Oil in front forks on Big Red 250

[hondajas]

I was doing some stuff with my parts trike Big Red and noticed an allen key socket at the bottom of the front suspension fork on each side. I loosened it and naturally oil came out. My question is do you ever have to replace that oil, if yes how? I don't have a manual for this thing (wish I had) What grade oil would you put in there, for summer, winter? Right now the suspension is pretty dang stiff cause it's winter, I can hardly compress the shock.

[jeswinehart]

hi hondajas.
that allen bolt you loosened up is normally only removed when you are takeing the forks apart. just above it but still below the front axle is a bolt. that is the fork oil drain. since you have started the draining job i reckon you are gonna haft to finnish it now.
support the bigred under the front skid plate ( whell off the ground ) + let the forks drain over night and add 3.73 - 3.91 oz. of fork oil of your choice. it's available from 5 weight up to 20 weight ( i think that high anyway ) i run 10weight in my big red but gotta tell you ( as you probbly know ) big red wasn't a sport suspension from the start.
my manual says to use automatic tranny oil ( drextron type )

oh yeah ,,, the fun part,,, you hafta drop the forks out of the tripple tree to add the oil.

john

[broook]

oh yeah ,,, the fun part,,, you hafta drop the forks out of the tripple tree to add the oil.



Yes then more fun begins when you have to compress the fork spring to remove the snap ring. Then get it back in.

I clean my forks out with gas and then add trans fluid. The crap that comes out of them is something to see. Looks like "Never Seize"

You will see a big difference in the handling though.