VF500 Fork oil capacity

I have searched this forum, and though the question has been asked, it has not been answered.
A friend has just bought a 1985 VF500. No handbook or manual available. I need to change the fork seals for him. Can someone please advise how much oil each fork tube takes?
Also the forks are fitted with air valves - I assume to be pressurised to around 5psi - can someone please confirm this figure??

many thanks in advance

 

According to the shop manual:
Right Fork: 320cc
Left Fork: 335cc

The air pressure in the caps should be between 0 ot 6 psi.

 

While you have the forks off, retorque the steering head bearings. My VF500 developed a wicked wobble under decel, and after checking EVERYTHING else, I finally got it to go away by retorquing the steering head bearings.

 

Thanks dskelton for your information & help. I think I will not put any air in the forks to start with.
Thanks also flameface - I will repack the steering head and check the tension while I have the forks off.

John

 

John,

I have a homemade "socket" to fit onto the spanner nut that tightens the bearing preload. It allows the use of a torque wrench (I welded a 5/8" piece of hex stock onto a cup-shaped piece of steel, with nubs machined into the lower edge of the cup to engage the spanner nut notches). If you want to borrow it, I can mail it to you. Without a torque wrench, you'll just be guessing at the torque. I don't remember the torque value for the preload, but someone must have a VF500F manual.

Andrew

 

Thanks for the offer Andrew, but I think it would take some time to recieve this tool. As it is I always pre-load the steering head by feel. Seems to work for my VFR, with conventional bearings, and also for my KLX which has tapered bearings.
The KLX has a setting of 35 inch pounds and I think it is a bit light. I do not think my torque wrench is sensitive enough to measure this small amount of pre-load anyway.
regards
John

 

John,
I took a look in the manual last night and it recommends using a spring scale attached to one of the fork tubes with a required force of something like 1.5 to 3 pounds of force require to rotate the forks. If you're interested I'll look again and get you exact procedure and specs.
Dean

 

It is best to put NO air in the forks. Air just makes things worse. If you have trouble with bottoming you should add more fluid. On that note, the volume method is just an approximate, you should always measure the level instead.

 

vf500 workshop manual

Hi, you can download a copy of a manual here:
The Spares Network - Downloads - info@thesparesnetwork.co.uk
I have had trouble with downloading it on Firefox but it should work on internet explorer. I have gotten it to work for an ex250 manual but have forgotten how i did it. Just a warning, its very frustrating. Any tech savvy people out there who know how to transfer the files correctly?

 

This Link To VF500 Manual Works OK

I have used the above link at it works fine. I was using Internet Explorer to dowload. Firstly ensure that Microsoft Explorer is not blocking the download if it is just click on the toolbar where the blocking message is and allow download, when prompted save the download, file is easier to work with if you dowload to your desktop. The file which you have now is Zipped it unzips with 7-Zip if you have it, (if not search for 7-Zip and you can dowload this for free), once file is unzipped it will open with Adobe Reader (Again available free if you do not have it).
The book you now have is the Clymer manual which is great for US models but be careful if using for European models there are subtle differences.

Best of luck
Vic

 

Not only that, but the Clymer manuals are riddled with errors. I only use it as a second source of info, and only because they sometimes show techniques that the Honda manual does not.