Rear Shock Fix

[seth]

I've seen something very simular but you use a rachet strap through the spring and around the jack so when you load up the jack the spring tightens .
A great find on this link/video though 

[oldskool]

How much oil do you put in?

[Speedy1959]

I used a syringe complete with a needle.
I totally drained all the original oil and then kept injecting EP80 (in my case) into it. I worked the pre load adjuster fully in and out till bubbles stopped.
Then gradually filled it to the brim with the adjuster in the fully out position.
Mine wasn't leaking but I thought I would have a play.
Obviously I did this with the springs removed.
S.

[grog]

Think i did mine with springs on, cant remember, been a while. Has never leaked again. 90 gear oil from memory.

[Mister Fishfinger]

What Grog said. Did mine with springs on, also used EP80/90 gear oil, no problem.

[Eric GSX1400K3]

Dear Brains trust,

About to rebuild the rear shocks on my K2 after noticing oil leak around the preload adjusters, and that the left one wont wind down past the third ring.

Bike has 42,000km on it and has original  shocks

This was after the ride with my wife as pillion last weekend, so the extra load has highlighted an age/wear issue (on the bike, not the wife   )

Reading on here, several different grades of oil are mentioned : 15W40 or 90W gear oil to name a few.

I chatted with another bike mechanic, he uses 10w oil for these type of units.  The front forks run 5W, can i use the same in the rears?

As theyre basically a hydraulically damped piston, a 46vg hydraulic oil may also be suitable.

After ive stripped them i need to see if i can reuse the seals or find a suitable replacement seals.

Any consensus on which oil grade is best, or is the grade / weight not important as long as it has oil in it?

Also, im assuming  the nitrogen side of the system is not serviceable? I.e. the remote resevoir hanging off the back.

[grog]

Eric, i used gear oil in adjuster only. I can rem. reading not fork oil in shockies, must be shockie oil. Sorry, all i know. Shop did mine for $400. I find them good.

[Eric GSX1400K3]

Thanks, I'll go with 90w gear oil, if ita good enough for the chain....

[grog]

Mate, after shocks rebuilt, only use 3 rings for me, maybe 4 if loaded 2 up. Much more compliant, just seems to work. Standard springs. Had forks done also, Wilbers springs and set by shop for weight etc. Can really feel front and back talking to each other.

[Eric GSX1400K3]

So rebuilt one on the weekend.  Preload was full of junk, bump stop removed as this was perished.  Refilled preload adjuster with about 5 to 10ml of 80w90 gear oil after a good clean out, reused o rings.

Gas shock and nirltrogen cartridge cleaned up using 2000grit wet and dry paper and wd40.

Used car spring compressors, bit fiddly but worked ok, some scratches on the  spring coils unfortunately.

Preload adjuster now runs from 0 to 5 rings easily. Left it at full 5 ring preload overnight when rebuilt , no leakes so all good.

Will do the second one this week and refit on the bike over the weekend.

I did notice the K2 setup only has 2 o rings, no additional seal at all. Dirt and grit collects in the top ans works its way down into the adjuster.  Oil that came out was pretty dirty, i flushed it out with degreaser and compressed air, then with oil before a refill using  the syringe method. Worked well.

[Andre]

I did notice the K2 setup only has 2 o rings, no additional seal at all. Dirt and grit collects in the top ans works its way down into the adjuster.  Oil that came out was pretty dirty, i flushed it out with degreaser and compressed air, then with oil before a refill using  the syringe method. Worked well.

Just read up on this today on a German forum. There are 3 different shocks. The first (K2-K?) only had what you saw (no dust seal) The second has a white seal. That was an unsuccessful remedy to the problem. The third (black seal) was a somewhat successful fix.

A guy who has done many of these advised against adding a seal to the K2 shock. He recommends blowing with low pressure air in the space regularly to keep it clean.

[Eric GSX1400K3]

Yep, quality bit of kit. 1 o ring is retained in the fixed body of the adjuster, the other in the "piston" or movable side, neat set up.  The gap between the two is small, less than 1mm i guess, but fine dirt still gets in.  Note, the amount of oil filled in determines the number of rings you can click to.  Less oil means less rings.

I did not even try to add an extra seal, just no room and not needed, cleaned and re used the existing  o rings.

[Andre]

Suzuki could have saved themselves a bundel of $ and us a lot of grief by using the common mechanical preload adjuster.

[seth]

Someone years ago made a replacement adjuster with 2 locking rings like the much more common rear shock adjusters fitted to other bikes and makes .
They offered to do a batch but got no support back then .
If someone could get them machined now I'm sure they'd sell well .

[grog]

I remember that Seth. Was a great idea. Think from memory, he posted all the dimensions etc. Wasnt expensive except post to Oz. Lost on old org.