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Post by mftic on May 2, 2016 9:20:49 GMT -5
jtron- keep me/us updated on what you do with the forks. Mines kinda the same way but I'm willing to just change the oil in mine first and try that since I have an old machine. I checked out the video posted here and it was great for disassemble but very lacking in any knoweledge on oil (kinda and quantity) and also re-assembly.
I'm pretty sure either way I'm going to rip mine apart in the coming weeks.
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Post by rcq92130 on May 2, 2016 13:35:27 GMT -5
Assuming you have a triple tree, the shocks are held at the top by pinch bolts to the triple tree.
you can try loosening the pinch bolts (atop BOTH struts) and see if you can then straddle the front wheel and tweek the handlebars a little bit in the direction you need as you would with a bicycle.
Better if you unload the front (jack or blocks under the floorboard so the front tire is just touching the ground) so the shocks are not pushed up in the pinch bolts when loose.
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Post by jtron on May 3, 2016 13:17:32 GMT -5
Might just try that as soon as I get the time. So busy with school finals now that I won't be able to play with the scoot for a couple of weeks. I'm not sure what I'm gona do in regards to them being too soft though, I'll probably just try and change the oil first. They could be low or empty for all I know. Duno what sort of weight I'll use though, anyone know what stock fork oil weight is? I wanna get way heavier oil than stock and see if it helps
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Post by rcq92130 on May 3, 2016 14:00:11 GMT -5
Like I said, fork oil is approx the weight of transmission oil (except that the weight of trans oil is not controlled). There are different weights available - 10 02 12 ... maybe 15. And like I said - try just adding a small bit of  weight to what is already in there to stiffen it up. You can remove the forks and make a big deal out of it if you wish ... but just opening the top (unweight the wheel first!) and with an eyedropper squirt in a little blurt of heavy weight oil. It will mix with what's in there and make it a higher viscosity. |
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Post by jtron on May 3, 2016 16:23:16 GMT -5
Like I said, fork oil is approx the weight of transmission oil (except that the weight of trans oil is not controlled). There are different weights available - 10 02 12 ... maybe 15. And like I said - try just adding a small bit of weight to what is already in there to stiffen it up. You can remove the forks and make a big deal out of it if you wish ... but just opening the top (unweight the wheel first!) and with an eyedropper squirt in a little blurt of heavy weight oil. It will mix with what's in there and make it a higher viscosity. thanks, I'll probably take the old oil out though and add some new transmission or fork oil rather than add to thw eXi sting oil. Cuz I've seen ppl pull black oil out of the forks lol, I dunno what they put in it in the factory. |
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Post by pistonguy on May 18, 2016 10:36:02 GMT -5
K, these scoots seem to have mostly the same front end. No Triple tree just "a" Cast Clamp holing the Top of the Fork Leg. week link not Matter how much you stiffen up the front end.  Hers is the Top of my Left Fork Leg, whoever on the assy line held the Fork up with one hand and a air gun in the other and as it slipped down they Rammed the Top Pinch Bolt Home and missed some locating slot. so Yes the front is tweeked.   |
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Post by pistonguy on May 18, 2016 10:44:17 GMT -5
I will move to a higher end fork oil like Maxima were my Viscosity choices are 5,10,15,20. Stay the heck away from mixing fork oil Cocktail. You can also make a spacer to go beware the top cap and the spring, this will stiffen up the Pre-Load. Need to be careful Not to Coil Bind the Spring with too tall Spacer. Now with that Spacer and Heavier Oil were stiffer and Taxing More that Cheesy Clamp. Like you hold on to the Fork Tube By the Top with One Hand instead of Two. With the Clamp situation I can't see ponying up for any higher End Fork's   This last set has a Large Tube diameter with the Top same as oe to fit stock clamp's cool, but still that cheesy clamp.  |
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Post by pistonguy on May 18, 2016 10:49:35 GMT -5
Ive just fit these Forsa Nitrogen Shocks. they required the Re-Locating block to fit. I bit over-spung but Much Better dampening and re-bound.   |
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Post by pistonguy on May 18, 2016 10:52:00 GMT -5
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Post by lain on May 18, 2016 11:11:08 GMT -5
Straight from the factory my front forks have always been much too soft. Quite easy to bottom them out. Im looking to stiffen them up a bit, would a heavier oil suffice, or should I try and preload the spring with a washer too? What weight oil would be best if currently it's much too soft and bouncy? Also, a bit unrelated, but also fro. The factory my steering column seems slightly off, not enough to be a huge problem, but annoying enough. My bars are turned slightly right when the wheel is straight. I duno if it's possible to straighten them out like on a bicycle, isn't there a bolt that goes through the center of the tube them keeping them in place? Is it possible to just loosen them up, realign, then tighten like on a bicycle? Been there, done that. What you need to do is get the tools to dissasemble the shocks, measure the amount of oil currently in there... It should be between 50 and 75ml but you should make sure and keep note. The shocks usually come apart with huge L wrenches or 17mm nuts on the top, and smaller but still large L key wrench for the bottom. Clean them out with grease cutting dish soap, but do not let it dry, immediately follow up with filling the shocks and flushing them with seafoam. Then fill them and flush them once or twice with 15W or 20W MOTORCYCLE FORK OIL. then hang them upside down for a couple hours to let them completely drain all oil and whatnot, put it all back together till you are at the point where you about to put the top nute back on, but at his point you want o fill the shocks witht he same amount on oil for both shocks. If you took out 50ml from each, put 50ml in each. If one of the shocks had less when you were first measuring it doesnt matter, they both need to be the same amount. Make sure to have the shocks extended while filling or you might get hands full of oil. After filling the shocks you want to slowly pump them to get any air bubbles out, keep pumping till you dont see air bubbles coming up anymore then put the cap nut on and install your newly refurbished shocks that are now able to handle much more shock and weight! |
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Post by lain on May 18, 2016 11:12:31 GMT -5
Like I said, fork oil is approx the weight of transmission oil (except that the weight of trans oil is not controlled). There are different weights available - 10 02 12 ... maybe 15. And like I said - try just adding a small bit of weight to what is already in there to stiffen it up. You can remove the forks and make a big deal out of it if you wish ... but just opening the top (unweight the wheel first!) and with an eyedropper squirt in a little blurt of heavy weight oil. It will mix with what's in there and make it a higher viscosity. You do not want to mix old and new oils, it doesn't work half as well. I have done it, they still stay springy. Just do it right the first time and never worry about it again unless you break the oil seals. The oil weight you choose should be not random. You have to factor in weight of bike, weight of riders, and how many potholes you unexpectedly hit each day... lol. I use 20W because I am about 200lb, I carry a passenger who is about 100, total 300 rider weight, bike weight is about another 400 pounds, roughly 600-700 pounds of weight on the suspensions, so yeah 20W like a light motorcycle. |
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Post by rcq92130 on May 19, 2016 20:03:48 GMT -5
Given the refineries blend different viscosity oils together to get the 20-weight or 30-weight they wish to sell, it's not serious to say "you can't blend oil" or call it "a cocktail" (yep, YOU, P-guy!)
Honda Goldwings weigh about 900 pounds and are notoriously spongy in the front end. It's a common practice to "TUNE" your suspension for the ride you want by mixing up oil viscosity. Why tuning a scooter front end is crazy is unclear to me.
Tune your variator by changing weights. Tune your front suspension by changing viscosity. It's America.
ps: just don't mix traditional oil (including almost all "fork oil" and transmission oil) with synthetic oil. They just don't play well together.
pss: some people advocate changing your fork oil every 10k to 20k miles, though there is no specific standard. Others say to do so when a seal leaks. Whenever doing a complete change (not just a viscosity tune), it's always a good idea to clean the fork internals thoroughly. Lain gave an excellent method of doing so several comments up.
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Post by pistonguy on May 21, 2016 8:21:35 GMT -5
Given the refineries blend different viscosity oils together to get the 20-weight or 30-weight they wish to sell, it's not serious to say "you can't blend oil" or call it "a cocktail" (yep, YOU, P-guy!) Honda Goldwings weigh about 900 pounds and are notoriously spongy in the front end. It's a common practice to "TUNE" your suspension for the ride you want by mixing up oil viscosity. Why tuning a scooter front end is crazy is unclear to me. Tune your variator by changing weights. Tune your front suspension by changing viscosity. It's America. ps: just don't mix traditional oil (including almost all "fork oil" and transmission oil) with synthetic oil. They just don't play well together. pss: some people advocate changing your fork oil every 10k to 20k miles, though there is no specific standard. Others say to do so when a seal leaks. Whenever doing a complete change (not just a viscosity tune), it's always a good idea to clean the fork internals thoroughly. Lain gave an excellent method of doing so several comments up. Nah brugh, a misunderstamnding. The "Cocktail" I'm referring to is the posters recommendation of Gear oil and Tranny Oil, some STP, chainsaw bar oil, some gun oil, Castor oil, Olive Oil. Wynn's Motor Honey. bone headed concoction. these work really good in the mushy Wing Front end. Old school Drilled and tapped the Fork Capps with Air Fitting's and adjust the stiffens with air pressure and don't get my hands dirty. www.progressivesuspension.com/product/1465/fork-spring-kit |
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Post by rcq92130 on May 21, 2016 11:41:18 GMT -5
THERE ya go! One of the first things I did was to pull out the crappy springs in the forks and put in Progressive's. Helped a lot. Goldwings also come with on-board air compressors, so you can vary the air pressure in the forks. For me (and many others) still too "spongy", so the common remedy is to add a bit of -weight until you get the 'feel' you want. Right now it's perfect - but I need to go after the rear shocks b/c they still suck even with the max air pressure that's allowable. Will first try some heavy weight oil added to what's in there (20-weight fork oil) and hope that sorts it out. On the rears, getting them apart to replace the springs is way tougher, so i hope it doesn't come down to that. And, anyway, I don't ride the thing all that much any longer now that I have the scooter with Martin's SuperEngine. WAAAY easier and perfect, except for longer rides! |
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Post by pistonguy on May 21, 2016 18:03:53 GMT -5
Oh I dunno bout all that. Someone told me to play with those lil screw clicky things and thats suppose to do something   |
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weight to what is already in there to stiffen it up. You can remove the forks and make a big deal out of it if you wish ... but just opening the top (unweight the wheel first!) and with an eyedropper squirt in a little blurt of heavy weight oil. It will mix with what's in there and make it a higher viscosity.
