Changing Fork Springs & Oil w/o removing forks

[GhengisT]

I picked up some Race Tech springs and Maxima 10w fork oil as an upgrade. I'm 245lb with gear and going to start tracking the bike so I felt it was a much needed upgrade.

I've got a mityvac pump and planning to raise the front end and keep the forks on the bike for the oil & spring change. The PO removed the center stand so it complicates things w/o a lift or stands which is why I'm going this route.

Seems like it will cut the time of the job in half. Anybody have any objections to this method?

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

Leaving the forks on the bike, there's no way you'll get all the old oil out of the forks..

Letting them sit upside down to fully drain is the way to go. If the old oil is really nasty, some new oil in the tubes, some pumping and then draining AGAIN, will help clean out the crap...

They do make a triple (clamp) stand that'll supposrt the bike with the forks off but that'd be more than a couple of bucks.

If you and your buddies, can lift the bike up, on say, several 4x4's screwed together and then set it on the header would get the front end off the ground. It won't hurt the header, just spread the load out a bit..

I would probably make those 4x4's long and use some bike "tie downs"-for trailering and attach to the handlebars (or somewhere parallel-frame), remove seat and place over the subframe ((with rags))) to the 4x4's for STABILITY..

 

[GhengisT]

Thanks Scott. Started looking at the stand you mentioned and they're a couple $$, also look like they would be in the way of removing the front wheel.

I came across a rear swingarm stand on harbor frieght's website for $30 that should help with stabilizing the bike. I see that everybody is using a jack under the headers. No risk in damaging or bending them?

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

I came across a rear swingarm stand on harbor frieght's website for $30 that should help with stabilizing the bike. I see that everybody is using a jack under the headers. No risk in damaging or bending them?

Nope, lift mine all the time with the CC and piece of 2x4. (It's permanently bolted to a standard automotive sizzor jack). I use it often just to at least raise the ft wheel to wipe down/ blow off the brake dust that acumulates..

I've had both wheels off at the same time (new tires) using the CC and the sizzor jack together. No issues..

**I prefer a screw type sizzor jack over a hydralic jack ONLY because the mechanical sizzor jack WON'T bleed out if there's a failure. There's not a terrible bunch of load there.


Now you can run a piece of steel tubing thru the axle, that'll stick out, then place some jack stands under each of those, (one on each side of the bike) (for a really cheap set up).

You will need a buddy to either help lift, OR, using your noggin, jack up the bike (with a sizzor jack/floor jack) then place on the stands. The rear wheel just needs to be off the floor. It'd be slightly more stable too as they stick farther out.. :thumbup:

 

[FinalImpact]

Old Oil:
If you've ever seen the nasty that comes out of forks, you'll want to dump them. Getting the sediment out will extend the life of your forks and reduce the chances of seals going bad prematurely. Once emptied, poor some clean oil in and pump them as much as you have time for to work the debris free from the bottom, then dump that a few times.

SUPPORT:
Without a Center Stand you are placing %MOST% of the bikes weight on the header. Bikes WITH A CS hardly load the nose at all as most of the weight is on the stand. Maybe ~65Lbs?

Its not going to crush it or anything like that, but it wouldn't hurt to place some small scraps of wood between the pipes and the oil pan. It will reduce the likely hood of pinching the gaskets and making an exhaust leak at the cylinder(s).

LIFTING:
Last summer I worked on an air cooled honda 650. Same issue - how to support while the front end is off/apart.

We took two 2"X4" and cut a wide "V" shape an inch deep which fit snug on the header pipes. I think they were 18" - 24" long and screwed them together side by side so it was a 4" wide "V" block. We sat that on floor jack and WALLA - up and away. It worked well.

Like mentioned above, we used tie-downs to secure the bars to an open ceiling truss in shop! Worked great! :thumbup: