Dave wrote on 02/06/16 at 04:57:24:The manual instructs you to use Dexron ATF or 15W Fork Oil.
That is all you really need to do, and your bike will handle as well as can be expected....the thickness of the oil is a compromise to do a reasonably good job for average conditions, On some road a thinner oil might be better - other roads a thicker oil, On 40 degree days the oil might be a little thick and on 90 degrees days a bit thin.
If you think you can mix and match oils and suddenly create a magic oil that is superior to anything the factories have available.....you are mistaken.
Go buy some Dexron ATF if you are cost conscious - or some 15W fork oil if you want what is made to go in the forks........and stop overthinking what belongs in your forks.
Dave, I have some old bottles of Napa brand Dexron III/Mercon already. That is what I am using. You are not paying attention. I am not saying I wouldn't try pure Rotella T6 for experimenting; I am not saying I will settle for it either. More likely, for practical reasons, I will likely end up using Dexron mixed with a some Rotella as a thickener. As I recall, someone spoke of bikes of the past which called for ATF mixed with motor oil in the books.
"dasch" said 4-5 years ago:
Quote:My old suzuki GS' manual (1981) recommended a blend 50/50 of ATF and 10W40. I stick to that, in lack of fork oil.
http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1311892806My plan would be to use 5w40, which is even better. I might not even put half of it in motor oil. I am basically doing an accepted practice already.
Dave, if you were paying attention, you would realize that Dexron and 15 weight fork oil are NOT equivalent. Dexron is thinner. But maybe you already know that.
Yes, I overthink things. I overthink EVERYTHING! It even gets in the way of my minimum wage, fast food job. I worry so much about cleanliness and little details it is not funny. Ought to see how much soap and paper towels I go through in a day washing my hands! Takes forever to accomplish the smallest things.
Ought-ta be an engineer, but...
Now, as far as having a catastrophic crash from using the "wrong" oil, pray tell, why?
Is it due to the increased possibility of foaming? Do the two oils react to each other in undesirable ways? I read somewhere that it was undesirable to mix ATF with certain other oils. I think it was hydraulic oil or motor oil, but it had nothing to do with motorcycles. I may have to look it up again. Considering that Suzuki (or the manual manufacturer, anyway) called for ATF mixed with motor oil for the forks, I would guess that there is no problem. Are you just worried that I will mix it too thick and skip off the pavement with every pothole? Is it the detergent bringing the dirt into suspension, as someone else on the web mentioned? Could that be the magic bullet that kills me? Detergent!
That's what I get for being a handwasher!
After all, I rode for quite a while with one side blowing oil out! I don't think that side was damping much, was it? If anything would have wrecked me, that would have been it. (Who knows, it could have been it.)
That was a real imbalance, and it may have caused me problems, though I don't have the experience to tell. Playing around with my suspension should help give me a feel for how different suspension conditions affect the handling of the bike, thereby developing an awareness in that area. It should help give me that experience. You know what I'm talking about?
Good grief! The Savage is not an expensive, high-tech, high precision bike anyway, is it? What will it matter if I don't use the fancy, specialized oil? Am I a professional racer who pushes his bike to the limit and can tell the difference so easily? As a newb, will I even be able to tell the difference in performance between homemade 15 weight and Bel-Ray 15 weight? If I can, will it matter that much? Especially considering I have a beat up $1K Savage with an 8 year old rear tire and a broken foot peg! How about a bent triple tree! Didn't talk about that one, did I? I think one of the bolts in the triple tree is bent, making the handlebars slightly crooked. Not enough to notice much, though. Now that I think about it, this would have been a good time to fix that, considering my need to pull the forks.
Tell me, is homemade fork oil any worse than the crappy rear shocks everyone complains about? Oh yeah, I guess homemade fork oil+ insidious rear shocks = just enough garbage to make disaster, huh?
Just having the bad shocks is okay, though--and the crappy brakes too...
BUT DON'T YOU PUT IN THAT HOMEMADE OIL! YOU WILL CRASH, AND YOUR BIKE WILL INSTANTLY BURST INTO FLAMES BECAUSE ANYTHING BUT FORK OIL IS BLASPHEMY! YOUR BIKE WILL HATE YOU, AND THE BIKE GODS WILL SEEK VENGEANCE FOR YOUR FAILURE TO PAY TRIBUTE TO THE HONORABLE STEA--[COUGH]-- DEALERSHIPS!
And yes, there is a decent chance that dedicated suspension oil of the proper weight (and favorite brand) performs at least a little better than re-purposed oil, but that's not the point of the argument, is it?
Pages: 
