thought I'd "share" with you guys how I changed the fork oil on my 1982 R65.
Since buying it a month or so ago, I've found the ride very harsh. Going over the bumps in our English roads was hurting my hands, so I decided to put the 5w (standard) fork oil in it.
I read up (in the Haynes manual) how to do it and set about the right fork leg first. I set the bike on its center stand and put a large piece of card in place, to protect the front wheel, and a small metal tray to catch the oil. I undid the small hex bolt and got a couple of drips of oil. The manual said I needed to pump the front suspension up and down, but I couldn't make it move with it on the the center stand. So I pushed it forwards off the stand and out spurted the oil. Did I say "spurted"? I meant
gushed.
Of course the carefully positioned bit of card moved, and the oil went all over the front tyre (tire), wheel and disk brake!
I took me a good hour to clean up the mess. Little if no oil actually went into the specially positioned container, most of it ended up on the floor. I blotted most of this up with old newspapers, and then cat litter and then washing up liquid a brush and water.
I then sat down and had a cup of tea (I am English, after all) and a bit of a think.
Attacking the remaining (left) fork leg, I took a different tack. First I set the bike on its side stand. Then I taped a plastic bag (one of those ziplock food/freezer bags) around the bottom part of the stanchion, so as to catch the oil (leaving a small gap so that I could unscrew the bolt, before closing this gap up as well). I then pumped away at the front suspension, and as it went up and down, the dirty black oil squirted straight into the bag. Okay, I did spill a few drops when I was removing the bag (the tape
really stuck), but it was a painless operation (especially compared with the right leg!).
I then replaced the two drain bolts, put the bike on its center stand (with an old bit of board/wood, about an inch thick, under it) and set about undoing the filler allen key bolts.
The plastic cover popped off - no problem - but when I tried to undo the allen key bolt (using a 8mm key), I just turned the entire end cap. Now, the manual said nothing about this, so I got a large (3/4 inch, yes inch) open spanner to stop the cap from turning and off came to allen key bolt with no problems.
I filled each leg, as per the manual, with the 190ml of 5w oil (thin red stuff) using a syringe. I found that I was able to get the syringe into position without having to take off the instrument cover/binnacle. Then it was on with a new washer and back in with the allen key bolts, again using a spanner to stop the end cap turning.
I then pushed the bike off the elevated center stand and pumped up and down 10-15 times on the front suspension (to get the oil working again), and off I went for a test run.
The ride is far less harsh than before. The bike does dip under braking more than it did before, but it no longer hurts my hands on the bumpy roads.
So, there you have it. How
not to change your fork oil, together with how you can change it without causing a minor environmental scare.
Next up, I'll be seeing why there's a slight weep of engine oil from where the right cylinder meets the engine.
have fun
Tony
