ATF Mercon bad for front fork seals?

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Greetings,

I'm a new member. I leaned of this site from threads posted at the Naked Goldwing Club (NGW). At NGW, there are periodic discussion regarding the merits of ATF as a fork oil. Early Goldwing manuals state that ATF is to be used in the forks. However, there have been comments at NGW about the dangers of using 'modern day' ATF with Mercon as it contains microscopic metal particles that, supposedly, are required for today's automatic transmissions. The suggestion is to use only ATF Type F which does not contain such particles.

I'm trying to validate this comment and determine if, in fact, modern ATF Mercon (or Dexron) actually contains minute amounts of metal.

Thank you in advance for any information you may have.
 
No problem. None of these contain any metal. The only differences are in the friction modifiers. These might be a metallic compound, but not metal...just like sodium chloride (table salt) is nothing like the metal sodium. Maalox antacid with aluminum hydroxide and magnesium hydroxide is nothing like the metal aluminum nor magnesium.

Or, buy fork oil. Or hydraulic oil.
 
ATF is ~7W. Use fork oil, it's designed for that purpose.

Newer cycles don't use ATF anymore.
Replacement spring makers suggest 10W (stock)or 15W (stiffer forks) for
the oil to use.
 
Honda fork oil is easily available, Honda SS8 is ten weight, most ATF's are higher than that.

I know atf was not in that bike stock, even though the manual might say atf can be used as a replacement. Keep in mind in yugoslovia, atf might be easier to find than Honda fork oil, so their crude recommends have to be generically found world wide.

But oil weight will drastically effect your valving, so if you liked the way it was originally, keep stock oil.
 
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Honda SS8 is ten weight, most ATF's are higher than that.


ATF is about 5-7Weight.

10 weight oil is thicker and will give a slightly stiffer action in suspensions.
 
ATF is about 5-7Weight.)))))

more like a 15 weight to me, it defintely performs alot thicker than a mc 5 weight. Closer to a 10 to 15 weight IMO.
 
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I've checked the specs on several ATF's, they all end up about 5-7 weight.

Viscosity is about 35 @ 40°C; ~7 @ 100°C.
Pour point is -40°C.

All in the ball park for a 5-7 weight.
 
AMSOIL Synthetic Multi-Vehicle ATF

Kinematic Viscosity @ 100°C, cSt (ASTM D-445) 7.6
Kinematic Viscosity @ 40°C, cSt (ASTM D-445) 38.9
Viscosity Index (ASTM D-2270) 168

ATF Viscosity Characteristics - Product SAE Viscosity
Dexron II & Type F = 5W-20
Dexron III, Mercon V & ATF Plus 4 = 0W-20
Caterpillar Powershift = 10W, 30 & 50
 
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Don't know what year goldwing you have, but for the early 1980 models, the Clymer manual specs dextron atf for the forks.I've used that before and it works fine.They may have changed the recommendation thru the years. I've used I've used it in the rear shocks also. Any new fluid will make a difference and firm up the ride. Atf is cheap and easy to get, I don't see a need to buy specialty fluids that do the same thing for more money.,,
 
Quote:
ATF Viscosity Characteristics - Product SAE Viscosity
Dexron II & Type F = 5W-20
Dexron III, Mercon V & ATF Plus 4 = 0W-20
Caterpillar Powershift = 10W, 30 & 50


But, since the forks rarely see 100° C. the lower
end of those ranges applies.
Even 40° C is VERY unlikely.
 
I've used fork oil of various grades before...I don't see much difference in performance to ATF,even in dirt bikes.Whatever you use,anything is better than the oil the bike came with.
 
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