86 KXT Build

[onformula1]

Thanks for the info guys...I was going to look for 7 wt but guess 5 wt is what it calls for....$30 a quart...um wow.

I am not saying that is what you must use (It is great fluid) There are many brands that make great fluid for a 30 year old shock.

Viscosity is measured in many, many different ways. (Not all in equally listed on the bottle)

Here is some good shock fluid for the good price-

http://www.maximausa.com/product/racing-shock-fluid/

3 WT. will be close to stock, 7 WT. is nice to compensate for shock body wear and give a bit more compression & rebound damping.

Again not all fluids are measured the same, there are many, many factors. (I could write a book on this, but it would be boring)

Please don't use ATF or Fork oil.

[phantomtracer]

Sounds like I need to replace the oil I used.

[nd4speed]

He is right, that Maxima shock oil 3wt is real close to stock KYB oil but the 7 wt would work too. I did not know the oil numbers for VI and cst@40C would be all over the place.

[onformula1]

Sounds like I need to replace the oil I used.

You can give it a try, the compression damping will be stiffer, which is not the end of the world, I would be more concerned with the rebound damping which may be more than you like/want.

If you are running a longer swing arm or stiffer spring the extra rebound will/may be helpful.

[onformula1]

He is right, that Maxima shock oil 3wt is real close to stock KYB oil but the 7 wt would work too. I did not know the oil numbers for VI and cst@40C would be all over the place.

Hint/fact IMHO the 100C rating (212 degrees) is the best rating.

Thicker or thinner weight fluid is not a huge problem especially when dealing with a shock that has too many bleeds or too much blowby.

Keep in mind the higher the viscosity the quicker the shock fluid will wear out / "sheer".

Thicker fluid will break down quicker than the typical 40-60 hour service interval.

It will also cause higher heat ranges.

Very, very thin- water like fluid will not "Stick" and cause accelerated to the shock components .

[barnett468]

Thanks for the info guys...I was going to look for 7 wt but guess 5 wt is what it calls for....$30 a quart...um wow.

You can buy a qt of the K2C oil at the link below for only $18.00 . . I have used them for other oils also on occasion because of their low prices.

http://www.theoilhub.com/13002001010...FZI2gQod1p4PLA

[barnett468]

.

The change in viscosity from 5 to 3 might sound small but it is a 40% reduction.

The increase from 5 to 7 is 40% as well.

The viscosity numbers at 40 c are not nearly as significant as the numbers at 100 c which is where the shock can get when ridden hard . . 40 c is only 104 f, and if your riding in the desert in the summer, the shock won’t be from that even before you ride it . . I know the 100 c numbers are important because I got the shock that hot during testing, and we also did this while doing telemetry and heat testing on the shocks on our MTS machine that we scavenged from the snowmobile department when they closed, lol.

If one is going to use a viscosity other than 5, I would suggest using the 7 unless you are just going to ride it pretty easy because the 7 weight will not only compensate for worn parts as onformula1 mentioned, one cam also reduce the damping rate of the shock by simply turning the knobs.

This being said, it is often possible to mix two viscosities of the same oil to get a different viscosity without any noticeable side effects, which in this case, mixing 3 and 7 would basically get you 5, however, in this particular case, I would definitely check with the mfg before doing this.

[onformula1]

I factor in shipping charges, some companies over charge for shipping,,, TCI

[barnett468]

.
.
hi onformula1, I was typing earlier and after I sent my post, I saw you had already posted, so had I seen it, it would have saved me the effort, lol . . I was also actually going to mention shear too, but thought what I posted was enough, however, now that I saw you mention it, I figured I might as well just add a few more details [that I’m sure you already know some if not all of] just in case someone was interested.

Single weight oils have little to no shear even when they are full mineral base . . The shear occurs primarily when viscosity improvers [polymers] are added to oil which is the case with mineral based oil and Group III synthetic oils, which is done to get the multi viscosity rating from them, however, the Group IV PAO and Group V based oils which include Esters, have few to no viscosity improvers, which means, depending on how they are blended, have little to absolutely no shear.

Until recently, PAO oils had an average viscosity index of around 140, however, due to new developments in PAO technology by Chevron, they have developed a super PAO oil called mPAO which has a viscosity index of around 200 . . This is the base oil that Joe Gibbs racing has been using since around 2012 and they say they have switched all their oils to this base since then.

This info might be helpful when choosing an engine oil, especially if it will be subjected to a lot of abuse and high heat like in hot weather in sand dunes and long races in hot weather etc.

[phantomtracer]

Thanks for the info, just ordered a qt of the kyb oil, with shipping it was 26.88

Any tips on refilling and bleeding the shock?
The first go around took awhile.

[phantomtracer]

Finally finished the forks, well almost. I really need better looking fork caps. The ones I have are hacked up. Other than that it's all new genuine seals and bushings. The one seal that was unavailable rides on the inner damper rod, racetech was able to cross reference that to another part. I ended up staying with the originals as they were still flexible with no deep scratches.

Still looking for a plater, I had a guy and was about to make the drive to drop them off but the owner passed!!
Waiting for a Quote from another.

[phantomtracer]

Today was a good day!
Got my parts back from the plater.


Now I can start finishing some parts.



Ahhhh, satisfaction, seat foam is 1" thicker, cover fits great.

That Team Green cover can finally go on now that the seat pan hardware is plated.


When installing the cover its a good idea to use stainless staples, factory size is 1/2"x 1/4" deep.
Don't pull the cover too tight, that can cause the seat pan to flex upward and increase the size of the space between the front of the seat and tank.

[tecaterob]

Looking awesome man... Keep up the great work!!!

[phantomtracer]

well, I finally finished the rear shock. Turns out I kept bleeding the shock and it would quickly become air bound. I found the brand new reservoir bladder had a slice in it! After replacing the bladder and bleeding the system all is good! The good news is I ended up making a nice bleed tool that makes it real easy to bleed a remote reservoir shock here on out.
I just glass beaded the brake components and painted them with high temp paint. Should go together quickly with all new seals.

Second photo is front brake master cylinder, i was able to purchase a replacement site glass on eBay, if anyone is interested just do a search. I will post the after pics once I install the site glass kit which only cost a few bucks.

[tecaterob]

Nice work man, it's coming together really nice. Everytime I've tried to spray paint my calipers and I beed the brakes it screws up the paint. So be careful....