OM rear shock rebuild

[aussie]

G'day

Came home yesterday after a long day in the saddle - washed the bike and gave it the once over before I parked it up in the garage. That night I checked the oil levels, tyre pressures etc ready for work the next day - nothing amiss.

The following morning i find a large pool of hydraulic oil on the floor directly under the rear of the CAT. After further poking around it would appear the oil is coming from the bottom of the shock.

Question

1. can the OM shock be rebuilt?

2. Anything I should look out for when I try to remove the shock? It looks like the exhaust muffler would need to be lowered to get the bottom pivit bolt out.

 

Any help - advice would be appreciated.

 

R1150RT 2001

[moshe_levy]

The OEM shock can't "officially" be rebuilt but there are several shops (at least here in the USA) which offer the service. However, typically the service cost is over 50% of the cost of a brand new premium aftermarket shock like Ohlins, Hyperpro, etc., so I cannot imagine considering a rebuild unless finances were ultra-tight.

 

-MKL

[AZJerry]

The rear shock on my 2002 R1150RT is leaking. Lindemann Eng says they can rebuild for $225. BMW wants $800 for the shock. Lindemann is a performance suspension company. There is a man at work that used Lindemann for his race bike.

I am going totry them.

[Peter Parts]

At my URL is a write-up about rebuilding and revalving stock shocks. I give some reasons why rebuilding and revalving the stockers is better than buying pricey aftermarket struts.

 

For pennies more, you can ask Lindemann to revalve (and/or just change oil weight) to your taste, present weight, fantasy future weight target, riding style, passengers....

 

With revalving, a great Canadian shock guru. John Sherrard, did my front shock for $175. Tiny bit more effort to do rears (hydraulic press effort). Not much stops a well-informed DIY from DIY.

 

I've often wondered if the stock shocks could be run without the nitrogen, as in days of yore?

 

Ben

 

 

[aussie]

Thanks for your timely input. I have located a company here in Brisbane, highly recommended by the sports guys, which will rebuild the shock - bushes, seals etc for AUD$180.

 

Problem is I am having difficulty removing the shock from the bike.

 

The top bolt/nut loosened as normal but the bottom bolt which passes through the bottom of the shock and then screws into the swinging arm body is extremely tight.

 

I know BMW are fond of using loctite on critical assemblies and this requires the application of heat to "soften" the loctite to allow removal.

Can anyone advise if loctite is used on this assembly.

[Peter Parts]

Not sure about the Locktite but that is one of the few places where a Locktite-averse person (like me) would use it (there's that little ratcheting motion on the ends of a strut). Also, for the same reason, a good place for anti-seize (used as a tough lubricant on the bolt shaft), esp. on the squeaky front strut.

 

But if present, good tool is an IR thermometer (so you'll know just when you hit the release temperature and be neither over nor under too much).

 

Ben

[aussie]

Thank you for your replies. For future reference the bottom shock bolt is fitted using loctite. I had to heat the s/arm casing around the boss, with an electric heat gun set on max, for approx 20 minutes before the bolt would come free and un wind without resistance.

[RTCHIEF]

PB Blaster will free things up. You have to keep it saturated and work the nut. Might take a day or two. If you think loctite is mean to get to release wait until you run into some threads that somebody used super glue on. JON

[HandyAndy]

I dropped off my stock shocks (Showa) at John Sherrard's (Acclerated Technologies) today.

He said he has no problem rebuilding the rear shock, but has to see how the front shock was sealed off. He says that sometimes he can rebuild them and sometimes there is no way to close it back up. Either way he said that he will test it to see how bad it is.

My shocks have 136,000km on them, the front still seems fine but the rear has lost a lot of it's dampening.

Will let you know how it works out.

 

Andy.