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Pictures - How to change fork oil in ZX12-R
OK. This topic pops out ones and a while... So after changed my forkoils - I decided to took couple of photos and show to everybody how You can change the oils without special tools...
Ok here is the start:
First loosen the bolt holding top triple tree and also loosen the top nut of the fork - its much easier when it is in the bike!
Then loosen the preload adjusters all the way to top(softest setting)
Then lift the front end up by some usefull way. Here is mine:
Then start removing front wheel by removing brake calipers
After that loosen the bottom tripple tree bolts and remove front fork. The bolts are little tricky to reacm - You may find it easier to remove some of the plastick.
Here is the tricky part! Use tie-down to compress the spring. Use also one of those ties to hold the tiedown in the collar and secure it with the bolts:
Here is another photo:
After compressing the spring You may have to pull the top of the fork little up to reach to the bolt securing the top part:
These are the parts You have to remove. Be carefull when uncompressing the spring - so things wont blow up. This is also a good way to measure the free length of the spring.
After that turn the fork upside down an let the old oil drain out. Collect it to a container - be green!!!
After that put new oils in and measure the oil level - should be 102mm+-2mm. Dont trust on amount of oil. And assebly is reversal of disassembly - don't forget to put that rebound dambing adjusting rod back!!! And after that do the same to the another fork. When assembling the wheel back its good to put some grease on the wheel oilseals to help to keep the collars in place:
And at the same time - You can also lift the rear up and add a spacer to lift rear end. This will make the bike handle better - its recommended at least by Kawasaki Germany. You need to lift the fuel tank up and down there there is big bolt - the top bolt of the schock:
Loosen it and add this to the top of the shock:
You can get these from the dealer or make Your own - like I did. I used thickness of 4mm - 0.5mm short of KHI recommendations - didn't wanted to make too big change.
I also changed my first tire - with the tools I ordered couple weeks ago and got last friday. And thanks to advices it was quite easy.
And to make this even longer post here is couple of pics of our rides:
The ZX12 '00
And another
And my fathers Z1300 '86
And another
And also my brothers KTM Adventure '00
And another
And finaly all together
And another
One thing I forget to mention was that its better to write down your suspension settings before you unscrew them! And I only changed the oils - no need to change to seals if theyre not broken. And about the time now on my second try it was something like 3 hours. And I did quite slowly - not to mess things up. And if someone dosen't know the weigth of the oil - recommended is 10W and You gonno need almost one littre of it (or 1 quart should be OK) if You don't spill it out. Be carefull.