using nothing but ohlins oil lately

[shortstuff]

Originally Posted by HKr1

Guess maybe some dealers are jerks Kawasaki has replaced fork seals for me in the past under warranty. Even one after a rock had chipped the fork tube.

For fork oil, have been using nothing but ohlins oil lately

Yeah, it was a little frustrating because when I called it had only been 4 days after the expiration and when I asked him if they could help me at all, I swear I heard crickets chirping lol

[RaceBikeRentals]

I wouldn't think they would cover them. If someone is exposing the bike to adverse riding conditions, then why should Kawi be on the hook? Stacey has the right attitude anyway. Better to learn how to deal with these things on your own.

[shortstuff]

Quick update--

I ordered the fork seals through the dealership that I do like, picked up some 5w fork oil, and spent the day today replacing the seals. We were surprised at how easy it is to do; you don't really need any special tools or things out of the ordinary. It is, however, a bit time consuming if you're doing it for the first time.

A few observations though:

1) The little rubber bumpers on that the lower fairing screws thread into were in horrible shape, and the bike is barely a year old. One fell off in the removal process, and the other two broke off when I put it back on. If I have to pull off the fairing again I'll be needing to replace these.

2) When we pulled off the dust caps, we realized that the two of them were quite different. One was a matte black, and the other had the shiny glean of new plastic. We think the leaking fork had been replaced before, but it must have been a crap job because it was leaking again. Just a theory though.

3) We think we found the culprit of the leak-- a good-sized scratch on the interior of the lower cylinder which is circled in the photo. There was a small chunk of metal on the copper bushing, which we think is what caused the scratch and subsequently the leaking. We used steel wool to smooth out both pieces, and hopefully that will solve the problem. Otherwise I'll need to replace those two parts (which cost quite a bit more than the oil seal)




Word to the wise-- if you're doing this on your own, make sure you take the time to do it slow and do it right! I will be posting up a DIY as soon as I get the pictures sized.

[g21-30]

Originally Posted by shortstuff

I will be posting up a DIY as soon as I get the pictures sized.

FYI, you don't need to resize the pictures, IF you upload them to ninjette.org. The software will do that for you.

[komohana]

thanx for sharing that whole process. am gonna be doing mines soon too.