suspension/hydraulic fluid

[YAM711]

Hello,
I'm new the BITOG forum and have a few questions. A little history first. I read thruough every page in this forum first.
I have an YZ 250 with the new SSS forks inner/outer cartridge.
The manual states I need to use KYB 01 OR S1 OIL for the front forks and rear shock. I have found a comparable hydraulic fluid
meaning, the viscositys numbers are almost exactly the same.
Comparable to the KYB 01. However, the hydraulic fluid that I'm using is a mineral base. Can anyone tell me if the KYB 01 is a mineral or a synthetic base? The bottle shows nothing, I emailed
KYB and Enzo with no luck. My take on it is if the KYB is synthetic they would print that on the bottle. Thank you for the
help!!

Yam711

 

[sunruh]

i am using silkolene right now.

i've tested golden spectro 85/120 (i think that was it) and you would NOT believe how much [censored] was in the shock fluid in only 33 hours. came out clear, but the metal content was incredibly high!

 

[YAM711]

sunruh,
Thanks for replying. You sound like what I'm going through,
trying to find that perfect oil. I just hate that it is so expensive. I found out that bel ray hvi 3wt. shock oil is a
mineral base. (fyi)
We dont want a high metal content thats for sure.
Correct me if I'm wrong is 33 hours a little long between oil/fluid changes?

 

[sunruh]

depends on your riding if 35 (found my real value and it was gs 85-150 oil) is long or short. and what type of riding you do!

big time iron, copper, lead and aluminum in my sample.

fresh oil beats old oil. hmmmm, have i said that before on here???

i race hare scrambles, gncc, enduros and worcs/torcs which does not punish the shock as badly as mx/sx does.

 

[Mike_dup1]

Amsoil has Shock Therapy Suspension Fluid, have you looked at that. Its synthetic.

Team Torco Racing Fuels Honda/AMSOIL
Kevin Windham - Supercross/Motocross 450cc use the #5 light

AMSOIL Shock Therapy Suspension Fluid Light #5 (STL) is recommended for, but not limited to, Showa,® Kayaba,® Bilstein,® RydeFX,® Penske,® WP® forks, RACETECH® (US1) and Custom Axis® suspension systems. Use Shock Therapy Light #5 where less dampening and quicker rebounds are desired. It is also the preferred choice for winter use.

AMSOIL Shock Therapy Suspension Fluid Medium #10 (STM) is recommended for, but not limited to, Ohlin,® FOX,® RACETECH,® (US2), Koni,® WP® shocks and Harley-Davidson® forks that recommend type “E” or “B” fork oil. Use Shock Therapy Medium #10 where more dampening control and slower rebounds are desired.

 

[wileyE]

Have used ISO 32 AW in dampening rod forks and ISO 15 in cartridge forks and shock rebuilds many times. No complaints. . Compare the 40c numbers on the spec sheets. Save you some time here's an old list I saved on fork oils. Like Redline for shocks FWIW, just because I know some guys in the susp biz that I trust that use it. Forks, syn mineral whatever, don't think it matters.

Brand centiStokes @ 40C centiStokes @ 100C Pour Point (F) Flash Point (F) Viscosity Index Type
Red Line Like Water 5.5 2.3 5 305 344 synthetic
Pennzoil TW5 6.7 2.8 -39 185 373 ???
Red Line Extra Light 9.8 4.4 1 305 402 synthetic
Chevron hyd. oil AW 10 10 2.5 -38 309 48 synthetic
Neo 7wt trans. oil 10 4.4 -75 410 159 synthetic
Spectro SPL ultra light 10 4.4 -75 230 385 synthetic
Bel-Ray HVI 3wt * 13 4.1 ??? ??? 300 ???
Spectro, Golden 85/150 14 3.4 -25 208 150 synthetic/petroleum
Maxima Shock oil 3wt 14 5.2 -85 207 378 petroleum
Honda HP 5wt * 15 4.5 ??? ??? 140 ???
Yamaha 01 fork oil * 15 4.5 ??? ??? 150 ???
Silkolene PRO RSF 2.5wt 14 5.8 -35 167 464 ???
SLP Extra Light ??? ??? -95 ??? ??? synthetic
Mobil Fork Oil 5wt 15 ??? -40 331 150 petroleum
Maxima Fork Oil 5wt 16 3.5 -25 335 150 petroleum
Maxima Racing 5wt 16 3.5 -25 335 150 petroleum
Motul Fork Oil very light 16 3.5 -17 370 100 ???
Amsoil STL 16 4.4 -54 347 210 synthetic
Ohlins No. 5 16 ??? ??? ??? ??? ???
Red Line Light 18 7.1 -6 305 407 synthetic
Motul Fork Oil light 20 6 -33 392 260 ???
Bel-Ray Fork Oil 5wt * 20 6.2 ??? ??? 280 ???
SLP Light 5wt ??? ??? -90 ??? ??? synthetic
Bel-Ray HVI 5wt * 21 6.7 ??? ??? 300 ???
Maxima shock oil 7wt 21 7.3 -58 212 349 petroleum
Spectro 400 Shock & Fork 21 8.9 -40 212 400 ???
Spectro Fork Oil 5wt 22 4.4 -28 365 119 petroleum
Silkolene Fork Oil 5wt 22 4.4 ??? ??? 106 ???
Ohlins No. 10 22 ??? ??? ??? ??? ???
Chevron hyd. oil AW 22 23 4.4 -36 351 98 synthetic
Klotz KL-505 24 ??? -20 400 ??? ???
Spectro, Golden 125/150 26 3.4 -25 216 150 synthetic/petroleum
Spectro SPL very light 26 10 -75 230 400 synthetic
Maxima Racing 7wt 27 3.5 -8 375 151 petroleum
Silkolene PRO RSF 5wt 27 9.5 -49 248 372 ???
Maxima Shock Oil 10wt 29 9.4 -40 219 334 petroleum
Red Line Medium 30 11 -8 305 369 synthetic
Ohlins No. 15 31 ??? ??? ??? ??? ???
Maxima Fork Oil 10wt 32 6.3 0 395 151 petroleum
Maxima Racing 10wt 32 6.3 0 395 151 petroleum
Amsoil STM 32 7.3 -48 396 205 synthetic
Klotz KL-510 32 ??? -20 420 ??? ???
Mobil Fork Oil 10wt 32 ??? -40 331 150 petroleum
Chevron hyd. oil AW 32 33 5.5 -27 428 98 synthetic
Spectro Fork Oil 10wt 33 7.2 -26 385 111 petroleum
Silkolene Fork Oil 10wt 35 7 ??? ??? 169 ???
Mobil 1 ATF 35 7.6 -54 428 198 synthetic
Silkolene PRO RSF 7.5wt 37 12 -11 270 322 ???
Klotz KL-515 42 ??? -10 430 ??? ???
Spectro Fork Oil 15wt 46 7.2 -15 340 119 petroleum
Maxima Fork Oil 15wt 46 8.5 5 410 154 petroleum
Maxima Racing 15wt 46 8.5 5 410 154 petroleum
Mobil Fork Oil 15wt 46 ??? -40 331 150 petroleum
Silkolene PRO RSF 10wt 47 14 -47 284 303 ???

 

[YAM711]

Thanks for replying folks,
Thanks for that list WileyE, so my thinking is not too far off base is it? using a hydraulic fluid? I have an ISO 15 in my forks, outer and inner chamber. It worked pretty good, It felt a little harsh. I also complained about the small chop with the KYB01 in there too, so maybe a revalve or shim shuffle is in order.
I'm also thinking I may need a little thicker oil in the inner.
I would like to experiment with the viscosity, but I dont want to purchase another 5 gal bucket hydr.oil. If I can buy it in 1 gal. that would be great. I have a bottle of mobil 1 syn. I was thinking that I can do some type of ratio mix with the ISO 15. But I'm afraid to blend it with my mineral stuff. Would anybody have any thoughts on blending? How about hydraulic oil recommendation? Anybody have any thoughts on using an Antichatter additive. Do you guys think that hydraulic chatter would be the same as suspension chatter? Sorry guys I have so
many questions rolling around in my head right now it is'nt even funny.
Thanks again guys.

 

[wileyE]

I bought mine by the gallon and mixed em many times too get different visc. Just did it at 1st to use as a flush because it was cheap and didn't have to worry about seals etc. Then decided to go ahead and just run it on a few of my own bikes in the forks for the heck of it. Found it worked fine and as predicted. Did a couple shocks with kendall glacial blu (5 gal sorry), thinking the high visc index would work good and I had some around. It did. Additives? not sure I'd be afraid of it making the seals "funny". You can use a visc calc program (link around here somewhere) but the result is soooo close to just doing simple math for this use is fine. Mix 5 and 10 it might not be exact 7.5, but good enough. 7.55734 who cares.

 

[Jaybird]

I use nothing in my suspenders but M1 Synthetic ATF.
High performance shock tuners also use this. It will oxidize far less in time than others. And fluid oxidation is the worst enemy of a suspender.

 

[sunruh]

i've used M1 ATF in the past as well. easy to tell when a fork seal weeps as it looks likes your fork is bleeding!!!

 

[sunruh]

here is a much larger chart.

http://www.pvdwiki.com/images/a/a7/PVD-ISO-Viscosity-Data.gif

 

[YAM711]

Thanks for that chart sunruh! That will help a bunch.
I don't think ATF will work in the new kyb's inner chamber
will it?

yam711

 

[sunruh]

i am not willing to try ATF in the new kyb's at this point in time.
at least not in the inner chamber anyway.

i am running 300ml in my outers for enduros/harescrambles. what are you running and in what type of events?

 

[YAM711]

iam running 320 in the outers and using bel-ray 5 wt. fork oil.
The shock I have kyb 01. I usually ride motocross. Racing once in awhile.

 

[Mackelroy]

Whatever fork oil ya run, just changing brand of the same weight will change the whole platform of fork operation(they can vary that much). Best to stick with one fork oil, or else ya gonna do alot of testing and click changes.