just finished changing my fork oil on my 09 road glide. thanks to the forum for the threads which gave me the confidence to do this. i usually do my own service and mods but had not tried this yet. took the speedo nacelle off to gain access and was going to use the flat wrench that comes with the tool kit. only problem was no room to manuever the wrench between the fairing and the gas tank. removed the tank and went from there. raised the front off the ground with the lift, removed the top bolt, and then the drain screw. as stated before, had to use vise grips to grab the screw since it was so tight. measured the old oil (it was nasty) and then added the same amount back in. with the wheel off the ground the oil went right in. waited a few minutes to let the oil find its way in and then buttoned everything up. have not rode yet but could tell the front end is a little stiffer by just pumping the front end. only thing i noticed was my low fuel light is on and i have a little less than a 1/4 tank. light never comes on till needle is basically sitting all the way on "e". any ideas on this? anyway, this is a fairly wasy service item. took me 3 hours start to finish but if i had known i needed to remove tank in the first place it would have been a 2 hour (or 6 beer) job. ride safe.

 

Way to go Sparky.
That job is on my list for a "first time" task also.

 

btw...used the screamin eagle "heavy". supposed to be equivalent to 15 weight oil. stopped by local harley shop and got 2 drain screws w/ washers and 2 gaskets for the top bolt. these and 2 pints of the oil was 23 bucks.

 

Good to hear ya had good luck. I had to replace my seals. I did all the work and the shop installed the seals. They were James after market seals. Lasted 300 miles. Had to tear everything apart again. This time I had HD seals put in. 20,000 later. No leaks. Knock on wood.

 

just gussing but the float inside the tank is probley in the right position now, showing fuel is low. If after you fill up and it goes to full I would think it is working the way it should.A light that comes on under 1/4 tank would be a good thing for me,not when the tank is empty.

 

O.K. What am I missing here? Why would you ever need to change the fork oil???? It should last forever I would think.???

 

no, it doesn't last forever. the hd manual has you changing it at 50k, but many people change it out much sooner than that. biggest reason is to fine tune the ride. you can easily change the characteristics by using different weight fork oil, or even combining 2 weights to make something in between.

fork oil degradation is something that happens so gradually that one doesn't really notice it. if you were to change your oil, and put in the same weight that was in there previously, you would still notice a huge change.

 

Why did you remove the tank? For others contemplating this job you don't need to do that, and it should be no more than a one-hour job, that is if the drain plugs cooperate. If you need to coax them out with vise grips add 15 min. or so.

Here's a write-up (scroll down to post #23) on changing the fork oil in non-cartridge forks. I eagerly await someone to try this on cartridge forks ('02-'05) for a yay or nay report. Those with earlier air forks should use the vacuum method if you have a vacuum pump, as it is even simpler and quicker. The Harbor Freight venturi pump that attaches to an air compressor works great, and mine was only ~$11.

 

on a road glide using the flat harley tool kit wrench you don't have any room to actually turn the wrench. once i removed the tank i had plenty of room + it only takes 5-10 minutes to do. the acutal fork work is simple but i did have to use vise grips.

 

Went for a 50 mile ride last night and what a huge difference. The front end was much tighter and it didn't feel like it was 'loose" when i hit a bump in the road. Almost seemed to be quieter if you know what i mean. I can't beleive that the moco does not use 15 weight fork oil as standard. I highly recommend this little mod and believe me, anybody can do this. All you need is 2 pints of fork oil, wrenches, some sort of accurate measuring cup, funnel, and a few hours of your time. I would suggest that you get the new gasket for the top and new screws with the washers since you will most likely have to use vise grips to remove the original drain screw. When you reinstall, definitely get it tight but not as tight as they came from the factory imho. Ride safe....