Even if you're not replacing with progressive springs, I highly recommend changing the fork oil. I don't think it's even mentioned in the maintenance schedule at all. It's been my experience that the OEM level is low and the color/smell of the oil is nasty. I would recommend changing OEM immediately, especially if the bike's front end is very soft. Then change every 16K miles or if softness returns. But I don't think that draining the fork oil without removing the forks is the best way to do it, especially since the forks are fairly simple to remove. I like to let it fully drain, put fresh oil in, swish it around, and drain again. That way I can get all that nasty old OEM crap out of there. Good luck to ya.

 

...I don't think that draining the fork oil without removing the forks is the best way to do it, especially since the forks are fairly simple to remove. I like to let it fully drain, put fresh oil in, swish it around, and drain again. That way I can get all that nasty old OEM crap out of there. Good luck to ya.

Ditto 8)

 

I bought a cheap siphon from Auto Zone, pumped out old oil, it was nasty, put a little new fluid in, rocked bike, pumped out again, and there wasn't much original fluid left, repeated again and then filled it up to spec. I've had no problems since.

Good luck,,,

 

Even if you're not replacing with progressive springs, I highly recommend changing the fork oil. I don't think it's even mentioned in the maintenance schedule at all. It's been my experience that the OEM level is low and the color/smell of the oil is nasty.

This may be a stupid question, but I'm not familiar with the process of how to change the fork oil. Is that in the Garage section somewhere?

Another question, is it really worth the $$ for the Progressive springs? are they that much better then the stockers? A bit of a noob when it comes to forks.

 

Do the Progressive springs work?
For me they did. Others have reported varying results. They are stiffer and reduce that dip the front end takes when you come to a stop, which isn't the reason to consider them. A firmer suspension will help in cornering for instance. Rear shocks should be considered as well. It depends on how you ride; more aggressive, more need.

How to replace the springs?
There are instructions with the springs; but, like most projects, if you do a search on this site, you'll be able to read a lot of post that give a detailed description on how. Information is in the manual as well.

Good luck,,,,

 

What weight oil should be used?

 

Thanks for the input everyone.

 

Here's my 2 cents on doing the service. Hope it helps.

1. Loosen and remove the fork cap. Be careful, the cap is under spring-tension. Make sure you have the bike off the ground so there's no load on the front suspension. You will send the fork cap, spacer, spring seat and spring flying if you're not careful in applying some downward force when you remove the cap.

2. Once the cap is removed, make sure the o-ring on the cap is in place. Then remove the spacer (cylindrical tube about 4 inches long) and the spring seat (a big washer). Also remove the spring.

3. Turn the fork upside down to drain the oil. Wipe clean the spring, cap, spacer and spring seat. Pay special attention to the disassembly order for reassembly. Main thing on the spring is that the tightly coiled end is at the bottom. It's a little messy, so you may want to have some rags/cardboard ready.

4. If you have extra fork oil, pour some into the fork tube with the spring. Move the suspension up and down a few times, then pour out again. This will help flush out some of that nasty old oil.

5. Now it's time to fill with new oil. I got mine from HDL in their Christmas sale. Here's the link: http://www.hondadirectlineusa.com/store ... =239285265. Each bottle is 16 oz. You'll need two bottles, one for each fork. Get a 3rd bottle if you want to flush out the fork tube (not necessary though). If you can't wait to place an order with HDL, you could probably try your dealer or automotive store. I believe any 10w oil would do...it's very light weight oil. But don't quote me on that. I try to stay with OEM stuff unless the vast majority of others convince me better.

7. Put the spring, w/ tight coiled end down first, into the fork tube.

8. Fill each tube with oil. For both the C, R, and S model, use 15.5 ± 0.08 US oz. I just poured the entire 16 oz bottle in. There's always a little residual left in the bottle.

9. IMPORTANT! You must purge any air out of the tube before you butten everything up. With the spring and the oil in the fork tube, now carefully and slowly compress the fork tube into the fork slider. This will cause the spring to stick out of the top of the fork tube several inches. When doing this, watch your fork oil level. It will come to the top of the fork tube. Repeat this several times, anywhere between 5-10 times. This will help purge any air bubbles from the fork oil. If you do this too fast, you'll spill oil all over the place so watch the oil level carefully.

9. Reassemble the rest. The spring is already reassembled. Now place the spring seat on top of the spring, then the spacer tube.

10. Now comes the tricky part. At this point, you should see that the spacer tube is about 2-3 inches above the fork tube. Place the Fork cap onto the spacer, press down, and screw in the fork cap. You'll want to have your socket wrench on the fork cap head when you're pressing down because you have to tighten the fork cap under the resistance of the spring. Just be sure not to cross-thread the fork cap.

11. Tighten the fork cap to 16 lbs-ft. Congrats, you're done.

 

Thanks again. Really appreciate the help.

 

RARVTX, that's a nice detailed and easy to understand write up, even for a no wrench like me.. Thanks for taking the time to post it!

Todd

 

You're welcome.

Nothing brings me more pleasure than to take something I've learned from others on this board, apply it myself, and pass it on.

 

I replaced my springs and oil at 8,000 miles and it was not too stinky/nasty then. I used medium weight Amsoil Shock Therapy Fork oil. I also noticed my slider and end bushings were holding-up so far at that time. I expect those bushings to be pretty well worn by 24,000 and will rebuild the forks then, unless a seal give's out sooner.

prs

 

RARVTX, that's a nice detailed and easy to understand write up, even for a no wrench like me.. Thanks for taking the time to post it!

Todd

+1 .

RAR - Just one more question (please excuse my ignorance).

Once you remove the fork cap, is there some bolt / mechanical connection that keeps keeps the slider (lower portion) from falling off the end of the fork tube?

 

As for if the progressive front springs are worth it...
I was concerned that if I ever needed to do some hard braking and turning at the same time (as in a car pulling in front of me) that the dip from weak springs would make the bike less responsive. And, kinda thought this could be the difference between having a beer that night or an mri. I ordered my springs and will install them as soon as the temps get above single digits.

 

RAR - Just one more question (please excuse my ignorance).

Once you remove the fork cap, is there some bolt / mechanical connection that keeps keeps the slider (lower portion) from falling off the end of the fork tube?

DASVTX,

If I understand your question, you're asking about the fork tube assembly coming apart between the inner and outer tubes when the fork tube is removed from the bike? They slide in/out one another and won't come apart. I believe it's held together both by design and the fork seal. Merely turning it upside down and dumping out the oil will not cause it to come apart. You're fork seal are likely ok or you'd be noticing them leaking. Once the fork is purged of the old oil, I reinstall the fork in place, at lease the upper pinch bolts. Then after reassembly, exercise the fork up and down to purge the air. Hope this helps with your question.

 

Thanks RAR.

It was just confusion on my part. When I read your instructions and got to the part where you say to "Turn the fork upside down to drain the oil", the picture I had in my mind was that the lower somehow was off at this point and that's what you were turning upside down to drain. I didn't realize you were really talking about the whole fork as one assembly. Like I said...just ignorance on my part. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

Have a great day.....

DAS

 

If I understand this correctly, you have to remove the front wheel, brake caliber and fender and then take the forks off to turn then upside down to drain the oil.

 

Got me scratching my head as to how to turn them upside down to drain the oil without taking them off. Please enlighten and educate me on this one. What am I (we) missing?

 

I have almost 16,000 miles on my bike. This is a modifiaction I wanted to make with new spring and chaning the fork oil while I was in there. I just wanted a clear understanding before I tied into it.

I didn't know if he left a step out between #2-#3 or I just can't read between the lines.

 

Yes you have to take the wheel brake and fender off then remove the forks as one whole unit to drain. Unless you flip the whole bike over now we don't want to do that do we

 

I think that I like the pumping it out idea a little better

 

I (We) kinda slow down her in the South. I'M typing this real slow cause I can't think real fast. :roll:

 

Just take your time and the front end disassembly is not hard. Just have a friend around when you go to put the wheel back on.

 

The original point of this post was if pumping or siphoning out the oil was doable as opposed to taking the front of the bike apart. Apparently it can be done, but it 's not the best way to do it.

 

I just did mine this morning. Pumped the fluid out using one of those pumps you use to put lube in a cars rear end. It took only 2 or 3 pumps to empty it. Worked perfect. I checked it out with a light and a gun cleaning kit after I pumped it out and it was pretty clean on the bottom. I think syphoning might not have enough draw to suck up any debris, but the pump obviously did. Neither side had even close to as much fluid as honda suggests. One side was grungy, the other looked pretty clean. Worked well putting it back together on my C (with 1800 bars and risers) to simply have my wife push down on the top bolts while I pushed down and turned with a ratchet and extension from above. Easy job. No mechanical skill needed.