Fork oil level problems!

[willmckeand]

Hi guys, I've put 475cc/ml of oil in the fork with the spring etc out of it, and that amount of oil is no way near enough?


I's about 280mm down from the top with 500ml in, whereas my Haynes manual says it should be 121mm from the top!


If I put any more in I won't have enough for the other fork, and while I could buy more I think I must be missing something that's making my level so low. I'm measuring this with the fork tube fully compressed into the slider (as far as I can get it to go anyway)


Any suggestions greatly appreciated!


Will

[darrsi]

When i put my fork oil in i put the same measured amounts in each one and they didn't level properly, only a little different but i was expecting them to be equal, so i just topped up to make the air gap the same, which is the important bit.


Not sure why yours is so far out though, 'cos it sounds like you've done things by the book?

[Punkstig]

Unless there's a pool of oil under the fork I don't see how they can be fully compressed!
Haynes book of lies says to pump the fork leg at least ten times before measuring the gap!

[willmckeand]

Thanks for replying guys,


I've pumped the fork loads and tried to get as much air out as possible, but of course if anything this would make the oil level go down! The bottom bolt has been done up with thread lock and nothing has leaked out the bottom so I just can't work it out!


As far as I can see I've done it exactly by the book, and by John Silvas guide in the How To's


Would it be a problem if I just bought more oil and made both forks up to the specified level? I think that if I did this there would be at least 700ml in each fork to get them both up to 121mm from the top!


Cheers again!

[darrsi]

Have you tried emptying the oil out and pouring it in the other one to see if it's a similar air gap?

[Punkstig]

Would it be a problem if I just bought more oil and made both forks up to the specified level? I think that if I did this there would be at least 700ml in each fork to get them both up to 121mm from the top!

Yes it would be a problem because something is obviously wrong here!

[willmckeand]

I've measured the oil that I drained out of the forks, it was about 450ml a side, so do you think I should just put 475 in each as specified and ignore the 181mm gap from the top? Or fill them up so the oil is 181mm from the top which could end up being about 600/700ml in each fork?


Thanks

[darrsi]

You mean 121mm ?


I don't think anyone will really want to commit to give you a definitive answer because either way would be false information.
I really don't know what to suggest to be honest, although just having equal air gaps is a start i s'pose?

[Jacko]

Sounds like its not compressing fully.

I'd whip it all apart and start again to be sure. Pain I know.

[bbb]

As others have said it sounds like something is stopping the stanchion dropping all the way down. I did an oil swap a couple of weeks ago and one litre was more than enough to do both legs with a 121mm air gap, admittedly I didn't disassemble them but still...


It's catching on the bush is it? should be nice and smooth up/down.

[willmckeand]

Guys....it's embarrassing but I'm going to have to confess that it appears as though I wasn't putting the pork back together in the right order....


I was sure I noted how everything went when taking it apart but I had the damper in the very bottom part of the fork, rather then protruding into the bottom from the bottom of the slider. This obviously caused the the slider to rest on the damper making the overall length of the fork longer meaning that the 475ml of oil didn't reach as far up the tube as it should 


I finally got round to taking the whole thing apart again and after studying the exploded diagram in the Yamaha service manual (not the crap Haynes one) I figured out how it's meant to go together.


She's back up and running now so all is good.


Thanks so much for your suggestions, unfortunately me being inexperienced when it comes to suspension didn't seem like the problem at the time -_-


Will

[darrsi]

It's all a learning curve, at least it's sorted out anyway 

[Punkstig]

It all pointed to something being wrong, it would have been a massive mistake (and potentially dangerous) to not investigate why there were big differences with quoted levels and what you had!

[darrsi]

It all pointed to something being wrong, it would have been a massive mistake (and potentially dangerous) to not investigate why there were big differences with quoted levels and what you had!

"....Guys....it's embarrassing but I'm going to have to confess that it appears as though I wasn't putting the pork back together in the right order...."


I blame it on the "pork"........ 

[willmckeand]

  my bad! This is why I don't like typing on my phone....


Cheers again guys, and you're right, I'm so glad I looked into it further instead of just going with what I had and ended up crashing


Will

[darrsi]

my bad! This is why I don't like typing on my phone....


Cheers again guys, and you're right, I'm so glad I looked into it further instead of just going with what I had and ended up crashing


Will

If you salt it out with the right amount of pork oil you'll end up with a crackling bike 

[willmckeand]

Oh dear oh dear.... good one! 

[darrsi]

Oh dear oh dear.... good one! 

I'll get my coat......