SOHC.co.uk Forums > CB350/400

Fork Oil Weight?

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Mikep328:
I've seen several threads on this but probably due to poor searching on my part, I haven't found what I'm looking for... 

As background, when I bought this CB400 last year, receipts show that new fork seals had been fitted a couple of years prior.  Obviously some sort of oil was put in the forks at the time but there is no mention of what oil - ATF or fork - was installed.  The fork action is OK and no leaks/seeps but I want to drain/refill the forks so I know what's in there and that the levels are appropriate/equal in both forks.

The service manual specifies ATF which is simple/easy/cheap enough but there are several types of ATF.  Also, I don't know if ATF available today corresponds with the ATF that was in use back then.  IOW, putting today's ATF in the forks may produce a different result than "yesterday's" ATF.  For that matter, AFAIK, in the 70's there were two types of ATF, Dexron or Type F; CB400 service manual doesn't state which one to use. 

I'm not sure that fork oil, per se, functions any better than ATF since they are both essentially "hydraulic" oils but fork oils have specific weights listed on the bottle whereas ATF does not.  SO, my question is: what weight fork oil seems to work best in the 400 forks?    I see that DSS sells 10W so I ASSume that is his "recommendation" but would like to hear what actual riders have found works well.

McCabe-Thiele (Ted):
I believe the use of ATF has now been superceded by the availabilty of bespoke fork oil.
I used Castrol 10W in my 400.

Back when the 400's were new there was not the variety of ATF's that there are now.

I can't really comment on how well the 10W oil performs as I have not done the mileage to give an informed opinion.

Johnwebley:
I use ATF,

Basic Dexron,as my car used it,

Nice even,smooth feeling when riding,



Sent from my SM-A546E using Tapatalk

Skoti:
Always used ATF cos it's cheap and readily available.


But recently had to use Repsol Qualifier 10w fully synthetic fork oil.

https://lubricants.repsol.com/en/products/lubricants-search-engine/detail-of-lubricants.RP_9000B/

Can't really tell any difference, except my wallet's a bit lighter...

McCabe-Thiele (Ted):

--- Quote from: Johnwebley on June 03, 2024, 09:53:29 AM ---I use ATF,

Basic Dexron,as my car used it,

Nice even,smooth feeling when riding,



Sent from my SM-A546E using Tapatalk

--- End quote ---

When you say basic Dexron is that 1,2, or 3 all old specs pre- synthetics?

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