Rear shocks revived with transfusion.
#1
06-01-2009 | 09:16 AM
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Rear shocks revived with transfusion.
I posted this in the Touring Form since that is where I hang out normally but I thought I'd re-post it here.
*** original post ***
The original owner of my EGC had the bike lowered and when I first got the bike, the rear shocks bottomed out occasionally. 15k miles later, (30k on the bike) the shocks bottom out quite often when riding solo and 2up. It also felt like the rear end would 'wallow' a little in curves. I researched options for rear shocks and although some of the aftermarket shocks sound good, I'm not ready to spend the $$$ to change them. Since new shocks were not my first choice, I was very interested in the threads like this one, that talked about changing the oil in the shocks.
After reading as much as I could find about changing the shock oil, I decided to give it a try. I figured, if it didn't work I was simply back to the replacement option. So this afternoon, I removed the shocks, drained the oil out of them and refilled them with heaver shock oil. I intended to go with a 7.5 wt oil but the only thing I could find locally was AMSOIL Shock Therapy 10wt.
The results are absolutely AMAZING. The bike rides much smoother and once again actually absorbs the bumps in the road. I took the gf for a 50 mile test ride along a bunch of back roads. She also could not believe how much smoother the ride was. I had been riding with 25-30 lbs of air in the shocks. I put 15 lbs in for out test ride and I think it may be a tad too much. We never bottomed out once, even over some familar bumps that used to jar the spine. The bike feels much more stable in the curves also.
Changing out the oil wasn't too difficult. I built a quick-n-dirty jig from a 2x4, similar to the one in this thread. I also found a plastic 1/8 pipe to 1/4 tubing connector at Tractor Supply for under 2$ to connect some tubing to the shock. The steps I followed were this:
1- remove the air line
2 - remove the compression fitting from the shock
3- remove the shock from the bike
4- thread the plastic connector with tubing into the shock
5 - place the shock upside down in the jig.
6 - pump the shock several times to empty the existing oil
7- turn the shock right side up
8- insert funnel in tubing and pour new oil into funnel
9- gently pump shock to force air up through tubing and funnel and allow the vaccum to pull oil back into shock.
10- mount shock back on bike, replace air fitting (with thread sealer), trim air hose and insert back into air fitting.
I measured the oil when I drained the shocks. The left shock had 10oz in it but the right shock only had 8oz. (why doesn't that suprise me?) I refilled both shocks with 10oz of 10wt Shock Therapy.
I didn't get around to taking any pics but the above mentioned thread has great pics already. All total, I spent under 35$ for the oil and the parts to make the jig. This is turning out to be one of the "cheapest/most useful" mods I've done.
*** original post ***
The original owner of my EGC had the bike lowered and when I first got the bike, the rear shocks bottomed out occasionally. 15k miles later, (30k on the bike) the shocks bottom out quite often when riding solo and 2up. It also felt like the rear end would 'wallow' a little in curves. I researched options for rear shocks and although some of the aftermarket shocks sound good, I'm not ready to spend the $$$ to change them. Since new shocks were not my first choice, I was very interested in the threads like this one, that talked about changing the oil in the shocks.
After reading as much as I could find about changing the shock oil, I decided to give it a try. I figured, if it didn't work I was simply back to the replacement option. So this afternoon, I removed the shocks, drained the oil out of them and refilled them with heaver shock oil. I intended to go with a 7.5 wt oil but the only thing I could find locally was AMSOIL Shock Therapy 10wt.
The results are absolutely AMAZING. The bike rides much smoother and once again actually absorbs the bumps in the road. I took the gf for a 50 mile test ride along a bunch of back roads. She also could not believe how much smoother the ride was. I had been riding with 25-30 lbs of air in the shocks. I put 15 lbs in for out test ride and I think it may be a tad too much. We never bottomed out once, even over some familar bumps that used to jar the spine. The bike feels much more stable in the curves also.
Changing out the oil wasn't too difficult. I built a quick-n-dirty jig from a 2x4, similar to the one in this thread. I also found a plastic 1/8 pipe to 1/4 tubing connector at Tractor Supply for under 2$ to connect some tubing to the shock. The steps I followed were this:
1- remove the air line
2 - remove the compression fitting from the shock
3- remove the shock from the bike
4- thread the plastic connector with tubing into the shock
5 - place the shock upside down in the jig.
6 - pump the shock several times to empty the existing oil
7- turn the shock right side up
8- insert funnel in tubing and pour new oil into funnel
9- gently pump shock to force air up through tubing and funnel and allow the vaccum to pull oil back into shock.
10- mount shock back on bike, replace air fitting (with thread sealer), trim air hose and insert back into air fitting.
I measured the oil when I drained the shocks. The left shock had 10oz in it but the right shock only had 8oz. (why doesn't that suprise me?) I refilled both shocks with 10oz of 10wt Shock Therapy.
I didn't get around to taking any pics but the above mentioned thread has great pics already. All total, I spent under 35$ for the oil and the parts to make the jig. This is turning out to be one of the "cheapest/most useful" mods I've done.
#2
06-29-2009 | 07:05 PM
Cruiser
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 136
Likes: 0
From: ross ohio
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