Fork seals and oil

[mainerider]

Gentlemen,
I'm looking to tap into the collective knowledge here of All Things Magna.  The PO kept my '02 up great while he owned it but a call to him this weekend confirmed that he had never gotten around to doing the fork oil...soooooo with 6 years and 15,000 miles gone by now it's probably a good time.  2 quick questions:

1. With no signs of leakage (assuming there is still oil in the forks  based on your Magna experiences would you spend the $60 for new seals?

2. Any tips or tricks for the procedure?  The fork seal info pdf on the Tips and Tricks page here at MOOT apparently is corrupt; I can't get it to open.  I have the common shop manual and the magna-specific manual but neither is a big help on this particular job.

BTW, I can't find it referenced anywhere; does Honda recommend a mileage/time interval for the fork oil/seals?  I've usually done my oil every 2 seasons and the seals as needed.

Any help would be appreciated.  Thanks.


Joe

[Greg Cothern]

Joe, if it isnt broke dont fix it LoL.
HOWEVER I would highly recommend if you going through the trouble of replacing seals to go ahead and put in progressive springs.  THEN you can justify the seals since your almost there anyway, hehehe.

[mainerider]

Joe, if it isnt broke dont fix it LoL.
HOWEVER I would highly recommend if you going through the trouble of replacing seals to go ahead and put in progressive springs.  THEN you can justify the seals since your almost there anyway, hehehe.

You know Greg, I've thought of doing that but have seen some people say it made a big difference while others say the Progressives were not a big improvement; your thoughts?  Thanks

PS
Am I blind, dumb or both? Where are the fork oil drain bolts on these bikes?

[mainerider]

I see now...you very conveniently need to yank off the front wheel to access the fork drain bolts; does anyone have that engineer's home address?

[roboto65]

And it is best to loosen them the drain bolts BEFORE you take the cap of and release the spring tension and loosen the pinch bolt on the top triple tree !!

[Magnum Magna]

That is very useful information.  The 94 has a different drain location then all the other years but that is good to know. 

[Charles S Otwell]

My fork seals were not leaking but the front forks had become sloppy and would dive and stick so I changed out just the fork oil went to a mix of half 10 wt and 15 wt to see if that would help.. while I had the caps off (not having the time or money for Progressive springs before Mootmag) I decided to add about an inch of length to the spacers. I will eventually get around to the Progressive upgrade, but for now I'm very pleased with the results. I agree with Greg about don't fix it if it ain't broke, but if you have any doubts about the forks performance I wouldn't hesitate to change the fork oil or even go to a heavier wt oil.. Just my two cents

[TLRam1]

No need to chg the seals for the sake of, change when they leak or after 10 yrs. or so if you just want to do it. My 94 didn't start leaking until last year 2007 with 50k miles.

When I installed Progressive springs I was disappointed in the lack of improvement, when I lengthened my preload it made all the difference! I also use 15 WGT fork oil.

[mainerider]

Thanks for all of the great feedback, all.  Terry, how much did you add to the spacer length?
Joe

[TLRam1]

 I did mine at 5.50 inches, I think, but hard to get the fork caps on.