Hawk fork oil replacement
From: SMTP%"Kenneth.Lawas@analog.com" 24-MAR-1995 09:17:02.61
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Subj: REPOST: Progressive Springs Report
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Date: Fri, 24 Mar 95 10:13:42 EST
From: Ken Lawas x2631
To: HawkGT@dsea.com
Subject: REPOST: Progressive Springs Report
Here's Mike's post from my own archives. I corrected and added a
couple of points that were mentioned in follow-up posts. I used
these instructions when I did my forks, and except for having a
couple extra bottles of fork oil all worked out great.
(Could this become our group's first FAQ?)
-Ken
'90 NT650
kenneth.lawas@analog.com
----- Begin Included Message -----
From hprnd.rose.hp.com!mnielsen@dsea.dsea.com Mon Aug 15 23:27:54 1994
From: Mike Nielsen
Subject: Progressive Springs Report (longish)
>To: hawkgt@dsea.com (HawkGT)
Date: Mon, 15 Aug 94 10:34:36 PDT
>Cc: dayton@shadow.scs.unr.edu (Dennis Dayton),
Steven_K_Girouard@ccm.fm.intel.com (Steven K. Girouard),
toddgh@shadow.scs.unr.edu (Gary Todd)
Mailer: Elm [revision: 66.25]
Progressive Front Fork Springs Report (with other suspension mods as well).
It's a snap. Takes about 1.5 hours (taking your time, losing tools and
end caps, etc).
--
After months of deliberation, I decided to "bite the bullet" and pick
up a set of progressive front fork springs. I don't necessarily
support any company (in this case, Progressive), but they are the best
known aftermarket suspension solution provider that I know of.
It is necessary to drain the fork oil before changing your springs.
This can be done one of many ways, one of them being "remove forks and
drain" - ala Service manual, or you could do it the better way and
follow some of the following steps:
0) Make sure you have app. 2 liters of fork oil ready. I used EXACTLY
(by blind luck, I assume) 2 bottles of app. 1 liter each. I also used
10wt, which I will explain later. [Actually, you need one liter. Two
bottles of 500ml does it].
0.5) Go to your local hardware store and pick up some thick guage 1"
PVC piping. About 1 foot should do. Then Cut the PVC into 2 3"
pieces, removing and plastic residue from the pipe. Clean it
thoroughly. These will be your new and improved spacers. (note: you
can make them bigger/smaller to adust preload. Buy extra PVC if you
want to have spares. Hell, it only costs about 22 cents a foot.) This
will save you from cutting your stock spacers to pieces.
1) Pop off the fork tube end caps. Be careful not to allow them to fly
across the room, and BE SURE THE FRONT END IS SUSPENDED BY ANY MEANSN
NESSARY! If not, you'll end up with a broken Hawk, a pissed owner, and
a huge mess. Suspend the front by placing a large block under the
engine block, of by strapping a rope to the triple clamp (upper) and
tying the other end to the rafters in the garage. [Loosen the pinch
bolts on the triple clamp before removing the end caps. The pinch
bolts can compress the fork tubes slightly.]
2) After removing the end-caps, find a larger (1-2 liters) container,
preferably a 1/2 gallon milk container or an old Sunny Delight bottle.
This will help in collecting the copious amounts of spooge out of the
forks. Something with a pouring neck would be perfect.
3) Remove the spacers from the fork tubes.
4) find an (8 or 10) mm wrench (sorry, I can't remember which). Loosen
the small drain bolts at the bottom of the fork leg. They are located
about 6 inches or so above the bottom of the leg on the backside (side
on the fork closest to the engine). Get the bottle du spooge ready,
and remove the first bolt. The liquid will fire out as if propelled,
so adjust the bottle accordingly.
5) Repeat the same process on the other side. Drain as much of the oil
as possible but pumping the forks or turing the forks side to side.
You might want to replace the bolts when done, or you could end up with
some residual spooge all over your front wheel and rotor. Trust me,
this is not the preferred method. It's really hard to stop with oil
all over the rotor. Again, trust me. :-( [This may be the optimum
time to safety wire the drain bolts while they are out.]
6) If you have a "bolt picker" (the long rod with the hooks on the
end), get it. If not, find a metal hanger (no, the chique little
plastic ones won't work) and bend it until you have a straight rod with
a hooked end. Remove the fork [springs] with this magic tool you've
just created. HAVE A TOWEL READY!!! The forks will still have a bit
of spooge on them, so be careful.
6.5) Be sure you've remove the spacers and the washers just below the
spacers (between the spacers and springs).
7) Using said hangar tool, make it as STRAIGHT AS POSSIBLE, and measure
off about 7 inches on it. Measuring from the top, measure about (no,
exactly) 5.5" down, and mark that spot. This will be your new fork
tube dipstick. Mark off the 4.5, 5.0, 5.25, 5.50, and 5.75 spots on
the stick with masking take or something similar. (Progressive
suggests that you go NO HIGHER than 5.5" in the tubes with the fork
oil, so this is what is necessary on the Hawk).
8) BE CAREFUL!!!! THIS STEP COULD REALLY SUCK IF YOU'RE NOT!!!! Find a
bungee cord, and bungee off the front brake lever, forcing the brake
on. This will help you from picking up the Hawk from the floor. Using
a friend or SO, remove the blocks from under the Hawk and SLOWLY allow
the Hawk to rest on the stops in the front end. It will look really
silly, but it's the best way to do it. The Hawk should now look as if
it were "raked", with the nose diving heavily into the ground and it's
butt in the air. The forks should be totally and completely collapsed,
and the springs, spacers, and washers should be removed.
9) Fill up the forks using your fork oil and whoopie tool (fork
dipstick). Fill the forks until the OIL LEVEL IS 5.5" BELOW THE TOP OF
THE COMPRESSED FORK!!! Exactness in each fork is absolutely
mandatory. If one is 5.44 inches, make both 5.44". Oh, and be sure
the drain plugs are in the sockets. Otherwise, go buy more fork oil!!
I had to use a straw to remove miniscule amounts of fork oil to exact
the sides. It took a bit of time, but well worth it. [I used a short
carpenter's level on the top of the tubes to center the steering before
adjusting the oil level.]
10) Stick the motorcycle back up on it's blocks, suspending the front
end again.
11) Insert the New Springs and washers (old washers). Insert the new
PVC spacers on top of the washers. 3" is the recommended height, and
seems to work well so far.
12) Replace the end caps. Tighten up all bolts to specs, and BE SURE
THE TIRE/ROTOR IS CLEAN!!! Icky slides and anti-stops are a problem
with oil all over the wheels. Once again, trust me.
Notes:
Fork oil weight: I used 10 wt, partially by the recommendation of a
Honda Guru (who now works for DynoJet in Vegas), and partially because
I hated the stock damping rates. MUCH better now.
Preload: I used the stock preload settings of 3" spacers in my bike
with the 10wt fork oil. Seems to work extremely well so far.
Rear Preload: You may have to adjust the rear to compensate for the
front. I have cranked up mine most of the way, and in comparison to
the front, the rear is totally pathetic. I want a Fox now. The superb
front truly points out the deficiencies of the rear in both rebound
damping, compression, and preload.
ObHandling: The Hawk handles absultely wonderful now. I wish I had
done this a year ago or so.
ObStoppies: If you have sticky tires, and are fairly daring, the Hwak
will stoppie for days. NO MORE FRONT END DIVE!!!! The front barely
shudders when you are under hard, I mean HARD braking. Time to buy a
set of GP's (Sportmax).
Well, I truly hope this helps everyone out. I think it was well worth
the monetary and time investment.
Later!!!!
Mike
--
Mike Nielsen / Hewlett Packard Company
(916) 785-3293 Office /__ ___ 8000 Foothills Blvd - MS R3NB
(916) 785-4711 Fax / / /__/ Roseville, CA 95678
/
((:< mnielsen@hprnd.rose.hp.com >:))
Mike_Nielsen@hp5200.desk.hp.com
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