Why are you changing the fork oil on a 2010 bike??

My mantra has always been don't fix it if it ain't broke....

 

I have posted many times and have many members post when I did this procedure for them. If you do your oil change without cleaning and inspecting your bushings you are just not doing the job.

Because of the inferior design of these forks the spring is captivated inside of the fork tube. Every time the fork moves the spring rubs against the inside of the fork tube and the two metals (spring and fork tube) grind together and form a very fine powder like jewelers rouge. The HD forks do not have an oil filter so the particulates either cake onto every part of are suspended in the oil.

Your bushings ride on a layer of Teflon coating applied to them. Once the Teflon is worn through the coefficient of friction increases and the forks work worse than they did already from the factory. The bottom slider is made of aluminum and is not known for its wear factor as per and once allowed to be worn by the worn through brass/bronze bushing the slider becomes elongated due to the axle pushing up and the raked forks being pushed down by the weight of the motorcycle and rider et.Al.. The suspended steel particulates than enhance/accelerate the wearing by acting like jewelers rouge.

The forks eventually will move more due to the wearing and your performance will degrade. This happens slowly over time so it is not as noticeable as an oil leak or a broken piston. I will happen just as sure as tomorrow will come for some of us, just think about it. Congratulations, you have made a poor handling bike worse by working on your own bike.

I do not make HD bushings or drill for oil. I did invest over $3,000 total and three people did volunteer their time only to help you figure it out by making this free how to movie. You can only lead a horse to water. I could give a crap less what you individually do after that.

Lets review what many members have experienced by stopping by and seeing for themselves than doing a little reflecting.



This is a bottom bushing, one that slides against the soft aluminum slider.


This is the oil that came out of adrainvail's bike with less than 10K on his new bike. Remember no oil cooler or oil filter. Dust and water is introduced into the system through the fork seals and condensation.



self explanatory



masterblasters slider with 4,500 miles on the bike. Look at the powdered metal inside of them. He also told you why not do do what you are indicating how to do the job wrong and enhance the wear of the suspension. Do you understand why I never buy used parts on e-Bay?



This is the metallic powder produced by the spring rubbing against the inside of the fork tube. Think about the stiction it also produces. This is on MB's 4,500 new Dyna! A rinse of $32.00/Gallon of Ohlins spedyclean was needed to clean it spotless. You can substitute acetone but it is highly flammable so do not set yourself on fire as well as carcinogenic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjSI_...oETX4w&index=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09Pyh...oETX4w&index=2

Now you know why and how to do it this way. I do not care what you do because I do not ride your bike nor would I ever buy a used bike. Try thinking about the big picture for a change and quit playing a mechanic, be one.

 

That's sorta interesting and all. It does make some sense not to have powdered metal in your fork oil. Ignoring that I didn't like your "this is the answer and bugger you if you don't like it" attitude, I'd say that you are over-engineering the fix.

I have never seen a wear problem with modern Harley forks that have their oil changed as per the manual. They last fine for years and years of normal use and are usually still fine when the rest of bike has fallen to bits around them. This is because most of that damaging metal suspended in the oil you bang on about is drained away with an oil change. Sure a bit gets left behind but so what? Its not like there are precision moving parts in there to be damaged.

As long as the spring goes up and down and fairly new oil pumps around then the forks will continue to work fine. So, basically, I don't agree with your scare-mongering about forks and jewelers rouge.

 

As stated before " I do not care what you do because I do not ride your bike nor would I ever buy a used bike." I show you the pictures and I tell you why, you do what you like. I also do not care what you think as you stated it fairly well and it shows up as well as your expertize.

 

As you clearly have no interest in any other than your own opinion why bother posting on a forum that's purpose is discussion?

 

Besides JRK and Fast Harley, this thread should be titled how NOT to change your fork oil.
The only thing different I would do than JRK is to break the caps loose, but remove the caps after you remove the fork legs. Much easier to drain the fork oil, set the proper fork oil level and remove/install the fork caps by removing the fork legs from the bike and you don't risk damage to your bike when trying to remove the fork caps.

 

Does a fork brace affect the front fork assembly positively?

 

+1 on that, I just did the exact same thing to my bike over the winter, it was kind of a b#%h but now I know the little tricks like using an impact for the Allen bolt and not letting the top cap almost murder me it will be cake next time.