completely off the topic.

[Clint307]

Hey guys / gals, I have a question that's completely unrelated to the rc topic but I figure we have allot of talented people on the forum that very well could know this question. So I'm replacing the fork seals and dust covers on my 86' Honda Magna and I'm reading on some other forums not to use ATF fluid in the forks and the bike shop telling me to use ATF so is there a reason not to and what should I use I've been told to use 15w to 20w fork oil? Any help would be awesome!

[Lmackattack]

I think It really just depends on the viscosity the bike mfg suggests. They make different weight oil for different stiffness. When I rebuilt my ya,aha forks I used a light weight shock oil that we had at work...I don't see why ATF would hurt anything....snow plow guys use it for the plow hydraulics.

[dabears]

ATF brakes down inside of the forks to easily causing them to become unefficient. I use reg fork oil. The way I see it is that a bottle is like $10/20 and when adjusting front forks for comfort your adding or taking an ounce to half ounce at a time.. But if your re doing the seals remember to measure how much oil was in it and then start at that point with the new oil. if your front end was soft before then add a little more but be even on both sides. If not you will go thru tires faster and improper dampening will cause winds and stuff to blow you around etc... I was amazed when I re did mine a few weeks ago and added more how much of a difference it made.

[scalelover]

Either one will work in forks and this is one of those things that really has no right or wrong answer to it, everyone will have their opinion and stand by what they have always used. Their are some good write ups on several forums I've frequented in the past and most always ended up going round and round with no final answer.

What I can tell you from personal experiences and talks with others is One reason it is not recommended is because the viscosity is very unpredictable compared to fork fluid. Many older bikes recommend using it and I believe it was Honda that recommended using ATF on all their forks in the earlier bikes so you should be ok in that aspect if this was your worry.

Most say that it was recommended because ATF is lightweight and was very accessible at that time, unlike fork fluid which was a bit more costly then and was not as readily available. You also have to figure there were not a lot of additives used in earlier days compared to now, where everything is broken down to molecular levels and modified so there wouldn't have been as many concerns of it harming the internal components of the forks.

If you are going to use ATF and need more than one bottle it is recommended to mix the two together before pouring into the forks to ensure correct side to side viscosity. Unlike fork fluid which will be tested and set for a particular grade, ATF will vary in grade and can have many chemical differences from bottle to bottle as it has cleaners, lubricants, and emulsifiers added to it to maintain internal parts like seals. The best one IMO is mobile 1 synthetic and many riders I know use this in their bikes as well.

Hopefully this doesn't just confuse you more and helps you out in some way!!

--Dan