How bad is fork oil suppose to smell?

[kilika2]

Seriously I took the forks apart and wow. Thick but runny at the same time. Nasty gray color and smells aweful. Good thing I'm changing it huh?

Chris.

[rotortech]

Yeah, it is really nasty stuff. Wear gloves, don't put the fluid in your mouth, etc.

[haunter]

its usually like that....smells awful

[kilika2]

Yeah, it is really nasty stuff. Wear gloves, don't put the fluid in your mouth, etc.

Hmm gloves. Whoops. Yeah, I ran out of gloves when I was doing the brake lines. So I roughed it through the fork oil. And unfortunatly roughed it through the paint stripper on my wheels. Burnt a bit. But I was going to go back with yamaha fork oil. But it's too expensive so I'm going to join everyone else and just put 5w20 or whatever in there. Got to do a search.

Chris.

[yamaha_george]

Yeah, it is really nasty stuff. Wear gloves, don't put the fluid in your mouth, etc.

Hmm gloves. Whoops. Yeah, I ran out of gloves when I was doing the brake lines. So I roughed it through the fork oil. And unfortunatly roughed it through the paint stripper on my wheels. Burnt a bit. But I was going to go back with yamaha fork oil. But it's too expensive so I'm going to join everyone else and just put 5w20 or whatever in there. Got to do a search.

Chris.

fork oils come in 5,10,15,20 wt I use Bel-Ray usually .It has to be proper fork oil or it will foam etc. and generally go out on you.

[kilika2]

Hmmm. I thought I read on here recently that regular motor oil could be used. Might have to just check out the fork oil instead. Thanks Geo.

Chris.

[rotortech]

You will need two bottles of fork oil. It will be in there for 10 years. Don't take a chance on using the wrong product. I used the Yamaha fork oil in mine. YG makes a good point about the foam.

[haunter]

use ATF before you use motor oil.

IU use bel ray from the local yammy dealer, its not that expensive since it will last a few years(atf is almost as much anyways)

[yamaha_george]

Hmmm. I thought I read on here recently that regular motor oil could be used. Might have to just check out the fork oil instead. Thanks Geo.

Chris.

Chris,
I never saw that or I would have mentioned the fact that the guys who make & sell fork oil spend loads of money on research to make sure people use their stuff & not say afterwards it was crap the forks faded etc. Ask any one who motocross's good fork oil will save yer manhood and make riding rough stuff a lot easier if the forks work consistently thro a race.

I will say this the nice thing I learned from bel-ray was you can mix weights to get what you need. I had aset of flashy forks on my trail wheels (for Jungle riding in the mountains back home) 20 wt was too stiff and 15 wt was to soggy so i asked if it was ok to mix 20 & 15 in equal portions to get 17.5wt and Lo & behold it worked.

PS:-
ATF as far I ever saw back home was only in 10wt never saw any other and for me at 180 lbs was far to thin

[ragedigital]

Terrible smell...

+27 on the Bel-Ray

[yamaha_george]

Terrible smell...

+27 on the Bel-Ray

RD,
I do believe that the OEM oil was fish oil based originally and when mixed with water YUK with a capital YU

[lennyz600]

amlost as bad as gear lube.

ive had good luck with spectro products.

[kiki231]

+1 on belray

I have been using it for years.