Mystery front end squeak 75 RD350 at Deals Gap (Solved)

[Kawtriplefreak]

I learned an important lesson at Deals Gap. Lubricity does in fact go away in fork oil or in my case, Ford Type F ATF. The forks were purchased on Ebay just before the build in late 2013 as the factory front fork tubes were past saving so I bought a used set for $100 and installed new seals and serviced them. After a ride at the Gap I kept hearing a squeak every time the forks compressed. M in SC came to my rescue again and told me to change the fork oil. Luckily my friend Jay Davidson had a quart of PJ1 10 weight fork oil. We drained and serviced it in the parking lot and lo and behold the squeak was gone and handling was much improved. Bottom line is: fork oil needs changing once in a while.

[Striker1423]

Had multiple people when I worked at the dealer with fork oil that was stock from the factory say their bikes with 20,000 miles on them were riding like shit. You're not alone to thinking the oil was gonna be fine forever. Trust me.

It's a regularly serviced fluid. Just not as much as engine oil etc.

[m in sc]

Glad it worked out. was pretty easy to swap.


to that point, i just swapped out the fork oil.. and added preload to the shitty stock T500 forks. in the 3 yrs the fork oil turned to shit too.    and i used fork oil in there at the time.  replaced with maxima 20wt and added an extra 1/4 oz. world of difference.

[Kawtriplefreak]

Cool
Glad you got it sorted.

[m in sc]

TBH, your bike got me thinking about it. sometimes ya just need a nudge 

[Kawtriplefreak]