The Mystery Of Fork Oil

So I got out a big wrench, and alternately loosened my fork caps, until one of them fired like a rocket, under pressure from the compressed fork spring, and made a large dent in my wooden overhead garage door, and I’m thinking, hmmm… So I drilled holes in my fork caps, actually Vic did it for me, cause he has a drill press, and tapped the holes for a pipe thread, and fitted them with a 3/8” allen plug. The holes are big enough to accept the nipple from an oil filler bottle. I have 2 filler bottles, measure the correct amount for each side, drain from the bottom, put the bottom plugs back in….and carefully squeeze the precious fluid into each tube. And no more dealings with those pesky springs. It’s just a matter of finding the correct weight oil.

The Harley manual, the bible, says to use Genuine HD Type E, which I found to be a little “squishy,” I did some internet research and found some charts, confusing viscosity numbers, and replacement guides pertaining to fork oil, which led me to believe that the HD Type E fork oil is rated at a viscosity of approximately 7w, and that the HD Screaming Eagle Heavy is approximately 20w. So, I figured, why not try something in between, and there it was: Bel-Ray 15w.

It’s rush hour, and traffic is jamming up on all the major roads, so I do a little lane splitting, and wind up at Moroney’s Harley Davidson, and on the shelf, all I see, is the familiar little bottles of Type E, and Screaming Eagle Heavy. Nope. So I wander over to “the Metric side,” down the stairs to the unpretentious “metric side” of the dealership. This is where they sell stuff for…Jap Bikes. The man at the counter was helpful. I told him that I was looking to try a 15w in my Harley. He didn’t have the Bel-Ray, either, but recommended the Maxima 15w…”Harley compatible,” he said. And I bought it. And I left there happy, and then I saw traffic was jammed as far as the eye could see…rush hour traffic. I shot off down some side road until I found more jammed up traffic, and I began splitting lanes. I split lanes “un-aggressively,” squeezing through the jam, trying not to clip any mirrors…I feel I’m doing a service to those who are stuck, by alleviating the jam, somewhat, by giving up my place on the road to a bigger vehicle, and relegating my humble air cooled motorcycle to the narrow, often un-maintained places, where no other vehicle can go.

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