Siphoning Fork Oil?

[98TIGA]

So... I'd like to put new oil in the forks, just for peace of mind; I'd imagine the stuff in there now is 20+ years old. I'd also like to upgrade to a slightly heavier viscosity. Being a '98, mine doesn't have the lateral drain screw, which apparently (according to the manual) means the forks need to be removed and up-ended to drain-- absolutely ludicrous! Is there any reason one couldn't just siphon the oil? Maybe use one of those hand-pumps for filling differentials or something? I was thinking I'd just fish a long piece of tubing from the top unless the way it's engineered prevents that. Has anyone tried this?

[Timbox2]

To do it properly yes the forks need to come off, you can probably siphon a fair amount of the oil but you wont get it all out. I inverted my forks and left them overnight, its not that big a deal to remove them.

[Chris Canning]

Timothy your so subtle 'To do it properly' 

[Timbox2]

Timothy your so subtle 'To do it properly' 

[Chris Canning]

Front wheel out,loosen fork caps,undo top/bottom yokes, forks out unscrew caps leave upside down over night, refill and the jobs a good'un

[ssevy]

My old fork oil looked like aluminum paint and stunk really bad, almost like old rear differential oil. Definitely worth the effort to invert and drain overnight.

[98TIGA]

Thanks, guys. Maybe I'll make it another winter project. It's not that I'm concerned with the difficulty of the job (I have the tools necessary and the manual), but time is a commodity I don't have. With two young boys and 50-hour-work-weeks, my wife gets jealous of evenings spent with the Steamer. It sure would be nice (and efficient) if they had a drain plug.

[98TIGA]

Well... I've got a confession to make: I went ahead and did it my way-- just for grins. If I wasn't able to siphon all the fork oil, I must have come awful close, because I wasn't able to see any standing fluid when I flashed a light down the tube; when I drained it into a Pyrex container, I came up with approximately 625ML per fork. It looks like someone already modified the preload, because the spacers were just over five inches. It must have been done quite some time ago though, because the oil was rancid and teaming with metal particles. I replaced it with 15W (per recommendations from others on the forum), and the suspension is considerably stiffer now.

I also lowered the front suspension by raising the fork tubes through the yoke by 25mm. I can finally put my feet flat on the ground, which is necessary for me to maneuver the bike around our uneven gravel driveway. I'm aware that men and women much smaller than me have rode it with the factory specs and had no complaints-- perhaps I should feel like less of a man because of this, but it's drastically improved my confidence when operating the bike at low speeds or stopping at traffic signals. Coming from a low-slung '12 Bonneville, the sheer height of the Tiger has been my only gripe.

[Beernard]

Gday mate. Looks like you have done a good job. Perhaps there is more than one way to skin a cat! Personally, I think it is important that a lot of these fluids jobs need to be done regularly (on any machine we have), more than always perfectly by the book (did I say that?). All in the timing. Having said that, the "book" is there for a reason, too! And always consult people who are more clever than me.
Regards, Bern.

[98TIGA]

Thanks for the affirmation, Bern!

I don't mean to imply I don't realize the importance of doing things the "right way", but in this case I felt as though I ought to go with the lesser of two evils: I could siphon the old oil, replace it with fresh stuff, and perhaps leave trace amounts of contaminants behind, or I could leave things alone and continue to ride with 20+-year-old oil in the forks. Removing the forks and draining them was just too time-consuming to be a viable option right now. I love to tinker, but make no mistake... ultimately, it's all about the ride! With the short riding season here, I'm always looking for ways to maximize my ride time.

I recall reading that it was necessary to remove the swingarm and exhaust in order to replace the chain rub strip too (of which I did neither), so I take things with a grain of salt; however, I do value the opinions of those on this forum... most are very intelligent folks with the practical experience to back up their theories.