Too much fork oil?

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Coyote
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Too much fork oil?

Post by Coyote »

OK. For my GT550 the book says 160cc or 5.4 ounces. Well that's 5.4 ounces of what? 5.4 ounces of oil is considerably more volume than 5.4 ounces of water. I found out the hard way when I went by weight to fill the tranny. Pulled the fill screw and more than half cup came out. I over filled by using weight instead of volume (cc).
I ask this because I am using 5 wt fork oil, but the forks still feel stiff. It's Bel-Ray oil so it's not cheap stuff. I surmise that going by weight I may have 20cc or sotoo much oil in the forks. How much difference would that make? All this is because try as I might, search till I fall asleep, I just can't find a clearly marked graduated cylinder. Thousands you couldn't pay me to take. I guess I need to go to a lab supply and pay out the nose for a glass one.
I just received 2 large syringes I got off eBay. Wouldn't you know the dang things are marked in ml. Zero to 100ml. I guess I didn't read the ad well enough. These things are single use, sterile and come with a snap on catheter tip. :shock:
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Re: Too much fork oil?

Post by Alan H »

1 millilitre is 1cc, so you need 160 millilitres. Remember we posted about the 'weight' some time ago, and oil is only about 80% the weight of water, that's why there's more for a given weight.
You're looking at liquid 'weight' though - which is volume really, I can't remember offhand how many fluid ounces in a litre and if you're working on US volume, it's different to Imperial. Just go metric, it's easier.
Last edited by Alan H on Sun Oct 11, 2015 6:17 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Too much fork oil?

Post by tricky1962 »

If you want to do it by weight - which is easier because everyone has some kitchen scales -

The density of Bel-Ray 5W fork oil at 15.6°C is 0.871g/ml (ref http://www.motovan.com/img/marketing/pd ... nglish.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)

160ml therefore weighs 139.5g which is 4.9oz

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Re: Too much fork oil?

Post by ConnerVT »

A fluid ounce is a measurement of volume, not weight. It is a standard historically based on the weight of wine. A US Fl Oz is roughly 1/16 of a pint, or 29.6 ml.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluid_ounce
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Re: Too much fork oil?

Post by Coyote »

OK Tricky.he book says 5.4oz and you say 4.9oz. That's a pretty substantial difference when you think about volume. Would that 'difference' make my forks seem stiff? By weight, how much oil do I need to have the correct amount? Half ounce?
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Re: Too much fork oil?

Post by Coyote »

Alan, are you saying that this scale is the same as cc?. I guess so. Google says 1ml = 1cc. For proportion, the tube area is about 5" long.

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Re: Too much fork oil?

Post by tz375 »

Yes, Milliliter (ml) is the modern way to say cc (cubic centimeters). Same thing.

Too much oil will make the forks stiffer and so will thick oil or stiction in the seals. What weight of oil did you use? I have 30wt in mine if they don't have Gold Valves and there is not a lot of damping because the damping orifices are so large.

Are the forks sticky to get them to start to move or hard to compress or are they slow to return when you push them down?

I would see what teh sag is first and then push down hard on the front and observe the time to compress and time to rebound. If there is little or no sag and hard to compress but the come back fast, the springs are too long, too hard or have too much preload.

If the rebound takes more than a second, the damping is too stiff. I would drain the forks if that's the case, flush them with kerosene, let them fully drain and try again with no oil. They should have 20-40mm or sag and should compress easily and return fast. If not, a leg is bent or the seals are sticky or springs are too hard/long.
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Re: Too much fork oil?

Post by jabcb »

Yes, that’s the beauty of the metric system.

A liter is a volume that is 10 centimeters by 10 centimeters by 10 centimeters.

ml = millilter
A milliliter is a unit of volume equal to one thousandth of a liter.

cc = cubic centimeter
A cubic centimeter is a volume that is 1 centimeter by 1 centimeter by 1 centimeter.

So: 1cc = 1ml
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Re: Too much fork oil?

Post by tricky1962 »

Coyote wrote:OK Tricky.he book says 5.4oz and you say 4.9oz. That's a pretty substantial difference when you think about volume. Would that 'difference' make my forks seem stiff? By weight, how much oil do I need to have the correct amount? Half ounce?
I'm just suggesting that if you are having trouble measuring your fork oil by volume - can't get a suitable syringe - weigh it. 160ml of Bel Ray 5W is 4.9oz (not fluid oz). As Conner has said one is weight, one volume, so my 4.9oz is weight, your 5.4 oz is actually fluid oz ie volume
Last edited by tricky1962 on Sun Oct 11, 2015 11:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Too much fork oil?

Post by Alan H »

Coyote wrote:Alan, are you saying that this scale is the same as cc?. I guess so. Google says 1ml = 1cc. For proportion, the tube area is about 5" long.
Yup. That's the same.
Makes it easy to work out as all liquids measure the same in Ml's or cc's.
Forget fluid ounces once and for al.
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Re: Too much fork oil?

Post by ConnerVT »

5.4 US Fl Oz = 160 mL
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