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Drilling and tapping fork drain holes?

156 Views 5 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  Doc Samson
Anyone ever made drain holes in their forks for changing the fork oil easier? If so did it work out well or not? Would you do it again or not and why?

Considering doing this to my 2014 Goldwing Valkyrie forks.

Thanks in advance for your time.
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It makes sense. There is such a thing on the legs for outboard engines.

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It makes sense. There is such a thing on the legs for outboard engines.
Yea, I cant think of why it wouldnt work to put a tapped and sealable drain hole in the bottom, and possibly even a fill hole near the top at the max oil level if there was free space there that nothing machined was riding against.

I am thinking something like a normal dif setup; where you pull the bottom plug and drain it, then put the bottom plug back and pop out the top plug and fill with fluid until it reaches the fill hole then put the fill plug back in.

Obviously you would still need to take the forks off if seals needed to be replaced, but a fill and drain plug would sure seem to make testing different viscosity fork oils or yearly fork fluid changes a whole lot easier.
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Sure, I've been doing it to all my track bikes for decades. Since I like to change out fork-oil every winter so it's fresh at start of each season. Lets you leave forks and handlebars attached to bike.

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This guy has an interesting way to put in new fork oil but you would need a hole in the bottom.

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My '09 230 CRF M had drain holes in the bottom of the forks. Made the change super easy and I just replace with the same amount as I drained.
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