Topica Loopframe_Guzzi Archive


Subject: Fw: (Guzzi) Use Motor Oil in Ambo Forks

Author: Rich Marchand

Date: Nov 27, 2000, 5:44 PM

Post ID: 1704169255


Rich Z,This subject was on the list some time ago,and I just happened
to save a message from Greg Field concerning fork oil in Ambos and
Eldos. I have my front end on the Eldo partially apart to do the
maintenance thang....now if I can just some of the crap in the garage
rearranged to get finished up. Anyhow hope this helps.




Rich Marchand
1980 BMW R100RT
1974 Moto Guzzi Eldorado
----- Original Message -----
From: Greg Field <gfi-@halcyon.com>
To: <MotoG-@topica.com>
Sent: Friday, February 25, 2000 10:57 AM
Subject: (Guzzi) Use Motor Oil in Ambo Forks


 
 Greg,
I have an early Ambo and a 72 Convert. What type of fluid do you
use in
 
 YOUR Eldo? Heavy weight oil?

Scott

I'm getting a lot of mail on this, so here's the answer for you all:

I use ATF because my Eldo has the disc-brake forks with sealed
damper
 cartriges (like your Convert does). All it does is lube the sliding
parts.
 
When Maude (the Eldo) still has its drum front end, I used the
cheapest
 generic straight-viscosity 50-weight motor oil I could find. That
usually
 meant generic oil for Harleys, since almost no other group has used
straight 50-weight for decades.

Remember, that fork is on a technological level with the Harley
Hydra-Glide
 fork of 1949 (and it's no accident that it bears a resemblance,
either).
 There are no small damping orifices in it, just a crude forcing
cone. All
 the oil really does is lube the parts, provide some "damping"
courtesy of
 viscuous drag, and retard bottoming action as the tube end nears the
forcing cone on the slider. The result is that you don't need fork
oils,
 with all their special anti-foaming agents. Motor oil works fine and
is
 cheaper.

The best you can do to improve the Ambo fork (short of machining up
a set
 of real damper rods for it or replacing it with the later fork) is
to put
 in the heaviest oil you can find. In Seattle, 50-weight works pretty
well,
 but if I lived in Phoenix, I'd try 140-weight tranny lube (which is
really
 equivalent to 70-weight motor oil).

Hope that clarifies what I originally said.

GF


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