fork oil.

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effingidiot

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U.K. A soldier of life,just soldiering throu.
I bought new fork seals and oil off ebay,the oil that came with the seals is only 7.5w.It says in the manual use 10w,did i read you can use power steering fluid or was it auto transmision fluid.What's the best to use.cheers.
 
Two things I would like to articulate about my experiences with what your about to do, first is the fork oil. When I installed my seals I used Seans video and it made things a whole lot easier. Your on the right track with ATF or PS fluid but more specifically Import and Synthetic. I know the other stuff will work but Morley was pretty specific about import synthetic PS or ATF. All I could find locally was a Valvoline Synthetic Import ATF, so I used it. From what I can tell these fluids range from 7.5-10wt. I'm really impressed with the feel of my bike now, I did install progressives at the same time. I prefer a ride to be on the soft side than the firm side because I do long rides and often find shitty pavement quality (and sometimes dirt) in my adventures. It's feels more like a modern bike now instead of harsh and twitchy like it was.

The other thing I want to mention is the inferior nautre of aftermarket seals, among other parts. Chinese seals are made with inferior rubbers, materials and workmanship. Never ever ever use Chinese aftermarket on your fine Japanese Vehicle. It's not worth the savings. I buy my OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) parts from boats.net or from Morleys Muscle right here on this forum. Not only do I have the Vmax but also a Yamaha Venture, Lexus LS, Acura CL and Suzuki Samurai and one thing that is true across the board for all of them is the OEM stuff fits, functions and lasts far better. I have tried to save $ multiple times on my Japanese vehicles and it's just not worth it having to do the same job twice. I'm not sure which seals you got but I highly recommend snagging some OEM seals and covers before you do the job.

Here is the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKKdbwMQ5fY
 
Two things I would like to articulate about my experiences with what your about to do, first is the fork oil. When I installed my seals I used Seans video and it made things a whole lot easier. Your on the right track with ATF or PS fluid but more specifically Import and Synthetic. I know the other stuff will work but Morley was pretty specific about import synthetic PS or ATF. All I could find locally was a Valvoline Synthetic Import ATF, so I used it. From what I can tell these fluids range from 7.5-10wt. I'm really impressed with the feel of my bike now, I did install progressives at the same time. I prefer a ride to be on the soft side than the firm side because I do long rides and often find shitty pavement quality (and sometimes dirt) in my adventures. It's feels more like a modern bike now instead of harsh and twitchy like it was.

The other thing I want to mention is the inferior nautre of aftermarket seals, among other parts. Chinese seals are made with inferior rubbers, materials and workmanship. Never ever ever use Chinese aftermarket on your fine Japanese Vehicle. It's not worth the savings. I buy my OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) parts from boats.net or from Morleys Muscle right here on this forum. Not only do I have the Vmax but also a Yamaha Venture, Lexus LS, Acura CL and Suzuki Samurai and one thing that is true across the board for all of them is the OEM stuff fits, functions and lasts far better. I have tried to save $ multiple times on my Japanese vehicles and it's just not worth it having to do the same job twice. I'm not sure which seals you got but I highly recommend snagging some OEM seals and covers before you do the job.

Here is the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKKdbwMQ5fY
Yes av read up on cheap seals,thats what i got,so am gonna re order some oem ones.Also i watched seans vidio,it should be easy but am having trouble.one of my preload caps stripped i managed to get it off by banging a 21mm socket on it.on the same side now the hexhead bolt at the bottom has stripped,i'm gonna drill it and see if a stud extractor will undo it.Also am having trouble getting the old seal out,it's tight and stuck.Also the progresives i have are stronger and more robust but 1 inch shorter than the springs i took out.Theres no preload,the tubes are more or less level with the tops.I might have to put the old springs back in,they look like progressives but not as strong as the new ones.
 
That fork oil is probably just fine.

I cant see where it was made, if the country of manufacture is masked they are probably from China, if they were made anywhere else it would probably be basted in bold print on the auction details page. Now that the inferior quality of Chinese stuff is becoming common knowledge sellers are much less likely to find space to put "Made in China".

It sucks to go through all that work only to have them leak again.
Check this out, at least this can give you the OEM numbers to make getting them easier. I'm not sure who to source those from in the UK but hopefully this gives you a place to start.
http://www.boats.net/parts/search/Yamaha/Motorcycle/1996/V-MAX 1200 - VMX12H/FRONT FORK/parts.html
 
That fork oil is probably just fine.

I cant see where it was made, if the country of manufacture is masked they are probably from China, if they were made anywhere else it would probably be basted in bold print on the auction details page. Now that the inferior quality of Chinese stuff is becoming common knowledge sellers are much less likely to find space to put "Made in China".

It sucks to go through all that work only to have them leak again.
Check this out, at least this can give you the OEM numbers to make getting them easier. I'm not sure who to source those from in the UK but hopefully this gives you a place to start.
http://www.boats.net/parts/search/Yamaha/Motorcycle/1996/V-MAX 1200 - VMX12H/FRONT FORK/parts.html
That's helpful.Thanks.
 
Pretty sure Sean recommend BG synthetic power steering fluid.

I use fork oil. No complaints

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
 
Yes av read up on cheap seals,thats what i got,so am gonna re order some oem ones.Also i watched seans vidio,it should be easy but am having trouble.one of my preload caps stripped i managed to get it off by banging a 21mm socket on it.on the same side now the hexhead bolt at the bottom has stripped,i'm gonna drill it and see if a stud extractor will undo it.Also am having trouble getting the old seal out,it's tight and stuck.Also the progresives i have are stronger and more robust but 1 inch shorter than the springs i took out.Theres no preload,the tubes are more or less level with the tops.I might have to put the old springs back in,they look like progressives but not as strong as the new ones.

Well it's a win if you found about about the fork seals before you actually installed them, its a fair amount of work to have to repeat it over something like a funky seal.

I assume the stripped one your referring too is the bolt that runs up into the bottom end of the fork, and by stripped you are not talking bout the head but that it's just spinning and not coming out? The part inside the fork that the bolt threads into can also spin inside so if your using a hand tool it might lack the speed necessary to back it out. Try backing it out with an impact and I think you'll be good to go. When I rebuilt my forks one side came out nicely with a 3/8 ratchet by hand and the other side just turned and wouldn't back out. I read somewhere on this forum to back it out with an impact, so I did just that and it worked. I was still able to reassemble it with the hand tools only. I hope this helps.
 
OEM Fork Seals - Period!

Any full synthetic power steering or full synthetic auto trans fluid will work very well. I do use the BG stuff since it's very easy on the aluminum as well as seals.
 
Well it's a win if you found about about the fork seals before you actually installed them, its a fair amount of work to have to repeat it over something like a funky seal.

I assume the stripped one your referring too is the bolt that runs up into the bottom end of the fork, and by stripped you are not talking bout the head but that it's just spinning and not coming out? The part inside the fork that the bolt threads into can also spin inside so if your using a hand tool it might lack the speed necessary to back it out. Try backing it out with an impact and I think you'll be good to go. When I rebuilt my forks one side came out nicely with a 3/8 ratchet by hand and the other side just turned and wouldn't back out. I read somewhere on this forum to back it out with an impact, so I did just that and it worked. I was still able to reassemble it with the hand tools only. I hope this helps.
No. The hexhead has rounded off,i can't get the bugger out.The other fork was easy,but this fork everything is realy stuck.I got the preload cap off by banging a 21mm on with a lump hammer.
 
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