Replaced fork seals & oil, now forks are way too soft?

hajii

Registered
OK, fork newb here, so go easy on the flames...

I replaced my fork seals the other day, using CAT3's tutorial, and when I took it out for a test ride, the forks felt way too soft. I loosened the cap bolt preload & rebound adjusters according to the manual, and reset them to their previous settings after reassembling the forks. What is the stock oil weight, as the old stuff I poured out was the color & consistency of honey, and the new 7wt I put in seemed a bit thinner. Do I need to pull the forks again & put a heavier weight in?
 
My dealer tells me the the stock weight is somewhere 2.5 to 5 weight.
I used 5 weight for mine.
You should be OK with 7 weight.
I wouldn't go any higher.
Your old oil sounds contaminated, or someone changed it to some other weight if it was like honey.
Should not be that way.
JMO
 
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OK, well I decided to play it safe & send my forks out to the pros (traxxion dynamics). I just got them back & I'm looking at the checklist, and it looks like they used the same oil I used previously (maxima 125-150 7wt). Now I just have to wait until the weather gets better here before I can take it for a spin & see what kind of adjustments I need to make.

BTW Mike,
believe it or not, the original fork oil was the stuff that came in it when I picked the bike up at the stealership (bought her brand new)...kooky...
 
Well, the weather cooperated with me today, so I was able to ride into work. The forks still felt somewhat soft (at this point, it could be just me, as it's been about 3 weeks since I've been out on it, and a couple of months before that), so I adjusted them per jinxter's suspension post, and it seemed to improve greatly...I know that it gave me an extra quarter inch on the laden sag measurement. Now I just have to wait for the weather to improve again...
 
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