TXC fork oil wt and level

[I8AKTM]

I need to change the oil and seals in my TXC forks, just wondering if anyone made changes to the oil weight and height from stock and felt that it was an improvement...and if anyone has found a source for push button bleeders to replace the Schrader valves inset into the top caps.

paul

 

[Bobby]

some folks here in the East Coast region have had good luck with replacing the factory 7.5wt with a 0 stiction/5wt made by Maxima. If you want to play with the main chamber quantities, do not use any less then 280cc's in each fork and while you're servicing the 50mm twin chambered forks, pay special attention to the preload on the springs. All three of the chambered forks we have been into have had negative preload which equals alot of harshness at full extension going over obstacles. We've had to add at least one position of preload to the front TXC forks we've been into. Not sure if the fork springs are collasping or if they are actually setup that way from the factory, but everyone has noticed a good improvement from adding front preload.

 

[robertaccio]

how much front spring preload?

 

[Bobby]

IIRC each clip position is 5mm and I would shoot for 5-10mm of preload myself.

 

[I8AKTM]

Bobby-

Thanks for the reply. Dropped them off this evening, should be able to feel the results of the changes in the next few days. Next enduro is Sunday.

paul

 

[I8AKTM]

UPDATE:

I stopped by the local 'race' shop after work yesterday to pick up my forks....my still leaky forks.

"We tried to call you...

...we couldn't get the caps off....you need a special spanner and we don't have one. Might have been able to make one I guess, but we don't have time for that. If you come up with the spanner, we'll do the seals then for you."

If I had the

spanner and driver, I'd be doing my own

forks...thanks for nothing.

Sorry for the rant- just the opposite of happy, they should have known when I dropped them off the caps were different, and I could have went elsewhere. Now it's too late for that. Their cavalier attitude about the whole thing probably set me off as much as anything. Hopefully the leak won't get too much worse during tomorrow's race. I'll be calling around next week to order my own tools.


paul

 

[Bobby]

have you tried reaming the dust seals? The ole business card type trick of scraping the seals while installed on the bike, might just get you by for the time being. At the very least pop off the dust seals and see if there is a whole bunch of gunk behind them.

I can get you a universal spanner tool for cap removal if you're interested, for that matter anyone with a Parts Unlimited account can too, part# 3805-0024 which is a 4.0-4.5mm pin spanner wrench by Racetech.

 

[I8AKTM]

Bobby-

I have tried the old plastic trick a few times now...I popped off the seals again this morning again and they were relatively clean. I cleaned things up anyway and added some fresh grease in hopes that might improve my situation temporarily. Only the left one is giving me grief. There also seems to be a bit of slight scoring on that tube, I can barely feel a couple of the grooves with my fingernail...I would be surprised if that's my culprit.

Thanks for the spanner #. You're a good egg.


paul

 

[Coffee]

TXC forks take a special spanner - I would try Motosportz or at least check their website.

 

[Bobby]

TXC forks take a special spanner - I would try Motosportz or at least check their website.

A universal hinged and pinned spanner wrench will work just fine.

 

[robertaccio]

just a quick one to add,,,,always be sure to bleed your forks, they can and do build up quite a bit of pressure, also when using tie downs go easy on the tension and or use fork supports. On this bike (TXC450) I installed those fork skin things as well, its the first time I've used them,,they look crappy but by all indications work well.

 

[I8AKTM]

Good point Robert. I've been wondering if there was a helicoil that would reduce me from the Schrader valve threads in the cap to the metric thread size of the bleeders, so I could quickly bleed them on the fly again....but I haven't really made the time to research it.

 

[fgkell]

A universal hinged and pinned spanner wrench will work just fine.

that's what I use

 

[fury1]

I used the wrench for removing a grinding wheel on a 4" grinder,works just fine

 

[ray_ray]

I dropped the oil level to 260ML in my outer chambers and this removed a lot of the harshness and banging from the forks on the trails ... I went to 240ML and the forks got a little more plush maybe but I got a little clanging sound when doing small jumps in the woods so I'm going back up 10ML at a time till the sound goes away... I'm thinking 260ML - 275 ML will be my outer chamber fluid level for the trails ... This amount gives up a little in bottoming resistance but I'm ok with this on the trails ... I also jacked the pre-load up on my forks also so I'm riding high n the initial stroke ... I'm down 100% with these dual chamber forks ...

Most any spanner wrench can remove the cap off the forks ...I'm using a Y looking device from shucks auto store ...

You'll need to bleed the air from the inner tubes also as outlined from this link ... I'm using 5wt in both the inner and outer chambers .... I had 10wt in the outers for a while ... I don't think the wt matters alot in the outer chambers vs the inners, but it did give the bike a slightly different feel ... The outers were changed to some very thin oil in any event ...

http://www.cafehusky.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3498