'07 Fork Oil Change

A

AMZ

New member
iclick,

Great write up, and thanks! I read and reread your post, along with CLL375's outstanding video of the steps necessary to remove the ignition switch. I wanted to make sure I had the procedure down before I went out to the garage to attempt it. Just wanted to say that this entire process was very easy to perform and actually somewhat enjoyable. As a side note: I was having difficulty locating the 1/2" clear plastic tubing that you used in the process. I went to an AutoZone and they had a 12" clear plastic tube with a plastic "reduced" end cap that fit PERFECTLY inside the opening at the top of the fork tube. I couldn't believe how nicely it fit and how easily the fluid drained into the tube. It cost me $3 bucks and couldn't have worked any better. Thanks again!
Brad
 
Today the weather was lousy, raining all day, so good time to follow “iclick” instructions and change the fork oil in my 07 Ultra Classic. Below are my / “iclick” notes. Thanks iclick!

This was preformed on an 07 Ultra Classic.

It took me more time to read this post, assemble the tools, and write this up than I spent on the job.

1. Place bike on motorcycle lift, wheels just clearing the ground. Cover area below fork drain plug with Plastic Food Wrap. Remove ignition switch and the two screws holding the inner-fairing cap; unplug the harness and lifting the cap out of the way.

2. I used several pieces of decreasing size tubing to attach a small funnel, used a piece of Velcro to secure this to the handlebars.

3. Remove the fork top plug using the 36mm wrench in the Harley tool kit. The fork top plug is actually a 35mm, but the 36mm in the Harley tool kit works great. Remove the Phillips drain plug with a #3 Phillips bit and hand impact wrench.

4. Drain until empty, 10.5 oz. came out of the Right and Left fork. I did NOT pump the forks. Once the oil completely drains, reinstalled drain plug using Harley Chrome Allen drain plug kit #45848-03, $3.95. Tighten the drain plug per manual to 78-96 INCH-pounds. This is a metric plug, use a 5mm Socket Allen.

5. I filled forks with 11.0 oz. of Screamin Eagle Fork Oil-Heavy #99881-87, $9.90 for two pints. Fill SLOWLY, especially the last 4 oz. or so. You have to allow time for the air in the fork to “burp”. No need to pump the forks to install 10.8 oz, more you need to pump the forks a few times to get the level down.

5. Replace the top plug using new oil seal, 45733-48, $1.90 for two. Replace the inner-fairing cap and ignition switch.

The iHarley Compression Bounce Test

What is the iHarley Compression Bounce Test? You can try this at home, place a pencil secured with two strips of Velcro on the fork, eraser touching the bottom of the Cow Bell. Mount your bike, apply the front brakes, and rock the bike as hard as you can compressing the front forks. Take a measurement as to how far the pencil moves down the fork. Now obviously this is not scientific, does not account for 2-up, braking or hitting pot holes. But it does give a relative idea how much the forks compress. I was surprised doing this test with the OEM fork oil; my forks compressed to 11-3/8 from bottom of fork to bottom edge of Cow Bell. I weight 170; bike is in solo configuration, no tour pak, passenger seat or foot boards.

After fork oil change with 11.0 oz. forks compressed to 11-15/16, using the iHarley Compression Bounce Test, a difference of 9/16"

When the weather clears, will post how it rides.

Ps - Called my local Dealer, Sac HD and asked "how much" to change oil in forks... $180.00 Labor + Parts. My cost doin it myself, $17.13 including tax.
 
Great write up!! Will be changing mine today at 11,000 miles and figure doing this every 10K is cheap maint. Then at 50K will let someone tear it down and check everything out

Thanks for the info
 
I have 44k miles on my 07 FLHTC...I did this with this writeup at about 20k and Holy Freakin WOW....Best bang for the buck mod yet...I left about a week after for a Smokie Mountain trip and no more dive, i had replaced the front pads with double sintered and it was SOOOOOO sweet...Front end wobble was gone..I will be changing it this summer sometimes on a rainy weekend but it was a piece of cake...I did put new brass washers and drain screws on just to be sure...I would recommend this to anybody...BTW i used SE fork oil and 6 Rolling Rocks.
 
After reading all 4 pages I'll add some comments here; iclicks method works very well as does drawing it back up with a vacuum source and a cap that has been drilled. The vacuum works faster, not a big deal at home but when you earn a living doing this speed counts.

The reason HD says to pull it apart (at 50,000) is so you can inspect the slider bushings, the nasty black you see and smell is the teflon lining on the bushings that has worn off and mixed with the fluid. The stock fluid is Type E not some fish oil making the smell and color. At 40,000 the thrust surface of these bushings has worn through to the base metal, now you have brass and aluminum rubbing together with a thin film of fluid between acting as a polishing compound for both. Run it to long like that and the sliders will need to be replaced along with the bushings.

I recomend fluid service at 10,000 mile intervalls and complete disassembly/bushing replacement at 40,000.

As far as everybody going to a heavier fluid for a better "feel" and less braking dive, what you have done is slow down the fluid movement through the damper, yes it feels like its firmer and doesnt dive as much but the negative affect is that now rebound has been slowed down also. While its not a problem going down the highway it can be a HUGE problem if you are in a long sweeping corner at speed and encounter some whoops, rollers, or even close spaced stutter bumbs. The slower rebound will allow the wheel to loose contact with the ground momentarilly, momentum and centrifical force will carry the wheel to the outside of the corner, if the corner is long enough you will eventually find you front wheel off the edge of the road and your rear wheel following it.

The proper way to set up the front end is to either increase spring pressure or preload to couteract static sag and dive while using as light a fluid as possible to maintain rebound speed.

As iclick stated he did not need to use heavier fluid in his Road King due to the air suspension and running 15psi, why? That 15 psi is increasing the preload, while not affecting the fluid movement speed.

I know a ton of people are going to claim that the heavy fluid is working just fine for them and recommend it to many others, but God forbid you or someone you recommend this to gets into a situation as I described above and ends up off the road and in a ditch. Maybe you dont ride hard enough for it to happen to you, maybe dumb luck is better than a proper set up! Just trying to help out and save someone the "hassle" of needing a dealer to do a wreck repair!
 
Well I changed my fluid in the manner it was described here and found a few things along the way.

1. Having the forks locked to the left and trying to get the lower fairing off an 08 ultra with all the rocker switches was not fun. Having the HD unlock tool so you could bring the forks to center sure would of been a lot easier but I didn't have it and no one mentioned the pain of doing it locked.

However after I got that lower out I put the ignition switch back together so I could put the forks on center, but it don't help getting the lower on or off as its locked to the left for that

2. I found that my right Fork Cap was finger loose and the left was tight. Per the 2008 manual they are to be tightened to 50 - 60 Ft Lbs

3. The inside lower fairing screws need to be torqued to 25 -30 inch lbs or your preferred method for these easy to strip screws

4. I only got 10 ounces right on the money out of each fork leg so that is what I put back in since it was pretty full even after I let it sit for about 15 min and would see the air bubbles slowly escape out the top.

5. I bought one of those $4 funnels from Walmart that you can crack the valve open so it trickles in very slow, that way I didn't have any spillage verses trying to pour it slow then if it did overflow having to kink the line and all to stop it.

6. When I do this the next time, which will be 9,000 miles which would put my hog at 20,000 miles I will not do it this way. Way to much messing around with the forks locked and trying to squeeze that lower fairing between the tank, it also made it hard to get to the disconnect plug too.

So I will use the vacuum system, it might cost a little more to buy it and set up, but it will leave me with nothing to buy but a crush washer and fluid and if your going to be doing this yr after yr then it will pay for itself even at home.
 
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