• 4 Stroke Husqvarna Motorcycles Made In Italy - About 1989 to 2014
     TE = 4st Enduro & TC = 4st Cross

  • Hi everyone,

    As you all know, Coffee (Dean) passed away a couple of years ago. I am Dean's ex-wife's husband and happen to have spent my career in tech. Over the years, I occasionally helped Dean with various tech issues.

    When he passed, I worked with his kids to gather the necessary credentials to keep this site running. Since then (and for however long they worked with Coffee), Woodschick and Dirtdame have been maintaining the site and covering the costs. Without their hard work and financial support, CafeHusky would have been lost.

    Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been working to migrate the site to a free cloud compute instance so that Woodschick and Dirtdame no longer have to fund it. At the same time, I’ve updated the site to a current version of XenForo (the discussion software it runs on). The previous version was outdated and no longer supported.

    Unfortunately, the new software version doesn’t support importing the old site’s styles, so for now, you’ll see the XenForo default style. This may change over time.

    Coffee didn’t document the work he did on the site, so I’ve been digging through the old setup to understand how everything was running. There may still be things I’ve missed. One known issue is that email functionality is not yet working on the new site, but I hope to resolve this over time.

    Thanks for your patience and support!

te310r fork oil change.

3

310 newb

Husqvarna
A Class
Ok, so the workshop manual isn't too comprehensive,, Im planning to just undo the top-nut, leave them upside down to drain in an oil pan or measuring jug overnight, and then top up to the specified level with Belray 2.5w (the only 2.5w oil i could find).
Any problems with this plan? I have never done this job before so dont know what to expect.
The whole idea of doing it is the stock forks are too hard for my 80kg arse - no sag at all with my body weight.
Or should i be changing springs?
And is it worth changing the seals too? the ones on there seem fine and i would need speciality tools to do this?
Thanks in advance
 
Dumping the oil that way is fine. Sounds like you're on to something with the spring rate. Oil will only make a difference as it runs through the piston and shim stacks. Did you buy the bike used? If so then who knows what rate they are but you may find it engraved on the end coil.

If you're just experimenting then no need to worry about seals but if you're not sure how old that stuff in there is its cheap insurance to change out seals, bushings, o rings etc.
 
Unless the previous owner put in heavier springs then your weight is ideal for this bike in stock trim.
I would flush the forks before putting the new fork oil in as there will be gunk on the bottom.
I think Noobee is right, I would change out the fork seals, wipers and bushings.
If not then perhaps a quick fork leg/seal clean under the seal with a piece of plastic film (something about the thickness of the old 8mm film ).
You can see good vids on this and pulling down forks on you tube. -Rocky mountain ATV do good how too vids.
If you replace the fork seals go for the SFK brand-much better then OEM.

Cheers and good luck.

PS have you played with the clickers on the forks/ rear shock first-they may be wound up too much-check comp, rebound and sag first off.
 
Yeah, I would have thought it needs softer fork springs, hard to get here in Oz though, and I couldnt find the threads but there has been talk on here about lighter fork oil making al the difference. Its about maybe $100au for a seal, bushing and o-ring kit, and not too sure i trust myself to do it since the manual is pretty sketchy and ive never done it. Might make a few calls and see what the pro's will charge me.
Allegedly, the bikes suspension is untouched from new, and ridden by an old man for 1000 km (off road, single track).
 
ghte said:
Unless the previous owner put in heavier springs then your weight is ideal for this bike in stock trim.
I would flush the forks before putting the new fork oil in as there will be gunk on the bottom.
I think Noobee is right, I would change out the fork seals, wipers and bushings.
If not then perhaps a quick fork leg/seal clean under the seal with a piece of plastic film (something about the thickness of the old 8mm film ).
You can see good vids on this and pulling down forks on you tube. -Rocky mountain ATV do good how too vids.
If you replace the fork seals go for the SFK brand-much better then OEM.

Cheers and good luck.

PS have you played with the clickers on the forks/ rear shock first-they may be wound up too much-check comp, rebound and sag first off.
Click to expand...

Simultaneous post! Thanks. Yes, the rear shock seemed pretty spot on,, i adjusted the preload to suit and that was all,, and went pretty much full soft compression on the forks and slid them up the top clamps half an inch to compensate for lack of sag.
 
Ok so I think its the cartridge type where the whole inner workings and spring are connected to the top nut, which means I will have to undo the spring and a bunch of shims and stuff just to drain and refill. Might as well just get a full rebuild kit if it has to come apart anyway, yeah?
 
Make sure the fork legs are aligned and not binding. Loosen off the axle clamp bolts on the rh (non brake caliper) side. Make sure the fork leg clamp can slide freely on the axle then bounce the forks up and down to align them. Tighten the axle clamp bolts (not too tight) and recheck their operation.
 
Oldscool said:
Make sure the fork legs are aligned and not binding. Loosen off the axle clamp bolts on the rh (non brake caliper) side. Make sure the fork leg clamp can slide freely on the axle then bounce the forks up and down to align them. Tighten the axle clamp bolts (not too tight) and recheck their operation.
Click to expand...

I ended up taking the forks to a local suspension guru who said the exact same thing. I'll let them do a full service on the forks. Might get them to do a revalve too but not sure it needs it. Spring rate is pretty much ideal for my weight on paper, hopefuly they'l be a bit more plush after a good service and revised oil levels.
 
I finally switched to Red Line LW oil @ 140mm from the top in my revalved wr300 forks. Went from being a little firm and tending to deflect to plush and very stable. My oil of choice now in these KYB OC forks :thumbsup:
 
Ok so I got my forks back the other day, they said they did a full rebuild and put 2.5w oil in and filled about 10mm higher than stock.
Havn't ridden it yet except for a test ride around the block. Feels better, sag is within spec now (previously had almost none) BUT the forks rattle.
I only noticed it when I got them home. Is it normal for fork springs to rattle? They also make a lot of "liquidy" noises as you plunge them up and down,, like there are air pockets in the oil or something.
I dont want to go back and make an arse of myself if it's normal, as these guys are highly recommended, and all the local racers and bike shops go to them for their suspension tuning and they are really nice guys.
 
Hey 310 I bet its your rear floating disc brake that is rattling. If that is correct then that is normal.
 
Just to be clear, it is not normal for the fork springs to rattle. There's a bleeder on top of the fork legs. Put the bike on a stand with the front off the ground and open the bleeder valve to release air in the forks. You may need to do it more than once if there's a lot of air trapped inside. Do it after every ride too :cheers:
 
The KYB forks on my wr125 had audible spring rattle, but only with the front wheel off the ground (on a work stand) when banging the steering onto the full lock stopper. I don't recall hearing it at any other time and it certainly wasn't there when I was seated on the bike.
 
If the fork springs are rattling then they are not under compression.

You can loosen the top triple clamp bolt then unscrew the fork cap and see if the cap is under spring tension.
I guess it it possible they left out or installed spring spacers that are too short.
 
Agreed, with the forks topped out the spring is under very little compression. I figured the rattle I heard was the spring swaying side to side and touching the outer tube when the steering was jolted against the stops. The spring is held In position at both ends but between them it can sway. This only happened with the forks topped out and the steering jolted against the stop. With the bike sitting on the ground there was no sound.

To the OP I'd suggest speaking with the technician. If it's normal...great. If not I'm sure he'd love the chance to address it before any damage is done.
 
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