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Hi, is there an easy way to change the fork oil with paddock stands? I can't find any way to jack the bike under the engine. I found instructions on chaning the oil on the internet fromt the USA which said you could drain the oil through the rebound damping plug. That OK?

http://home.comcast.net/~sl_mille/fork.html

Thanks for any help!

You cannot change the fork oil on paddock stands unless you have the front one that lifts under the headstock and allows the forks to be dropped

They need to be dropped to change the oil I'm afraid. Can you support the headstock from the garage roof beams at all? I did it that way using ratchet straps and although it looked a bit dodgy it was absolutely fine

F9

EDIT. Just looked at the link you posted and to be honest I hadn't thought you would be able to do it that way. I'd have thought that a lot of oil would be still be held above the cartridge, but I may (probably will be) be wrong

Yes, the guy on the link suspended the bike like that. I think it's the only way. I think my garage might fall down, but my father has an RSJ beam. Thanks.

If you invest in an Abba stand (or similar), the swing arm pivots are pretty close to the point of balance. A simple car jack under the oil tank is perfectly ok as there is very little weight at that point. Just dont try the same with a paddock stand though

anzacinexile wrote:If you invest in an Abba stand (or similar), the swing arm pivots are pretty close to the point of balance. A simple car jack under the oil tank is perfectly ok as there is very little weight at that point. Just dont try the same with a paddock stand though

I wouldn't have thought there was enough room to drop the forks even using an Abba stand is there? (again I could be wrong)

F9

anzacinexile wrote:If you invest in an Abba stand (or similar), the swing arm pivots are pretty close to the point of balance. A simple car jack under the oil tank is perfectly ok as there is very little weight at that point. Just dont try the same with a paddock stand though

When I swapped my forks over I did just this - Ulti-pro stand (similar to Abba) at the swing arm pivot and trolley jack underneath the engine somewhere.

Falco9 wrote:
I wouldn't have thought there was enough room to drop the forks even using an Abba stand is there? (again I could be wrong)

F9

Plenty of room - wheel out and then you've half the wheel diameter between the forks and the ground.

D-Rider wrote: Plenty of room - wheel out and then you've half the wheel diameter between the forks and the ground.

I stand corrected

F9

Thanks everyone. The guy on the link doesn't actually drop the forks out all the way. I may as well as am changing the wheels.