I lowered my front suspension pressure today -- been riding like crap. Lowered it to 8 psi, but when I did quite a bit of fork oil came out of the air pump connector. Is this normal? Bike rode a little better but still was "bumpy" in the front. I'm planning to replace the fork oil with SE heavy, but how am I getting oil in the air lines, at least this much? I'm wondering if there's some way to draw oil out of the forks and back into the air line. That might explain why my ride is so bad. I've owned the bike for 2 years and have never had this problem before -- this is the first time I've actually gotten fork oil to come out with the air, and quite a bit. Any ideas what's going on???

 

check out iclicks posts. he has a way of doing the oil change with an air front end

 

Yeah, I think I know how to change it using air. I was just concerned how the oil was actually getting backed up into the air line all the way to the rear of the bike. The way my bike is riding it's almost like one or both forks don't have enough oil to help dampen the bumps, so I didn't know if somehow the orifice was acting like a one way valve and "pumping" the oil back up into the air line. I've owned the bike for 2 years and never had this problem before, rough ride that it, and the drains have not been leaking, so something has changed for sure.

Will changing the fork oil "clean" the orifices in the forks, or do I need to pull them apart to do that?

 

The air line at the rear of your bike has nothing to do with your forks - only the shocks. If you have air assisted forks the air line for the forks is located in the end of the left side hand grip. If you are losing oil from your air line you definitely have too much oil in the forks. Heavier oil will not cure this if you put the same amount in the front end. If you want to "clean" all or the orificies you'll need to disassemble the forks. This is really not necessary though. Just drain them thoroughly and replace with the CORRECT amount of oil.

 

You lost me, leftcoast. I have two air connections, both in the rear, right side under the saddlebag connections. The front one is for the front suspension, and that's where I had fork oil bleed out when I lowered my air pressure. You're probably right, though, I just need to bleed them down and add fresh oil to see what happens. What bugs me is I can't figure out what has changed recently to cause the bumpy ride, since I have no leaks and haven't added fork oil. Oh well, . . . .

 

I ride a 2000 RK and had the same thing happen to me the other day, but it came out of the back air chuck. Owners manual said that this is not a problem. It had a warning in it about not letting the oil drip on the brakes or tires when it came out of the air chucks.

 

WRONG!!! T-dog, like he says, has the schrader valve at the right rear. Having some oil coming out of the lines is normal. Most people don't think about their fork oil, but it does get hot and dirty and needs to be changed. See how it rides after new oil.
After reading leftcoast's reply I see why you feel it's necessary to post the same question on at least one other forum.

 

Someone at work told me today that fork oil can back up into the air lines if you lay the bike down. Mine rolled over a month ago, briefly at least, and that may be what happened. Seems my suspension has been riding bad lately, maybe I've lost some of the fork oil from one side. Who knows? I'll just change the fluid this weekend and hope it helps. It has to get better.

 

Beemervet, guilty as charged, but sometimes I have trouble getting ANY responses, so figure I'd post in both forums and see what I get. Not everyone goes to both anyway.