Front fork work on '79

[Vatch]

So I finally got some time to do some work on my bike again. Last weekend my brother visited (he rides a BMW 1100R) and he took the 650 for a ride. He quickly asked what the f*ck was with the spongy front forks. I decided to drain them.

Oh, the color! A metallic black. I have pictures for your amusement.

Two questions:
The Clymer manual says to use Dextron ATF or fork oil. The local auto parts store only carries Dextron III. I’m guessing this is not the same as Dextron (I). What should I put in the forks? I read some discussions about different weights of oil for different stiffness. Opinions?

Clymer also said not to get the fork oil on the brakes when draining them. Well of course I had to drip some on the front rotor. Can this be cleaned off with brake cleaner? I do not believe I got any on the caliper of pads. If I clean the rotor am I OK? If it got on the pad I guess I’ll be changing that too.

[Vatch]

I almost forgot, one of the springs dislodged (came up out of the fork tube about 10 cm). I had to play around to get it back into the tube so it was not sticking out of the tube. I cannot see anything in Clymer to suggest it became unattached lower in the tube. Any problems here.

PS I had to get the fork cap, which had been launched across my back yard

[cb650]

Either dextron would be ok. I would use fork oil though as you can play with the weights.
Unless you got alot on the pads just clean everything up with brake cleaner.
The springs are not atached so they will pop out.




Terry

[Ibsen]

The last time I changed the fork oil I tried a 5-20 full synthetic fork oil. And it works good.

[Vatch]

I did clean the brakes off with brake cleaner. That is some nasty, yet wonderful stuff.

I decided to wait until the motorcycle shops are open this week to get fork oil. Besides, it's another excuse to go oogle bikes

[Vatch]

The last time I changed the fork oil I tried a 5-20 full synthetic fork oil. And it works good.

So the oil is 5 weight? What is dextron ATF? Is there a differnce between fork oil and engine oil if they are the same weight?

[DammitDan]

I believe they are different, because engine oil wouldn't have the same compression qualities as fork/transmission fluid.

Course that's a guess...