Fork Oil Chnage on 1200RT -- How??

[FrankBrown]

Can you change the fork oil on a '05 1200RT without taking the tubes off the bike? Can the old oil be sucked out? How much new oil goes in? Ideas please. Thanx.

[Firefight911]

Got to ask this. Why? It doesn't do anything but lube the sliders.

[bobbybob]

Don't see fork oil, or any fork maintenance at all on the schedules. And Phil's right, there's no hydraulic action as on conventional fork tubes--all that stuff is done by the front shock. Did someone tell you it had to be done?

[FrankBrown]

I just passed 98,000 miles and I can't see any oil lasting forever. I don't want any surprises 'down the line'. "An ounce of prevention.......".

[Boffin]

I just passed 98,000 miles and I can't see any oil lasting forever. I don't want any surprises 'down the line'. "An ounce of prevention.......".

 

So the oil lasts 10 million years in the ground...

 

Seriously, the oil in the forks is in a benign environment, it is cool, has no combustion contaminants and has no real load on it. All it does is be a slippery surface in the fork leg - it takes major stresses to stop that happening.

 

That said, it is easy to do on these bikes, there is a drain at the bottom of the legs and a bleed screw at the top. If you disconnect the lower leg from the wheel and the cross-brace, remove either the drain or the bleed screw, and the lower leg comes off - there is no damper-rod to get in the way. If you do this though and disturb the fork seal - change it.

 

Andy

[russell_bynum]

I just passed 98,000 miles and I can't see any oil lasting forever. I don't want any surprises 'down the line'. "An ounce of prevention.......".

 

Yeah, but what are you trying to prevent?

 

Leave it alone....there's absolutely no reason to go in there.

 

If it was a bike with conventional forks where the oil plays a crucial roll in the damping action, that would be a different story. This just lubricates the fork tubes.

[flars]

Okay, I sort of agree with the "don't worry about it or change it - it ain't doin' nuthin'" camp...

BUT - if you have a fork seal fail, you could possibly (maybe, perhaps, sometimes) get moisture into the oil, which could cause corrosion, yada yada yada if the fork seal was bad for a long time before you fixed it, or you lived in Seattle. But if the seal fails, you could replace the oil since the tube will be off anyway.

But if response to the original question - it is quite easy to just pull the tube off next time you change your front tire and drain it (assuming you don't break or strip one of the bolts holding the fender on since they seem to have a tendency to do that).

'98 R1100RS with 124000 miles, and the original fork oil.