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My 95 wideglide has some very soft and mushy forks. It's got 30k on it and I have no idea when the last time it was serviced, so I plan to get them in.
I was talking to a local mechanic who has a good reputation. It sounded like his game plan is to install a stiffer spring (not progressive sprung) and go to 20w fork oil for my weight. I am 200 lbs. Does this sound about right?
It sounds like its going to end up between $330-450 depending on seals, bushings ect.
How often do most service their forks? I'm going back and forth on whether to buy the tools needed and attempt this myself.
There are some write up here about how to do this. Doesn't
look to bad as long as you can get the bike in the Air. TinCup and some others are a great help.
When was the last time the fork oil was changed, if it is same oil from 1995 that oil will be nasty looking when it comes out, and if you are not the best with a wrench, well the price seems very honest, but I would not go with stiffer springs, just put a little heavier oil, and that will stiffen the ride up plenty.
There are some write up here about how to do this. Doesn't
look to bad as long as you can get the bike in the Air. TinCup and some others are a great help.
Originally Posted by Smogbob
When was the last time the fork oil was changed, if it is same oil from 1995 that oil will be nasty looking when it comes out, and if you are not the best with a wrench, well the price seems very honest, but I would not go with stiffer springs, just put a little heavier oil, and that will stiffen the ride up plenty.
Yeah I've been watching some youtube videos as well. I checked out the suspension section but it looked to be just a few sticky threads. I'll search around some more. Doesn't look like too bad of a job, and none of my seals appear to be leaking. I have no idea what has been done to the forks really. It came with 440's on the rear and has chrome sliders so who knows whats going on in there.
Around 10k intervals. Maybe 20k if you never see any dust/grit. The teflon on the slider bushings can wear thru and score the chrome on the tubes. Once that happens, you need new tubes.
Make sure the tech COMPLETELY disassembles the forks and washes ALL that settled grit out of the sliders and check valves and whatnot. Simply draining it is not sufficient at this point.
Install some progressive heavy duty springs, like night and day.
Good to know, i was planning of getting the standard for my weight if I went the progressive route. Did you run the stock weight oil?
Originally Posted by cggorman
Around 10k intervals. Maybe 20k if you never see any dust/grit. The teflon on the slider bushings can wear thru and score the chrome on the tubes. Once that happens, you need new tubes.
Make sure the tech COMPLETELY disassembles the forks and washes ALL that settled grit out of the sliders and check valves and whatnot. Simply draining it is not sufficient at this point.
the socket is 10 bucks at Autozone so I'm going to pull the nuts and see what the oil looks like. The lower of the quotes was just to swap oil and springs. Tearing the forks down ran the extra $150 with the rebuild parts.
I'm going to have a go at this myself before i take it in.
If it were me I'd pay to have it done by a professional. Completely disassembled, cleaned and flushed, new seals, filled with the right oil, to the right level. After that you can do it yourself.
I dont understand objection to Progressive fork springs?
Looks good. I'll read up more on it. So these would be used with a non progressive spring I take it?
Originally Posted by 71on72
If it were me I'd pay to have it done by a professional. Completely disassembled, cleaned and flushed, new seals, filled with the right oil, to the right level. After that you can do it yourself.
I dont understand objection to Progressive fork springs?
that's what I was thinking originally. But that's going to end up costing me closer to $500; he was suggesting swapping springs and oil at this point @ $350. Full tear down is another 150. I'm leaning more towards buying the tools necessary now and doing it myself. If something happens down the road id rather not get stuck forking out 3 hours @$90p/h of labor for a leaky seal ECT.
I have no objection to progressive springs, the techs suggestion is a heavier standard spring rate with heavier oil. The more I read on these forums the more that seems off. Seems like if I go with the correct spring for my weight I shouldn't have to add heavier fork oil, correct? I know people add SE oil to help from bottoming out stock springs for a cheaper fix. But why run it on the correct springs for my wieght, wouldn't that slow response?
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