heavier oil for lowered forks

[ksnowdale]

I recently installed an Arlen Ness lowering kit on my 99' Fatboy, with shortened dampener rods in the front forks making use of the stock springs.

I haven't bottomed out yet, but there is a little "clunk" on the rebound at times, especially on smaller bumps. I'm thinking of moving to a higher viscosity of fork oil. I'm running HD's Type E right now. Can anyone reccommend which brand/type of fork oil I should move up to?

[trooper113]

Screaming Eagle Heavy worked well in my '03 FXD to fix excessive compression/rebound.

[jrrhdmust]

One of the issues in Hot Rod Bikes last year did an oil comparison, where the checked some of the diffent weight oils in a stock front suspension. I am pretty sure their recommendation was to use 1/3 the heavier weight and 2/3 stock oil. This firmed up the suspension a little, but not too rough of a ride.

I thought I scanned in the article, I will try and find it.

[ksnowdale]

Thanks to both of you. I went with the Screaming Eagle heavy, and took it for a test ride. That did the trick. The problem was rebound clunk on small bumps at low speeds. The SE heavy took care of that. Less of a shock all around.

I recommend anyone installing the Ness Lowering kit's front shortened dampener rods (full 2" lower) to go with SE's heavy fork oil.

Now to see how they perform on a long trip. Off to LA next weekend!

[trooper113]

Glad it worked for you. SE Heavy oil and 1" spacers did wonders for my FXD forks. When I get around to it, I'll take out the spacers and put in Progressive springs.