I was thinking about changing the fork oil in my 09 road glide. It has 49,000 on her. Was just wondering is it possible to change the oil with the forks still on the bike or the onlly way to change the oil is to remove them. I know to do it right you should change the seals but right now she is not leaking.
thanks for any input.

Jrbean
If its not broken mess with it untill you have something to fix.

 

Do a search on fork oil change, there's a post with photo's

 

Yeah you should be able to do it on the bike with it partially lifted on a lift.

 

You can (and should) do it. You will need an 1 3/8" wrench. I did it on my 08 ultra with 30K, what a difference!!! Give yourself plenty ot time to do this. Go SLOW on the refilling. Good luck

 

Put her up on a jack to take the pressure off the front. remove top bolts, then the screw on the bottom back side. Let drain. reinstall bottom screw, refill by the book, correct weight and correct amount. Reinstall top fork bolts. Lower jack and remove from under bike. Then go ride. It's the easiest thing to do on your Harley besides putting air in the tires.

 

The Axle wrench in the HD tool kit is the correct size, I didn't find that out until I was done changing mine
I did it a while ago on a different bike and I plan to do it on my new one before the warm weather comes. I can tell you this, it is one of those things you feel immediately and it is WELL worth the effort!!!

 

Replace the bottom screws with an allen head on or whatever else you choose. Those screws can be a pain to take out. Buy a funnel and some clear 1/2" tubing.

 

I bought a funnel with and on/off **** and measuring markings on the funnel , didn't buy it for this purpose but I'm thinking (hoping really) that it will be perfect for this application. I used an impact screwdriver to remove the screws, one of them tools you buy and then can't figure out how you ever survived without it.

 

I did a thread on this complete with photo's.....did the rear shocks too. search post started by me.

 

You'll be glad you changed it. I changed mine at 10,000 and it was really dirty. There's no need to lift the bike, just drain it, pump the shocks a few times and put the new oil in. I used the Sceamin Eagle fork oil and it helped stiffen the shocks and there's no more nose dive when using the front forks.