K11 Owners Group

tmarshall57 · Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 10:52 am Post subject: K1100 Fork Oil

Hi There

I have a 97 K1100 RS. I have replaced the seal on the left fork. I read in the factory manual that, after a rebuild, the left leg requires 400cc of oil i.e. same as right leg.

This is not mentioned in Clymers. There is also doubt cast on this in

http://www.k11og.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3723&highlight=fork+oil

What is your esteemed view on this matter?

Thanks

Tony
_________________
K1100RS Special Edition 1997
Arctic Silver/Black

bmwmick · Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 11:14 am Post subject:

Tony,
Right out of the service manual. 400cc each after rebuild, 350cc left 400cc right after drain with no rebuild.

Technical Data K 1100 LT K 1100 RS
Front wheel castor mm (in) 95 (3.74)
Steering angle ° 34
Spring travel (normal position, 75 kg load) mm (in) 135 (5.315)
Test installation length of fixed tubes mm (in) ca. 210 (approx. 8.268)
Fixed tube surface hart verchromt
Fixed tube outside ø mm 41.7 f8
Slider tube inside ø mm 41.86 H8
Clearance of fixed fork tube in slider tube mm (in) 0.05...0.209 (0.00197...0.00823)
Maximum permissible runout of
fixed fork tube mm (in) 0.15 (0.0059)
Length of fork support spring mm (in) 425 (16.732)
Coil wire diameter of fork support spring mm (in) 4.8 (0.189)
Telescopic fork oil - approved grade Esso Komfort

Capacities per fork leg, l (Imp. pt)
Oil change, left 0.350 - 0.01 (0.616 - 0.0176)
right 0.400 - 0.01 (0.704 - 0.0176)

New filling 0.400 - 0.01 (0.704 - 0.0176)

Grease in gaiter SHELL Retinax A
Gleitmo 805

50cc plus or minus from the above levels WILL change the way the forks work but it will not harm the seals. You would have to overfill the forks by about 200% to actually harm the seals.
_________________
Mick McKinnon
KOG#175
'93 K1100LT, '96 R1100RT, '84 R100RS, 2010 Kawasaki C-14
Tucson, AZ

Technician · Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 1:21 pm Post subject:

The figures quoted are spot on. I found that after stripping my forks down and flushing all the parts through with brake cleaner when i did the seals i still only required 350cc left and 400cc right. I thought that as I had stripped it all down then it would need the larger amount of fluid but this caused the seal to blow within 3 miles and leak the excess oil down the leg onto the wheel. I learnt fromm experience had to change the seals again and only put in 350cc to the left leg then "took it round the block to see if the wheels fell off" as it handled well I deemed the levels to be ok.
_________________
Fat Ba***d with a K1100LTse
Squire D18 trailer
Garmin Zumo 660
"Run it round the block to see if the wheels fall off!!!!"

tmarshall57 · Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 2:06 pm Post subject:

Hi Technician - I am still confused. You say the figures are spot on (400cc in left leg after rebuild) but that you didn't require 400cc as this amount blew your left seal.

I have seen others comment about blown seals after refilling left leg to 400cc (after rebuild) but others have disputed this and the factory manual quotes 400cc after a rebuild.
_________________
K1100RS Special Edition 1997
Arctic Silver/Black

Technician · Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 3:49 pm Post subject:

My understanding is that if you drop the slider off the bottom of the stanchion and just change the seal this is not a full stripdown and that there is probably oil hiding somewhere within the remaing structure. When I change seals I just drop the wheel,brakes and mudguard off then remove the brace which then allows the slider to be slid off the bottom of the stanchion. I flush the sliders out and wash the stanchions down with brake cleaner, change the seals then refit in reverse. If you can make the bottom bolt seal with a new "o"ring then you can pre-fill the slider with oil before re-assembly. Yes I do only put 350cc in the left fork and no I don't get any leaks.
If you want further info let me know, as you're in the U.K. I may be able to pass on some stuff.
_________________
Fat Ba***d with a K1100LTse
Squire D18 trailer
Garmin Zumo 660
"Run it round the block to see if the wheels fall off!!!!"

Jim · Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 3:59 pm Post subject: Re: K1100 Fork Oil

tmarshall57 · Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 6:46 am Post subject:

Thanks everyone. As I completely stripped down and cleaned all the contents of the slider I will go with 400cc and see what happens.

One thing of interest - the old oil seal had no markings and only had one spring (at the bottom). The new seal (from Motorworks) had 2 springs (top and bottom) and was clearly marked "Marzocchi".

Cheers

Tony
_________________
K1100RS Special Edition 1997
Arctic Silver/Black

Adrian · Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 7:17 am Post subject:

Just a thought if in doubt... you'd be safer to add 100cc of oil to each tube and then drain the forks. Then put in 350/400cc as needed. Better than blowing a seal just to experiment Smile

Adrian
_________________
Adrian in Somerset, UK
K1100LT SE
145,000 miles and counting Smile

https://sites.google.com/site/worlestone/

chas · Posted: Fri May 22, 2009 11:26 am Post subject:

Scott_Anderson · Posted: Fri May 22, 2009 1:14 pm Post subject:

Saltcreek · Posted: Fri May 22, 2009 7:33 pm Post subject:

endoman100 · Posted: Fri May 22, 2009 9:21 pm Post subject:

I was also a bit confused
So I filled the fork oil to the clymers specs and road it for a few miles. Then I drained the fork oil on both sides and filled them to specs again. I had no problem now. I did have more contaminant in the 350cc fork than I did the 400cc fork.This led me to believe that 50cc was stored in the upper tube thus, after changing the oil for the second time. this seemed to make everything right.
_________________
In the words of the stones
Time Is On My Side
Yes It Is
1993 K1100RS

Jim · Posted: Fri May 22, 2009 9:33 pm Post subject: fork oil

If you're just changing the oil - it's 350 left and 400 right as in the posts above.
_________________
Jim
1997 K1100LTSE 94,000 - still has gremlins!
1995 R100RT Classic 16,650 crashed - repaired!
1992 K75RTP 46,000

"We shall not all die, but we shall all be changed."