fork oil alternatives

[bart2181]

hiya motherfunkys,any idea if 10/40 engine oil will do the job for fork oil.i,m under the impression it only acts has a lube.any ideas?

 

[Stewart H]

hiya motherfunkys,any idea if 10/40 engine oil will do the job for fork oil.i,m under the impression it only acts has a lube.any ideas?

I think its nearer sae 5 or 10, but does it make any difference? I did think of using Citroen LHM

Stewart

 

[Steptoe]

Fork oil is anti-foaming. Engine oil isn't.

ATF would be ok to use, but might leak past the seals as it's so thin.

 

[bart2181]

cheers stewart i can,t see what differance the oil weight makes when all there is to r1100gs forks is a slider in a tubeunlike other forks which houses valves etc

 

[Deleted account 111026]

All engine oils have anti-foaming properties.

 

[bart2181]

which means what

 

[Steptoe]

All engine oils have anti-foaming properties.

So tell me aren't the requirements different between engine/fork/hydraulic foaming ?

A straight yes or no will suffice rather than a long diatribe

 

[samual1962]

what the fcuk

 

[Deleted account 111026]

No idea, just responded to your statement that engine oil isn't anti-foaming

 

[bart2181]

absolutely mr steptoe10/40 engine oil to be used has fork oil,yes or no

 

[Steptoe]

absolutely mr steptoe10/40 engine oil to be used has fork oil,yes or no

Why use engine oil

Being so thick it may force itself past the seals. Try it and let us know.

 

[Steptoe]

No idea, just responded to your statement that engine oil isn't anti-foaming

The purpose of using graded fork oil in forks rather than engine oil is to stop foaming.

 

[Deleted account 111026]

What you should have said is, 'When used in forks, engine oil has less anti-foaming properties than fork oil'

 

[(RIP) ugg]

mineral, or full synthetic oil


ugg

 

[motobiker]

Why mess about? fork oil isn't exactly an expensive (or rare) commodity. Use engine oil if you need to replace it somewhere obscure like the middle of the Gobi Desert... but I dont see the need to feck about in BIRMINGHAM. (of all places)

 

[Steptoe]

What you should have said is, 'When used in forks, engine oil has less anti-foaming properties than fork oil'

Yes, but i got into a bit of a "lather" over it.

 

[Deleted account 111026]

Certainly had me foaming at the mouth

 

[MattW]

I had no idea that fork oil could spawn its own special kind of "oil thread"

 

[Shep]

Fork oil is also designed to work 'cold' and so deals with moisture in a sneaky technical way, rather than engine oil that depends on moisture evaporating.


I used ATF for years in my hydraulic damped forks on my own road bikes, but I always used proper fork oil in customers dirt bikes, just because it seems to work better in hard used dirtbike set ups.

Shep

 

[Steptoe]

this thread has got fork oil to do with me.