will adding more oil to forks stiffen them up?

[kilabeez0]

since i rebuilt them last night i'm still not satisfied with the performance of the forks. I had nothing to measure cc's or ml's. So I did what the manual suggested and poured in the atf, compressed the springs and measured the distance between the oil and top of the fork which is 7 7/8". So will adding more oil stiffen these bad boys up?

[cool_racer]

if you have the correct amount it shouldent, but switching to a heavier WT will make them stiffer i beleve

[TimSr]

Oil does not compress, so adding more than the range of compression only limits travel. Forks are made stiffer by using stiffer springs, or bandaided by preloading existing sprinsg with spacers.

[KayodicWeazel]

Higher weight oil will stiffen them up to a point. You probably need heavier springs though. It all depends on how stiff of travel you want...

[slothminx]

im not 100% but wouldnt adding a higher wieght oil only slow down the movement. not stiffen them

will

[TimSr]

im not 100% but wouldnt adding a higher wieght oil only slow down the movement. not stiffen them

will

You are correct.

[willcamach]

mine were super stiff till i pushed in the stem on the top of them. a bunch of air came out and now they are super plush maybe a little to soft. is it possible to just pump some extra air back into them to make them stiff again.

[KayodicWeazel]

So, in effect, all heavier shock oil does is slow down travel?

Strange...

[New2ATC]

I believe heavier wt. oil increases dampning, which is the rate that the springs go back up, so when you jump, your springs dont just make you bounce off the ground, they soak it up, and slowly return back up. I think that stiffer springs would be needed for stiffer shocks.

[83185s]

will: if your going to be putting air back in...i wouldnt suggest an air compressor...too fast and to much ..it will blow your seals...i suggest if you are going to..use an air pump...a slow cheap one

[Huffa]

Putting air in is sort of old school. Your not only putting air in but a certain amount of moisture.

I'd keep the air out and tune it by springs and oil.

Putting a bit more oil in each leg then stock will effect the last portion of travel where changing the weight will effect the whole thing.

[kilabeez0]

yeah i researched this on another post, thanks for the responses. after riding it for a bit i'm actually impressed with it. man i've replaced just about every single thing on this trike because it was totally ragged on for 20 years. you should've seen the crap that poured out of the fork tubes!!! i cleaned everything real good and filled it up with the proper amount of nice clean atf and it works great. i might try the spacers out though.