Fork oil: SAE 10W?

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jonnythan · #1 Unread post by **jonnythan** » Sat May 19, 2007 5:01 pm

My service manual calls for "SAE 10W" oil in the forks.

I can't really seem to find this. The only place I found that sells anything like this is Dennis Kirk, who sells .5 liter bottles of "10 weight" fork oil for $5 each.

Can I use 10W-30?

niterider · #2 Unread post by **niterider** » Sat May 19, 2007 5:49 pm

Is automatic trans fluid about that weight (10)?

BuzZz · #3 Unread post by **BuzZz** » Sat May 19, 2007 8:02 pm

Your manual means 10 weight fork oil, I'm guessing.

You can use 10w30. It won't work as well and performance will be affected, but you could use it if you really wanted to.

I would (and have and will continue to) use actual fork oil with it's lack of detergent and addition of anti-foam additives, but only because that's what it's for. It performs a vastly different job than a multi weight motor oil.....

How often do you change fork oil? For the frequency that happens, I'd be sorely tempted to use the right stuff.....

Johnj · #4 Unread post by **Johnj** » Sun May 20, 2007 3:06 am

I wouldn't use engine oil in your forks. I recently changed out the oil in my forks and used 330ml of PJ1 15W Fork Oil in each leg just like my manual calls for. Well the manual calls for 10W fork oil but I wanted to stiffen things up a bit so I went to the 15W.

vicshere · #5 Unread post by **vicshere** » Mon May 21, 2007 12:18 pm

I use hydraulic oil (like they use in backhoes) in my forks and it works very well...10W30 I wouldn't