Stiffening front forks for an EGC

[Joyflyin]

Okay, hubby is turning to me for answers again. He says he thinks his front forks are too soft & he wants to know if we can stiffen them up a bit. He has an 04 Electra Glide Classic

Please forgive me if I missed it somewhere on the forum. I looked & looked, but didn't seem to find my answers.

Here are my preliminary guesses: 1: Heavier fork oil. We don't know what is in the forks now, bought the bike used 3 years ago, I figure whatever came in it.

2: Can we get a different, stiffer spring or any type of bushing for the fork?

I hope the answer is #1, as it would be easiest. :s I was just guessing on #2 since my bicycle forks came with different springs and/or bushings for the weight of the rider.

Thanks. Oh yeah, I have looked at his manual & he will be in charge of removing his fairing. :s

 

[06BLACKGLIDE]

Heavier like screamin Eagle oil would help out but on that year of bike you have a cartridge in one of the forks so you have to remove them from the bike compress the cartridge to get all the oil out then measure out the new oil put it in the cartridge and compress it back in, probably acouple hrs. work. Might as well let him chrome the front end out while its apart Jenni would appreciate thatl ol.

 

[Joyflyin]

I'll make sure I suggest that since I couldn't talk him into getting the SE ultra we saw a few weeks back. On second thought, maybe I better go look to see if he already has a chromed front end.

 

[TQuentin1]

Here are my preliminary guesses: 1: Heavier fork oil. We don't know what is in the forks now, bought the bike used 3 years ago, I figure whatever came in it.

Thanks. Oh yeah, I have looked at his manual & he will be in charge of removing his fairing. :s

Joy,

Heavier oil might be needed, or just changing the oil to some new stuff might solve the problem. However, I think that bike has a cartridge in the left side, so changing the fluid is not as easy as just taking the drain screws out of the bottom of the sliders, draining, and then refilling.

That will work on the right, but if the left has a cartridge, the left has to come off and be inverted to drain all the old stuff out. Refilling is done by filling the tube on each side until you have a specified air gap (see the manual). HD makes a handy deal for doing this, but you can improvise with a large syringe and a flexible straw.

TQ

 

[glider]

Joy, the stock oil is 5 wt which IMO is too thin for the heavy bikes. A change to 10 WT would firm things up a bit or depending if you wanted to go stiffer the SE 15 weight (not the racing one) would do this. Problem is your left fork is a cartridge and is a bit of work to do. Properly done it should have the leg removed from the tree to service it.

Here's some input on it.

Easy Fork Oil Change On Baggers - Harley Davidson Community

and

Jim's Cartridge Fork Tool For 02 and up Baggers - Harley Davidson Community

Joy, take a look here on the top of page 15 for the tool to measure the oil on the bike in this file.

HD Tool Catalogue

HD Tool Catalogue Link 2

 

[Joyflyin]

Thanks TQ. I hope that fixes it up for him. I will make him assist on this one since it is his bike. I've looked at the manual & the self help stuff, I'll get him to study it up & we will get his bike to the shop.

 

[whatyardwork]

I had the steeler put the chrome front end package on my streetglide before I picked it up.First thing they recommended was heavier oil for a better ride.Kinda makes you wonder why they dont use this from day one?

 

[Joyflyin]

'Cause by doing this way, they got you to buy more fork oil before you ever left the store.

 

[Bud White]

Instead of fooing with the cartridge why not get the normal left fork leg i think the kit is 180 .. yes pricey but not as much as having cartridge done again and again

 

[Joyflyin]

Joy I agree with him on letting the SE ultra be.
Just chage to the SE or heavyer oil thats all thats needed.
I sure you can do the job

LOL on that one Smitty. I did seriously try to get him to look at a new bike & he's just not interested. He likes the bike he's got. So that SE will sit there just like the $104 tee shirt.

As I have said before, he is way conservative with the money, (so I leave it with him) otherwise, we'd probably be broke! But, for the record, he will pay for quality when it comes down to it. :s