Fluid change in forks and possible seals....

[VirginiaJim]

Ok, after my longish ride this past Saturday I'm feeling that I need to change the fluid in the front forks.  The front seemed especially harsh no matter where I put the adjust for rebound.  It's been 5 years since I bought the bike and there's about 50K plus on the odo.  I have Fred's DVDs so that will help and there seems to be a few videos on You Tube that deal with this kind of maintenance.  I feel it's something that I can do over a weekend.  And since it's been so long I'm wondering if seals are in order?  It's not leaking at all.

Anyone with any experience with this?

[C1xRider]

Not on the C14, but I rebuilt the forks on my C10 at something less than 50K.  You might as well order the seals and swap them, since there is some risk of damaging them when you remove them.  Also, they're not that expensive.

I also shimmed the bushings when I did them, which did help to tighten up the front end on it.  Not sure how the C14 bushings are, but if I were in there, I would certainly take a look at them.

[Cheesecake]

I would change the seals out. If you wait until they start leaking, they will probably do that when you are just beginning a long trip, and they leak onto the brakes and front tire, so you have to be preoccupied with that the whole trip. I changed mine out just for maintenance at 40k. I would use Kawasaki seals too. My mechanic tried different ones first, they leaked, so he did it all over again, lesson learned.

[VirginiaJim]

Thanks for the advice!

[TRBN]

Does the service manual have a "recommended" interval for this maintenance?

Aaron

[VirginiaJim]

Not in my 08 manual.  Just says to inspect it every 7500 miles. 

[556ALPHA]

I think Fred mentioned replacing fork fluid every 20K on his videos.  I also think that is what Traxxion recommends. 

[Pokey]

I wouldn't worry about the seals at all, just change the fluid and be done with it.

[VirginiaJim]

What's pushing me to do this is the front end is rather harsh and the damping isn't damping as well as it should.  My Voyager developed that same issue and it was the fork fluid that was the problem...a bit old and worn out.  New fluid back and the harshness went away.  It's never been done in my C14 and dirty fluid won't flow like it should.  It's at least a day to 2 day job for me and after watching Fred do it, I'm not using the Traxxion tool.  I'm going to use the Race Tech compressor.  It costs a bit more but it should be easier to use and won't require a second person or those red straps.