UPDATE: 10/9/2017: Photobucket was the host of the images embedded links of the photos I took of the fork change, however, Photobucket is now requiring account holders to pay and annual fee to allow the photo links to be embedded into third party websites, such as this S1000RR forum. I'm not paying any fee and will try to find a different host to put the photos. Until then, all the photos in the below description will be null. Sorry for the hassle!
How to change fork oil on the BMW S1000RR
This was my first attempt to change fork oil on my own and it seemed to go very well and the biggest advantage was saving money from having a local shop do it for me. I’m somewhat mechanically inclined and decided to give it a try. I bought a RaceTech fork compressor tool for $136 shipped on eBay. If you do not have one of these tools, you’ll need one, or use a homemade fork spring compression tool. (I’ve heard some folks can use c-clamps and ratchet style tie downs to compress fork springs).
I won’t get into the details on how to remove the forks from the bike. If you do not know how to do that, stop right now and don’t attempt this on your own. You’ll want to note your suspension settings and the height the fork extends from the top clamp. Turn the rebound to #1 on the top of the fork. Most importantly, you’ll also need to loosen the top cap of both forks prior to loosening the pinch bolts on the triple tree. Otherwise, you probably won’t be able to loosen the top cap if you remove the fork from the bike first. Don’t completely remove the cap, or you’ll be dealing with fork oil going everywhere when you slide the fork out of the triple tree. I just turned the cap 2 or 3 revolutions to get it started then loosened the pinch bolts and removed the fork from the triple tree.
Once you’ve got the fork removed from the bike, you can completely unscrew the top nut then slide the upper tube down on the lower tube to see the internals. At this point, you have the option of draining the fluid out prior to compressing the spring, or you can drain the fluid later. I chose to leave the fluid in so I could take a measurement of how much fluid was in the fork prior to draining it just for my own curiosity.
With that said, I put the fork in the compressor tool and cranked it down to expose the locknut for the top cap.
Loosen the lock nut and then unscrew the top nut to remove if from the damper inside the fork. I removed the plastic spacer, metal washer, and spring then took a measurement of the current fork oil using small tape measure with mm on it.
I then drained the fluid out by turning the fork upside down. There is another metal washer that’ll come out of the fork too which is positioned just below the spring. I laid out the internals in order.
Once drained, remove axle pinch bolts to access the bolt from the bottom of the fork that holds the damper inside the fork. Loosen it all the way and remove the damper.
Here's the link to all the photos I took during the procedure: https://photos.app.goo.gl/YKYms1CJFu3sUxXW2
How to change fork oil on the BMW S1000RR
This was my first attempt to change fork oil on my own and it seemed to go very well and the biggest advantage was saving money from having a local shop do it for me. I’m somewhat mechanically inclined and decided to give it a try. I bought a RaceTech fork compressor tool for $136 shipped on eBay. If you do not have one of these tools, you’ll need one, or use a homemade fork spring compression tool. (I’ve heard some folks can use c-clamps and ratchet style tie downs to compress fork springs).
I won’t get into the details on how to remove the forks from the bike. If you do not know how to do that, stop right now and don’t attempt this on your own. You’ll want to note your suspension settings and the height the fork extends from the top clamp. Turn the rebound to #1 on the top of the fork. Most importantly, you’ll also need to loosen the top cap of both forks prior to loosening the pinch bolts on the triple tree. Otherwise, you probably won’t be able to loosen the top cap if you remove the fork from the bike first. Don’t completely remove the cap, or you’ll be dealing with fork oil going everywhere when you slide the fork out of the triple tree. I just turned the cap 2 or 3 revolutions to get it started then loosened the pinch bolts and removed the fork from the triple tree.
Once you’ve got the fork removed from the bike, you can completely unscrew the top nut then slide the upper tube down on the lower tube to see the internals. At this point, you have the option of draining the fluid out prior to compressing the spring, or you can drain the fluid later. I chose to leave the fluid in so I could take a measurement of how much fluid was in the fork prior to draining it just for my own curiosity.
With that said, I put the fork in the compressor tool and cranked it down to expose the locknut for the top cap.
Loosen the lock nut and then unscrew the top nut to remove if from the damper inside the fork. I removed the plastic spacer, metal washer, and spring then took a measurement of the current fork oil using small tape measure with mm on it.
I then drained the fluid out by turning the fork upside down. There is another metal washer that’ll come out of the fork too which is positioned just below the spring. I laid out the internals in order.
Once drained, remove axle pinch bolts to access the bolt from the bottom of the fork that holds the damper inside the fork. Loosen it all the way and remove the damper.
Here's the link to all the photos I took during the procedure: https://photos.app.goo.gl/YKYms1CJFu3sUxXW2