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Old 08-09-2017, 06:05 PM   #1
ldhthept   ldhthept is offline
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Fork oil change

06 Nomad 60k miles. I've changed fork oil once, went to 15w, and changed the stem bearings at the same time. How often should they be changed? I'm not having any problems and the bike is smooth as glass hands off going down the road.



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Old 08-10-2017, 04:30 PM   #2
Sabre-t   Sabre-t is offline
 
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It may be overkill, but I change fork oil, grease the stem bearings and change the coolant every 2 years all at the same time. It's also a good time to check the wheel bearings, rim and disk runout and thickness, etc. I just finished doing that last month for the first time on the Voyager. I went to a 15W, too. Be sure to use the same brand and weight next time you change the fork oil. The weigh numbers on fork oils very inconsistent between brands. There are no standards for fork oils like there are for motor oils.

2 years or 15K - 20K miles, whichever comes first is a common recommendation for change intervals. It amazes me that Kawi does not have it on the maintenance schedule at all, at least for the Voyager. Fork oils have acid inhibitors that will get used up over time.
 
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Old 08-11-2017, 04:00 PM   #3
VulcanJeff   VulcanJeff is offline
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The 2005 1500 Classic factory manual calls for 2 years of 15k miles. It does seem odd the Voyager manages to slip by that recommendation.

I was not aware fork oil weights do not conform to a standard.
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Old 08-11-2017, 05:01 PM   #4
recumbentbob   recumbentbob is offline
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Fork oil weight is measured in Centistokes. Which is kind of confusing.
See chart
http://mahonkin.com/~milktree/motorcycle/fork-oil.html
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Old 08-11-2017, 05:50 PM   #5
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I have seen that chart before...really made my head hurt...



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Old 08-11-2017, 09:33 PM   #6
Sabre-t   Sabre-t is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by recumbentbob View Post
Fork oil weight is measured in Centistokes. Which is kind of confusing.
See chart
http://mahonkin.com/~milktree/motorcycle/fork-oil.html
That chart is organized by Centistokes for comparison purposes only; it is not a standard. The weights listed on the oils are not consistent with the Centistoke viscosities. That is the whole point of the table: fork oils from different mfgs that list the same weights will not have the same viscosities. The table was cut and pasted from an article published online some years ago. I can't find a link to the original article anymore, though.

I have never seen viscosity, Centistoke or otherwise, values listed on a bottle of fork oil, only "weight" values.
 
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Old 03-04-2020, 04:33 PM   #7
degreaser   degreaser is offline
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I bought a litre of Maxima 20w fork oil, viscosity chart says it's a 65.60 cSt@40c
Is that OK for my 2005 VN800? I'm wanting a little bit stiffer ride.
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Old 03-04-2020, 05:34 PM   #8
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If you want a little stiffer ride I would go 5W over what the manual advises.
A better cure is to add stiffer springs made by Progressive and stay with the stock oil.
 
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Old 03-04-2020, 06:31 PM   #9
degreaser   degreaser is offline
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I have a qt of maxima 10wt and a qt of maxima 20wt fork oil, what ratio of mixing the two will make a 15wt?
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Old 03-04-2020, 07:45 PM   #10
degreaser   degreaser is offline
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I've a some-what formula for mixing my new 10w qt of fork oil and new 20w to come up with a 15w fork oil (which no one in town has in stock).
So I got the following from the Viscosity Chart.
the 10w is 32 Vis@cSt40c
the 20w is 65.60 Vis@cSt40c
the 15w is 46.00 Vis@cSt40c

the goal is to make a 46.00 Vis@cSt40c fork oil

a=percentage of the 10w)
b=percentage of the 20w)
c=46.00

(a x 32) + (b x 65.60) = c
if I use a = 33% , therefore (0.33 x 32) = 10.56
(c - 10.56) = 35.44
therefore, 35.44 = (b x 65.60)
so b = (35.44 divby 65.6) = 0.54
therefore, to make a 15w (46 Vis@cSt) oil I would use:
33% of the 10w + 54% of the 20w

this is the extent of my math ability which I know is not great lol
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Old 03-04-2020, 11:15 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by degreaser View Post
to make a 15w (46 Vis@cSt) oil I would use:
33% of the 10w + 54% of the 20w
Your Canadian math is almost as bad as our Common Core math...
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Old 03-05-2020, 07:44 AM   #12
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Nice Trigonometry equation. Bring the viscosity into it maybe a little over thinking it. But probably more accurate then just a common sense guess of mixing it 50/50 and calling it close enough.
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Old 03-05-2020, 09:53 AM   #13
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If I do a 50/50 mixing, and if i mix up a total quantity of 600mL, (300mL for each fork), then 50% of 600 = 300mL @ 32 Vis (from the 10w jug) + 300mL @ 65.6 Vis (from the 20w jug) = 100% of (50% @ 32 Vis + 50% @ 65.6 Vis) = (32 + 65.6) = 97.6 x 0.5 = 48.8 Vis of 600mL of mixed fork oil? How's that. So to get a true 15w i would dab a little less 20w and a little more 10w to get @46 Vis?
How about a mix of 60/40, 60% 10w + 40% 20w
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Last edited by degreaser; 03-05-2020 at 09:55 AM.
 
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Old 03-05-2020, 10:01 AM   #14
degreaser   degreaser is offline
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ok, this brings up a question I have about oil density, because if either of the 10w and 20w oils have different density, mixing the 2 will cause the lighter density oil to float on top of the heavier density oil? which makes me wonder if the oil Viscosity = oil density?
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Old 03-05-2020, 10:32 AM   #15
degreaser   degreaser is offline
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found this below (copy/pasting) when I googled 'Does oil viscosity equal oil density:

There are several formulas and equations to calculate viscosity, the most common of which is Viscosity = (2 x (ball density – liquid density) x g x a^2) รท (9 x v), where g = acceleration due to gravity = 9.8 m/s^2, a = radius of ball bearing, and v = velocity of ball bearing through liquid. n fluid dynamics, Viscosity is the parameter to measure the thickness or thinness of any given fluid. Density is the measure of spaces between two particles in a given fluid. Viscosity and Density are the characteristics of a fluid, but there is no direct relation between viscosity and density.

So being I'm not a chemist, maybe I should return these 2 jugs of fork oil and just order a bottle of 15w
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