Fork Oil questions and queries.

H

Hugsy

Likes Bikes
I have some fox fork oil and some penrite motorbike fork oil, can't recall viscosity but say the dvo diamond calls for 10w and the pike calls for 30w is this really important? Could I just get away with generic 15w fork oil or should I find oil that matches the reccomended wt. Also i hear automatic transmission fluid is great whos done this.
 
fjohn860

fjohn860

Likes Dirt
The oil weight measurement is irrelevant as one oil brand's 15w could be another's 30w.

You are best using the cst @40 degrees C measurement as this is standardised unit of measurement.

The rockshox 0w30 could have a similar cst to the DVO oil.

Some people use motor oil of a similar cst to what the fork manufacturer recommends.

Slipway oil is popular too. Shockcraft in NZ recommend a Slipway oil.

I've used husqvarna chain and bar oil (cst of 100 @40C) as a lower leg lube. It works surprisingly well.

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The Duckmeister

The Duckmeister

Wheel size expert
Hugsy said:
..... how do i know if its an oil bath
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If lots of oil drains out of the damper side when you unseat the shaft bolts. Although with some forks that's also a sign of blown internal seals, especially Rock Shox.

As a very general rule, there's only about 10-15ml in each lower leg for lubrication. The main exception is older & lower-spec Fox which use the same oil bath for damping and lubrication, these have around 160ml in the damper leg.

If it's purely for lubrication you can use a fairly thick oil, which will stick better to where it's needed, but in an OB damper thick oil won't flow well so you'll get a very heavy damping effect (slow fork in both compression and rebound), so you need to balance out with something a bit thinner.
 
ashes_mtb

ashes_mtb

Likes Dirt
This might explain my old set of Recons that always blow oil out of the dampener and into the lower legs...
 
D

D01

Likes Dirt
fjohn860 said:
I've used husqvarna chain and bar oil (cst of 100 @40C) as a lower leg lube. It works surprisingly well.
Sent from my INE-LX2 using Tapatalk
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I've thought about using chain and bar oil too, but haven't because some of it is vegetable based and biodegradable and intended to breakdown quickly. I've never been sure which is which, and I always just stock up on the cheapest stuff I find.
 
Boom King

Boom King

downloaded a pic of moorey's bruised arse
Hugsy said:
I

I have 2015 pikes, dvo diamonds
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Neither have open bath dampers. I use Motorex Supergliss 100k in all my lowers. Has a cSt at 40° of 103, sticks like shit to a blanket. You want a high cSt at 40° value for the lowers as it's for bushing lubrication so thick and sticky is good.

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fjohn860

fjohn860

Likes Dirt
D01 said:
I've thought about using chain and bar oil too, but haven't because some of it is vegetable based and biodegradable and intended to breakdown quickly. I've never been sure which is which, and I always just stock up on the cheapest stuff I find.
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I hear what you are saying biodegradable wise.

I figured I'll be doing lower lube services pretty regularly anyway to keep everything moving smooth so we'll see how it goes.

The husqvarna stuff I'm using is mineral based and the sds states "it is expected to be biodegradable" but this is assuming small amounts not large quantities

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