Dealing with 08 SG with 4100 miles. I'm new to the harley seen but did I lot of wrenching on Metric. Long story short have very little seat time on this bike. Solo riding I had a noise coming from the front end I couldn't put my finger on until today. Went for a good ride with the wife and I'm hitting hard in the front end when going over a decent bump. When it bottoms out it sounds like I'm hitting my front tire that's how hard it hits. I'm running a stock size rim with the front end chromed. Not sure if dealer did install on front end or how long it's been on, but after some inspection I noticed some fork oil running down left side fork. (very minimal) .. My question is do I drain what's in there and replace my seals and see if that corrects it? Watched a u- tube video of just draining forks with out removal. Or is there a chance I could have some internal problem with the damper valve or caused some damage riding it that way? To my knowledge it doesn't look like I'm lowered up front... Thanks for any advise or help guys..

 

First I would try just changing fork oil , to make certain installer put oil in . If it still leaks change seals .at the same time consider racetech emulators, Ricor intiminators or Progressive Monotubes .Any of those will get rid of the diving under braking and a lot of the clunking and harsh action .

 

It's possible that a previous owner has lowered the front end, perhaps when installing the chrome sliders? If you are stripping your forks it would be worth waiting until they are apart, to see just what is inside. An economical upgrade is a set of fabrik8r's modified Intiminators with single rate springs, matched to your weight. Installing them with the correct static sag will ensure your ride height is correct, give decent damping and the springs to keep you both up!

 

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/touri...ification.html

This thread helped me figure out if my bike was lowered or not. Should help you as well.

A leaking fork seal never self heals.

Heavier fork oil will likely help you quite a bit. I'm running drag specialty 20 fork oil myself, and have no bottoming with a very plush ride.

 

Thanks for the responses guys. I'll have to double check on my height to make sure I'm not lowered. I'm thinking for now I might just change out my seals and go to a heavier oil to see if that corrects the problem. I'll have to read up changing out internal or which one to go with. Defiantly would be the easiest method to check. Thought I would also share this video on fork oil change using this method.