2012 TC 250 Fork Adjustments

Hope I am posting to the correct location. I am new here. Just purchased a 2012 TC 250. I love the bike and am trying to tune to me.
The local dealership here in Salt Lake is slow to get the information for my bike. I am trying to adjust the forks - 48 mm Kayaba. I am about 185 pounds, average skill and ride somewhat difficult single track in the mountains. I set the rear sag to 103 mm and softened all clickers on the front and rear compression and rebound by a couple of clicks from stock but the front forks seem too stiff everywhere except the most extreme conditions. My experience has been with the older style forks where you can just open the top, take out the springs and change the oil level to that desired. I want to remove some oil.
My questions:
Do these forks have anything specific to adjusting the oil level?
Where can I find a fork cap wrench for these forks - Dealer does not know, a bit vague on internet searches?
What are some of the settings you have used (Recommended Oil weight, level, clicker settings etc.)?
Thank you,
ECB

Have you backed off the compression adjusters at the bottom of the forks under the rubber caps, I had to back these right off on my TE to get it soft enough for me.

I have the Kayabas and I had to go to a 2.5w BelRay fluid to get the forks more plush, faster on the rebound, more responsive in the rough stuff. I still have all the clickers set to full off/soft. The forks now match the rear end for rebound speed/rate.

Glad I am posting in the right place, thanks for the replies.

@Freaky, Yes, I softened up the compression 4 clicks and it is better, but there is still a feeling of stiffness over small bumps that make the front end feel almost like it is not moving unless I am hitting a big jump. And there, it is still stiffer than I am comfortable with. I suppose this is good for much faster riders.

@OlderHuskyRider, thanks for the recommendation of the lighter oil. Did you maintain the same level as well as using the lighter oil? Also, what about the fork cap wrench? I am confused and am not sure what to get. Since I will have to order something off the web, I want to get the right one and although I keep searching on 48 MM Kayaba fork cap wrench, I get many hits for many different size wrenches - none are 48, but seem to all be 47 or 49 MM. Obviously, the wrench size is not the same as the size of the forks themselves, but I don't know which to choose and don't want to go through the purchase, try, return until I get the right size thing.

I maintained my OEM level, no more, no less, my forks travel the entire 11.9 inches and I have no leaks.

The wrench thing...? Missing something, I am...I use my 12" crescent wrench to loosen the fork cap while it is still tight in the triple clamps, am I mis-understanding what you are saying?

Here's a graphic I found on the web that helped me identify the problem I was having with my front end, similar but not quite exactly like your description, the Red circle was where my forks were in the beginning, with all clickers off/soft. I still had a feeling of having no control, it was harsh, and I fell many times, in the same type of scenario where a lack of front end traction was to blame. I had the "packing down" syndrome, the suspension had too much damping, it would compress on a bump, and before it un-compressed, it would hit another bump and compress even more, until it was packed all the way or I lost traction because the wheel wasn't following the contour of the ground fast enough to maintain traction. The Green circle is where my bike is now, feels much better, I have more traction and more control.

Aha! I have been accused more than once of jumping to the more difficult solution to a situation!

My crescent wrench is a smaller one that does not open wide enough to get the cap off. So, in my 'make it all more difficult' way of approaching things, I just thought I needed a special tool. I started web surfing, found there are custom wrenches for taking a fork cap off and thus, my questions came about. I guess then you are telling me, just go get a bigger crescent wrench and get on with adjusting/riding/enjoying your bike. I wish I would have thought of that sooner!! Probably cost less too, most of the specialty fork cap wrenches I saw were close to $40.

Thank you for the illustration and explanation, I am excited to go make the changes and get riding this bike! This is my first Husky and I am having a great time with it.

When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras.

Husky brand 12" crescent, $8 at big box store

Get the correct tool. you will need it down the road as well when you change the inner cartige oil.

$20 at rockymt.

I used 325ml of oil in the outter (the range is 325-360) I went with Maxima racing fork flucid 5wt. But that gave me factory like feel, which is what I was looking for) so maybe 2.5 wt would get you softer. Set the oil level 325ml and go up 5-10ml at a time if you need to. I use a turky marinnade injector in the air bleed holes to add oil.

The innner cartige oil weight is what changes the damping. The outter mainly lubes the busing and spring rate at the end of the strock (traped air in the fork). there is a little daming going on in the outter when the oil is forced though the spring cups, that is usally only felt on really big hits. You will need 2 liters of oil to do both forks inner and outer. 325ml -360mm in the outter and about 200ml for each inner. The link for the wrench http://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/p/44/-/256/731/-/17693/Tusk-KYB-Dual-Chamber-Fork-Cap-Wrench/tusk+fork+wrench


Link to my recent thread on this as well.
http://www.cafehusky.com/threads/txc-310-fork-oil.27840/

Micfasto,

I always want to make sure I take care of things correctly.

I think your TXC 310 has the same forks as my TC250.

So, quickly looking up the reference on Rocky Mountain ATV, I see the Tusk wrench in the photo you posted. It says the wrench is for Dual Chamber KYB forks and has a 49 MM outer cap wrench with a 35 mm inner cap wrench. Forgive me, but is that what we have - am I choosing the correct tool?

With the multiple possible fork designs that I am seeing in general, I wanted to understand what it is that is on this bike. I think again, I may be making things more difficult. But, I am also really enjoying learning about this stuff.

Your help and insight is greatly appreciated!

ECB

Micfasto, thanks for the link to the tool.

My question now is then about the inside and outside chamber. I was under the impression there was only a single chamber and that is the type I am familiar with. My past bikes were all much simpler. When I take the cap off, will the second chamber be obvious to access? What reference do you have for this? I have an owners manual from Husqvarna that just refers to a single total amount of oil for each fork and does not have any photos of what I may see inside. Just wanting to be prepped for what I might find once I open them up.

Thanks again!

old husky rider probibly is talking about open cartrige forks. A normal 12" crescent will not open wide enough to get the KYB twin/Closed cartrige forks off.

A good video for your referance is http://www.dirtrider.com/features/fork-seals-made-easy-tech-video/ he does not change the inner cartige oil but it is a good video. If you only want to change the oil level in the outer chamber, it is a good video (changing volume in the outher cartirge in a twin/closed cartrige fork does the same thing as changing oil hight in an open cartrige fork) bottming spring rate.

Here is the link to the service manual http://www.husqvarnafactory.nl/pdf/2011.htm

This is a good referance for the innner cartrige
View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0dLM_IoIOQ
And yes the tool I linked is the one we need for our forks.


You do not need to remove the seals if you are not changing them out.

The forks in the videos are the same as the ones on my bike (and yours). If you are changing the oil in the inner cartige I have some morereferance material and some things I learned working on mine. Hit me up if you need more help.

Thank you for the info! I am excited to get everything adjusted

ECB

Sorry for the bad info, that's what I get for involving myself in newer bikes with different equipment than mine. Good luck with the project, hope you get your handling where you want it to be.

OlderHuskyRider, No problem. I am grateful to you for the reply!

Besides, I am a real techno nerd and I am eating up all this that I am finding out. About 25 years ago, I was an every week motocross racer. I had a chart of all the maintenance I made on my bikes, I had all the shop manuals for the bikes spec sheets, carburetor settings for different situations. I went through 4 bikes in 4 years, I was up on everything and loving it. Fast forward through the 25+ year drought from riding ultra responsible stage of life, and now I am trying to get back in. Probably not going to race motocross, but I am definitely going to get back into the technical aspect of riding, learn as much as I can and have a great time doing it.

Meeting up with helpful folks like you are what makes it nice. If you ever want to ride in the Salt Lake Area, drop me a note. I have some awesome single track high mountain trails I have begun to explore. There are a number of YouTube videos other riders have posted on the areas here. More than a person can ride on in a reasonable amount of time. Maybe our trails will cross some day.

ECB

bringing an old thread back to life.

I have a set of forks from a 2013 TC250 mounted in my 2015 Beta 300rr. I've had my tuner revalve them for my extremely rocky technical terrain. He also changed the stock springs out for .44's, and went to a lesser ICS

They are remarkably plush in this bike, and it seemed I was blowing through the stroke too easily. He recommended adding 20cc's of oil to each leg, (he had them set at 320 cc's). This did seem to help but I needed to open of the compression all the way which seemed odd since he usually valves my stuff on the light side since I'm not a racer, but when the going got faster it seemed there was an occasional spike and deflect (perhaps too much rebound damping and packing on successive hits?)

I'm 230lbs fully geared up. and was thinking of trying a higher spring rate. I believe the OEM rate was .48kg's on these forks, so I wonder if it's OK to try one of the OEM .48's on the non brake side only to end up with .46 rate between the two?