'07 Fork Oil Change

S

summer69

New member
@iclick. Thanks man for an easy way to do this. I just finished up my 20K service and remembered I had bought two pints of SE fork oil a while ago and had read this thread a long time ago so looked it up again... It went great. I kept my steering centered and pulled the ignition from the locked position. Just made sure I never went to far left. Bike was also up on a jack, and I didn't have to pump the forks to get the fluid in. I used a 1/2" to 3/8 drive with a large phillips socket and the drain screw came right out (I did booger the right one a little and then realized I had wrong phillips size So I will have to replace it eventually). The fluid that came out was caught into one of my wifes measuring cups and was 1-1/3 cup (10.8oz = 1.35 cups btw). The hose I had on hand was to big, so I used one of those huge syringes that my wife had for basting turkeys etc. It worked great and slowed me down to allow fluid down into the fork, plus I got to keep the syringe Had to wash the heck out of the measuring cup though!!!

Test rode the bike and it made a huge improvement. Ride is not harsh and best is the nose dive at stops is gone.
 
thanks to iclick, iharley hogdoc and others who contributed to the subject of fork oil. I have an 09 Ultra and was perfectly happy with the front end until I did a front end chrome job myself (thank you hdformum members especially the guy who shared his home made ignition tool to get to the inner fairing cap off.)
i did all the work myself but took my old forks to the closest HD dealer that I swore I would never take any bike to for a number of good reasons, but I thought how can exchanging the old lowers to the chrome and putting new oil be hard with the right equipment? ( I don't have the equipment to take the springs out.)
well after I get the new new chrome forks lowers / uppers, new stainless rotors from eastern performance and HD chrome caliper covers installed , ( with spoke wheels) the front end is fantastic against a black Ultra.
well, now I notice that the front end bottoms out and mean hits bottom with the any pothole which it never did before . on top of that, the front end seems to wobble. It never did this before. I had replaced the front tire with the new 408 (?) under warantee before this all went down and it's not the front tire.
all I can think of is the fork oil is the problem.

(btw, it's on my to do list to show a pic of the new front end : chrome lowers uppers, chrome caliper covers and stainless rotors. I must say it really pops out.)

I'll be replacing the fork oil per this thread with a heavier weight. I am curious about how much oil will come out. maybe something went awry with the the HD dealership work.
in any event, i express my appreciation to all who share their expertise with others.
I'll try to update on what I find out.
thank you.
 
Why didn't you take the bike back to the dealer who installed the chrome lowers? With the Type E fluid the front-end should handle no less competently than it did from the factory, so I suspect they botched the job in some way. Too little oil? I can't say, but I would approach them about it.



Please let us know if this fixes your problem.
 
iclick: I did all the work myself (thanks to many contributions on this forum, btw, and my trusty shop manual.) I took the old forks and new chrome to the dealership for the switch and then I reinstalled. I was not going to call the dealership to talk to the mechanic although he is great young guy, but I probably will just to see what he thinks. Maybe I've just hit a string of bad luck on the local roads. The roads in my area are included with the worst in the country. maybe north america.
 
I am not having any success removing the fork cap bolts from my '08 Streetglide. I am using the 36mm wrench from the tool kit that came with the bike. Posters indicated that they are not on very tight - mine must be an exception. I have wrapped the handle of the wrench with inter tube to save on the hands. The wrench feels like it is deforming around the bolt and it is not coming off.

I have tried a couple of times in the last few weeks and give up in frustration and button it back up. I am getting real good at taking the fork lock and fairing cap off though. LOL.

I looked around today for an open or box end 35mm or 36mm wrench but Home Depot and Lowe's only have wrenches up to 22mm. From reading here I understand that the bolt is actually a 35mm but a 1 3/8" fits as well. Right? Will a regular box or open end wrench fit in this tight location? Any suggestions on where to buy one?
 
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