Correct fork oil for 2008 ?

Here's the deal.. They Yamaha shop will sell me the GEN I oil for about 25 bucks or so for each bottle.. ($$about) They said that the GEN II calls for the Öhlins / Yamaha fork oil that is about 60 bucks a bottel.. Because its 'yamaha' oil there is not a weight on the fluid...

These guys are not the normal 'stealer'.. These guys are my friends, they would help out in any way...Etc.... I was in a hurry today and I told them not to do the leg work to find the answers for me, I was going to ask the forum and call him tomorrow...

I have my stock suspension set up pretty good for me right now so I need to know the weight on the stock oil...... can I use the GEN I oil or be better to use the Öhlins oil?

If anyone can help that would be great.... I know if I knew the weight I could get some silkolene oil or something like that.... I just dont really want to drop 120 bucks on fork oil this second....

Thanks for your help !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Linked from the Bin o Facts Gen II

Linked from FJRTech

Good luck.

linky

Not sure if this helps.

Bin-o-facts doesn't really seam to specify the exact oil.

IMHO, no way for that expensive Ohlins stuff. It's a personal preference, but if you are satisfied with the stock damping, I'd go with a good quality 10W such as Amzoil synthetic, Bel Ray, Silkolene, etc. If you want more or less damping you can always change it later knowing you didn't spend a small fortune.

Showa Suspension Fluid SS-7 is a quality fork oil and very close in viscosity to the Yamaha 01 fork oil. You can usually find it at any Honda dealer and it costs about $6.00 a pint (you need 3 pints).

Yzerman19 said:

IMHO, no way for that expensive Ohlins stuff. It's a personal preference, but if you are satisfied with the stock damping, I'd go with a good quality 10W such as Amzoil synthetic, Bel Ray, Silkolene, etc. If you want more or less damping you can always change it later knowing you didn't spend a small fortune.

Click to expand...

Is the stock weight 10W ? Thanks

MCRIDER007 said:

Showa Suspension Fluid SS-7 is a quality fork oil and very close in viscosity to the Yamaha 01 fork oil. You can usually find it at any Honda dealer and it costs about $6.00 a pint (you need 3 pints).

Click to expand...

Is your reference to a GEN I or GEN II ? Thanks for the info !!!

No One said:

Is the stock weight 10W ? Thanks

MCRIDER007 said:

Showa Suspension Fluid SS-7 is a quality fork oil and very close in viscosity to the Yamaha 01 fork oil. You can usually find it at any Honda dealer and it costs about $6.00 a pint (you need 3 pints).

Click to expand...

Is your reference to a GEN I or GEN II ? Thanks for the info !!!

Click to expand...

The GEN I calls for Yamaha 01 fork oil...which Yamaha calls a 10W but is really a 5W. I am not aware that there is any difference between the GEN I and GEN II damping rates (GP Suspension says they are the same) and have used SS-7 in both a GEN I and GEN II models. I have 3 pints sitting on my workbench to use on my 08 this spring.

Send a PM to escapefjrtist if you want more information.

When I bought the Eibach springs fron the guys at GP they told me to use 7.5 wt and not to use Silkolene because it oxidizes and gums up the bushings so I went with Bel-Ray.

MCRIDER007 said:

No One said:

Is the stock weight 10W ? Thanks

MCRIDER007 said:

Showa Suspension Fluid SS-7 is a quality fork oil and very close in viscosity to the Yamaha 01 fork oil. You can usually find it at any Honda dealer and it costs about $6.00 a pint (you need 3 pints).

Click to expand...

Is your reference to a GEN I or GEN II ? Thanks for the info !!!

Click to expand...

The GEN I calls for Yamaha 01 fork oil...which Yamaha calls a 10W but is really a 5W. I am not aware that there is any difference between the GEN I and GEN II damping rates (GP Suspension says they are the same) and have used SS-7 in both a GEN I and GEN II models. I have 3 pints sitting on my workbench to use on my 08 this spring.

Send a PM to escapefjrtist if you want more information.

Click to expand...

When I had my '05 FJR and changed the fork fluid I came across the centistoke specs for the Yamaha oil. It worked out to be the same as Motorex 2.5 wt and that's what I used. With my '08 FJR I didn't do the same research; I just bought the Motorex 2.5 and flushed them out and refilled them. I haven't ridden the bike since changing the fork oil,, but the factory fill was 10mm below the spec. I seriously doubt that Yamaha changed the viscosity spec much from Gen 1 to Gen 2, but if anyone has any info to the contrary I'd be curious.

No way you could convince me to spend that much money on suspension oil for forks. I service my own forks, and use Pro Honda* suspension oil in all bikes -- readily available off the shelf somewhere local if I happen not to have what I need when I start the project.

For the Blackbird and FJR, I mix Honda'sr SS-7 (5W) and SS-8 (10W) in equal proportions to get 7.5W, which provides the ride I like in those two bikes for the valving they have. 5W in one suspension oil may not be the same viscosity as a 5W in another suspension oil, so it's just a matter of finding and settling on something that works for me.

* Guessing that it's the same as Showa Suspension fluid from post above and fact that it's labeled the same (SS-7 and S-8).

Doing a little searching for what the "right stuff" is to be putting into the stock Yamaha FJR forks and came upon this thread. Then I did a little googling outside the forum and made a significant find: Here is a viscosity comparison graph for a whole bunch of different brands and weights of suspension fluids. The graph shows the viscosity (in centistokes) at both 100 degrees C and (more significantly) at 40 degrees C.

You can see the wide viscosity ranges that are called the same "weight" oil by various manufacturers.

What is particularly interesting is that the Yamaha 01 fork oil is very low down on the list. It falls between the area that most other manufacturers are calling 5W and 3W. I have printed off the lower portion of this chart and will use it to select an oil that is nearest to the Yamaha 01 oil as possible.

I have a feeling that the PO put some sort of 10W oil in when he replaced the fork springs, as my dampening has always been very stiff. I have tried dialing in the ball-park number of clicks as suggested by other forum members and have been way off the mark. I think I now understand why.

FWIW - most ATF comes in at ~ 30 centistokes @ 40 deg C and 7-8 centistokes @ 100 deg C, so would fall into the middle of the chart.

Anyway, thought I would share my discovery.

The Yamaha OEM fork oil is very light. My last replacement was with Belray 7w and it was way too heavy. Just switched to Belray 5w and it is much better.

The problem is, as Fred said, just because a manufacturer prints a weight on the bottle doesn't mean you can depend on it to be consistent. I know that, when my dealership ordered fork oil to put in my forks, it was specified as 5w. In order to avoid any problems, I handed them two liters of Belray 5w and asked them to put that in.

It isn't hard to see the difference. If what you are about to pour in looks significantly thicker than what you poured out, stop and go get something lighter - unless, of course, you are deliberately trying to alter your rebound and damping characteristics.

Dan

Dan,

Your recent posts and discussion is what gave me the idea to dig into this further.

Thanks!

Just scored a couple of liters of Motul Light weight (5W) oil from the LBS (@ $11 per, not too bad). According to my fancy chart it should be right about the same viscosity as the Belray 5W.