Should be simple enough but I've never tried. Conventional forks off the GSXR. Forks out, already cracked the top bolt while still in the clamps and cleaned up shiny bits with autosol. So, according to Haynes I need 533ml of fork oil each fork. I was thinking, take top off, turn upside down, pump a couple of times and allow to drain into wife's kitchen measure jug. Leave a few hours. Mark jug, throw out old and poor same amount back in. Repeat for other leg. Does that sound OK? Also, how exact do you need to be on oil? If I end up with 506ml not 533ml, would I even notice? Also, I assume that it is OK for the shiny tubes to turn in the main tube with all the brackets? TIA.
You would be surprised how much oil is still inside after draining them for a few hours...... Yes you would notice more than the correct amount of oil.......I added 5ml to my Marzocchi forks which had been stripped, drained, and re-filled.......and they went from OK to rock hard. The slider tubes can turn, but sometimes they might leak owing to how wear has taken place on them and the seals.
There will be a measurement from the top of the threads to the oil . I think you take the springs out and lower the forks to there lowest then measure to the desired distance . Then pull them up and refit the springs and tops .
I think it depends on exactly which GSXR you have, but for a "simple" oil change, this video on Youtube seems to show a process very similar to what you had thought of first: I can't make out his accent, and the description of the measuring jug is odd ("ratio"?). Nice clear recording though.
If you can afford to and you intend on doing lots of track days and keep the bike a while it might be worth sending them to someone like Maxton Suspension who will re-valve, re-spring them etc for your weight and type of use i.e. road and track using data they have already. They will come back with a basic set up guide. Maxton Suspension home page They did my old R6 pre injection race/ track bike via recommendation from a pre-injection racer and it was not massively expensive back then. Cheaper than Ktec as they don't do as much to them for a basic level upgrade. I would not service suspension as I paid a back street bike shop to do my folks once and they felt bad afterwards, almost solid I guess armed with the right info and plenty of time it might not be so bad?
Maybe I need to work back a bit. If my fork oil is 17yrs old on a 18k mls bike, if I change it, not being VR, will I even notice?
I am in the process of a restoration on an RD250LC, the forks were stripped after laying up for 7 years. One leg was full of water and condensation and it entailed a total strip down and rebuild of both legs with new seals, stanchions, upgraded springs etc, the oil in one leg was a joke. Fundamentally do it once and do it right, your safety (or life!!) might depend on it! If you see someone lose their life through poor maintenance, as I have, then it does bring it home. But it will always be your call, but err on the side of safety for your own well-being. That's my take and I would not wish to offend anyone, we all see things differently
OK, so after speaking to my dad ("man the fuck up") and Suzuki garage ("£95 please sir") I took top off, removed spring etc dumped around 500ml of oil out. Fricking stinks by the way. So ordered new oil and quite happy, however, just watching this at 26:20 it says the adjuster should be fully screwed in. I have not done this so should I screw it in now I have it all apart or leave it alone?
That's another video - sorry I have no time to look at it now, but it depends on which adjuster he is talking about. If it's preload, I'd have thought it simply makes it easier to get the cap on and off if it is completely out (not screwed in). On the other hand if it's a damping adjuster the implications could be different. This is where a good manual can really help. Last year I did the oil on my old Suzuki RF (conventional forks, not USD) and the rebound damping adjuster screw needed sort of recalibrating as part of the refit of the caps, which was not covered in the manual - I just had to work it out. If you already have it all apart, I'd leave alone and then check how the adjusters work once you have it back together (but before refitting wheel etc, just in case you have to have any of it apart again to get the adjusters to have the right range, as I did, but even then it's probably only going to be the top caps unless you have taken apart anything at the bottom.
Usually on any fork with separate rebound and compression adjusters, they should be backed right off before dismantling otherwise the adjuster can get damaged.
If it's anything like the RF, I think that if you haven't screwed it all the way in before you took the cap off (and then back out the same amount after putting it back on), then you may find that screwing the cap back onto the damper rod (if you ever took it off) takes up all of the damping "travel" that you had allowed for with the original rebound setting, meaning that the range of travel of the screw will have been reduced. I found this out when I realised (before refitting them) that the forks had "super powerful" rebound damping, and that I could not back the adjuster screw out again the required number of turns to get the standard setting. I can probably find the notes/theory I came up with as a result, but it would make more sense to look at a bit more GSRX documentation and forums/videos. Getting back to normal, for the RF, was only a matter of removing the caps from the damper rods, adjusting screws, refitting, then doing adjustments. The forks were just fine after that.
I only have 1 fork leg apart, the other is in tact. So I recon, if on the intact leg I screw it all the way out, then count the turns all the way back in. Then on the disassembled leg screw it all the way out and the same amount of turns in as the other leg allows, I should be right.
