Fork oil airgap method.

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AMCQ46
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Fork oil airgap method.

Post by AMCQ46 »

I have always set fork airgap with springs out & fully compressed, but I was reading some old unread post the other night and I am sure Benny was advising someone to do it with springs in and forks fully extended [of course I cant find it now, but I am sure it was you Benny].

So which one is correct............well obviously both will work as long as you dont use the same setting spec.

what method and what setting do you use?

AMcQ46.......140mm air gap, springs out forks compressed.
AMcQ
Twinpotter
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Re: Fork oil airgap method.

Post by Twinpotter »

Twinpotter.......130mm air gap, springs out, forks compressed, 10W synthetic.
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tony.mon
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Re: Fork oil airgap method.

Post by tony.mon »

Tony.mon, springs out, fully compressed, 7.5 wt oil, and 145mm air gap.
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benny hedges
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Re: Fork oil airgap method.

Post by benny hedges »

what i did with mine bud is springs in, tops off, fully extended, set a cable tie (or masking tape at 130 - 140mm up the leg, slide the stanchion up to the marker then fill with oil right to the top.
leave it a bit to settle and top up if needed.
when you slide the stanchion back down, the gap will be exactly what you set the slider at.
dont forget if you set it at 145, it will be 130 when you screw the tops on

bike has never handled better, doesnt bottom out (with progs) and tracks well round bends, much much better than standard.

not dissing other peoples methods like but thats how i set mine up last time after much experimenting and it seems to be the best set up for me personally
when i changed my springs & oil though, from standard with no leaking seals, there was a good 20ml more oil in one side than the other. 8O
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AMCQ46
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Re: Fork oil airgap method.

Post by AMCQ46 »

So only benny doing things backwards again...what a surprise :lol: Bit of an uphill gardner, plowing a different furrow etc :D

It's a nice method to work out the level, and if it works then who cares, just thought I was going mad when I read the method in you other post.
AMcQ
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benny hedges
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Re: Fork oil airgap method.

Post by benny hedges »

tried it the springs out method m8 & they were still too spongy as though the oil was just sloshing about with no real damping.
try it this way next time you swap out bud.
partly the reason was because i found different levels in each leg so i wanted a method to get exactly the same in each side.
it works! :biggrin
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AMCQ46
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Re: Fork oil airgap method.

Post by AMCQ46 »

I use a big hospital syringe and a length of hose cut so that from the lugs at the top of the syring to the end of the hose is 140mm, then I slightly over fill and draw the excess off with the syringe. Hey presto both sides exactly the same.

But I will add an extra 10mm soon, as I need a bit more from the front end to get it as good as the rear.
AMcQ
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