RU Rear Shock Rebuild

Purity Vendetta · Post by **Purity Vendetta** » Thu May 08, 2014 9:32 pm

OK, here's a question... Has anyone ever rebuilt the rear shock on an FZR1000 RU? I figure how hard can it be? I'm going to give K Tec a ring to enquire about a seal kit tomorrow and I'm sure the place we use for MoT's gasses shocks up. I'm very low on funds and dying to get her back on the road for summer but I'm also really inquisitive to try as it's something I've never done before. I guess it's the challenge

Purity Vendetta · Post by **Purity Vendetta** » Sat May 10, 2014 6:14 pm

C'mon guys, where's your sense of adventure.... springs wedged in the roof of the workshop... oil jetting out at 117psi

Apparently K Tec will do the seal kits and the gas re-pressurisation is 117psi. I still need to find out the amount and type of oil but I don't want to pay if I can do it myself. I also have a Beta shock for another bike to rebuild which wouldn't be financially viable if I got someone else to do it.

The rod is good on my shock and I think the leak is down to the seals drying out with standing and ageing. We're going to take a trip over to K Tec in the coming week and I'll keep you posted on my success of failure. If I can't do it you'll find me sat by the cashpoint at Tamworth Tesco Express busking with my super sad looking dog, Bessie

Please give generously!

yampug · Post by **yampug** » Sat May 10, 2014 7:47 pm

forks i'll happily rebuild but the shock just seemed like to much hassle, i could see me ending up with a bench full of bits thinking oh f$ck what to i do now. very rare that i won't have a go at something but this time let the professionals(hopefully) get on with it.

good luck with it though PV make sure you post lots of pics of the rebuild.

Post by **nugget** » Sat May 10, 2014 8:41 pm

I'll dig out my paperwork for the work they did on my shock and put it up tomorrow ok.

Post by **Stig** » Sat May 10, 2014 8:53 pm

My mate bought a second hand Ohlins for his R1 and sent it off to Brookes for an overhaul

They made a cracking job of it. looked like new when he got it back...price was reasonable too

yampug · Post by **yampug** » Sat May 10, 2014 9:01 pm

sound like i should be in for a treat when my shock comes back then.

can't wait, be just in time for some dry roads.

Purity Vendetta · Post by **Purity Vendetta** » Sun May 11, 2014 4:02 am

yampug wrote:forks i'll happily rebuild but the shock just seemed like to much hassle, i could see me ending up with a bench full of bits thinking oh f$ck what to i do now. very rare that i won't have a go at something but this time let the professionals(hopefully) get on with it.

good luck with it though PV make sure you post lots of pics of the rebuild.

How hard can it be vampug? They're not that different from forks. I'm just going to have to make sure about the special tool situation and I'm not that strong so have to make use of mechanical advantage where I can. It's either that or get my guy over to put a bit of muscle into it

Lot's of pics, ok fine as long as none of them include pictures of me with suspension components embedded in my head. I'm selling those to one of those A&E type programmes!

My philosophy is... A man made it, a woman can fix it

Post by **Stig** » Sun May 11, 2014 8:59 am

Theres an article in one of the recent practical sportsbikes mags of how to make a spring compressor jig. I'll scan it in if I can find it

yampug · Post by **yampug** » Sun May 11, 2014 10:42 am

Purity Vendetta wrote:
How hard can it be vampug? They're not that different from forks. I'm just going to have to make sure about the special tool situation and I'm not that strong so have to make use of mechanical advantage where I can. It's either that or get my guy over to put a bit of muscle into it

Lot's of pics, ok fine as long as none of them include pictures of me with suspension components embedded in my head. I'm selling those to one of those A&E type programmes!

My philosophy is... A man made it, a woman can fix it

halfords do some good spring compressors they're quite long so would probably work well on a bike shock. if you've got a threaded preload ring on the shock usually you can just slacken it off and the spring will come off, there's not that much tension in them compared to car springs. once you get to just over minimum preload they go lose. where as oe yamah shocks have those silly stepped preload adjusters that don't go totally slack and you have to get the spring slack to remove the bottom slotted collar thing that holds the spring on.

things that put me off just added up...getting seals, nitrogen, my rebound damping adjuster being seized solid, dismantling the reservoir, type of connector for adding the nitrogen. nitrogen psi, how to add the oil with out getting air in the shock,

forks are just undo bolts take them apart clean bung them back together with readily available seals/bushes fill with oil job done.

i shall look forward to the pics make sure you get some good action shots with springs flying and people diving, extra points for pets being in the action.

yampug · Post by **yampug** » Sun May 11, 2014 10:54 am

corr very nice.

don't think mine will look that fancy, i've just gone for the powdercoated spring as it was getting a bit rusty, can't make it too fancy it'll highlight shedness of the rest of my ace.

yampug · Post by **yampug** » Wed May 21, 2014 8:06 pm

shock came back today here's some pics

rebound adjuster no longer clicks.

david at brooks has said send it back and it'll be sorted

Post by **nugget** » Wed May 21, 2014 9:38 pm

That's not very good is it but I'm sure he'll sort it for you. They do have a good reputation for quality shock work.

Purity Vendetta · Post by **Purity Vendetta** » Wed May 21, 2014 11:46 pm

Oh dear, I hope you get it sorted soon, I have to admit I wouldn't be very happy. I don't want to speak ill of anyone but this is one of my issues with letting other people work on my bike and why I want to rebuild my own shock.

After years working in the bike business I saw quite a few horror stories. I remember a US spec Z650 which someone brought into the shop I was running. He told me that the other local shop had diagnosed a worn out cam chain and charged the guy a fortune to repair it. The noise he was worried about was still there. A quick listen and it was obviously a big end....

True story.

itsnotagenesis · Post by **itsnotagenesis** » Fri May 23, 2014 7:31 pm

Stig wrote:Theres an article in one of the recent practical sportsbikes mags of how to make a spring compressor jig. I'll scan it in if I can find it

I had my exup shock taken apart just to get the spring coated and paint the body.
It was someone I knew in a shop who took it apart, he said he didnt need any spring compressors as after undoing the nuts it wasnt under any pressure.
There are quite a lot of vehicles like this.

Purity Vendetta · Post by **Purity Vendetta** » Sat May 24, 2014 5:35 am

Well I've been experimenting with a leaking Beta shock off my partner's Bandit and as has been mentioned getting the spring off is no problem. We have a set of car spring compressors modified to fit into the tighter coils of bike springs. Backing off the spring compression is really all that was needed to get the spring free by hand but we took the precaution of popping the compressors on just in case. I'm making up a tool to grip the shock end cap to unscrew it. The oil and seals I hope to get from K Tec and as the beta has no outboard reservoir I can't see any issues arising filling it. The valves and shim stack I'll just clean and the piston rod seems clean and corrosion free. As for gassing up, another local bike repair shop has the gear for re-gassing them as he does a lot of dirt bikes. I'm taking pics as I go and if all goes well I'll post them up.

As for the FZR shock I noticed that the top of the shock was a little oily and am wondering if what I saw was grease from our hands as we had the swinging arm out to grease the bushes and linkage bearings. I used a degreaser and hosed the unit off. I'll keep an eye on it over the next couple of days and see what happens. The rebound adjuster is free and damping is all there. We'll see what happens.

I couldn't afford right now to pay anyone to rebuild it. Since we decided to set the business up virtually all our cash has gone into the business. It's what we both enjoy doing and we didn't have a lot of choice as our last business was very lucrative but rather at the luxury end of the market and was wrecked by the recession... thanks banksters and your buddies in government

You have to admit that if nothing else we're innovative