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What About the Rear Shock?

rlievenski4555

rlievenski4555

Member
Member
It is recommended to change the suspension fluid in the front forks every 6-10K miles. The rear shock seems to be a sealed unit. Is there anyone out there who services the shock by changing fluid and recharging the gas? New shocks are super expensive and I am curious. Also wonder the mileage and/or elapsed time for when this would be done. Thanks in advance for any feedback.
 
+1 for me here in Houston. I'm at 18k now and haven't done this yet. But then again, I'm not taking it to the track. So, for fairly normal road riding, is this exceedingly important? If so, what is the risk of going longer miles without popping these open to drain and fill?

It's not exactly a small job for me, at least based on my level of tools and talent. Would be interesting to hear from Cliff (and other high mileage makers) how many times during the course of the 100k or 200k+ journeys their fork fluid was changed.

Thx Rob for posting this up! Cheers, AB
 
The consensus that I am aware of is 40,000 miles is about all a rear shock is good for. I swapped mine out at about 50,000 for an Ohlins which is rebuildable. I did not notice a major difference. I now have about 100,000 on the Ohlins and my bike seems to handle great so have not thought about getting it rebuilt. As for forks I swapped them out for ZX14 forks and have had the leaking seals replaced twice which of course includes fresh oil.
 
I don't even have half the miles that some have but I change out the front fork oil weekly.....just kidding....I changed mine when it started to leak at the seals...well to be honest (why start now everybody says)...I forked around with Seal Mates, old pieces of 35MM film, and wiping up the oil for almost a year before I gave up and took the forks off* and had the seals replaced along with the fork oil at the dealer. That was at around 106,000 miles.
Rear shock?...when that leaks or quits working then I'll get it serviced or replaced.
My bike is lucky when I knock off the top layer of bugs.

*you do NOT want to be careless and round off the head of a triple tree pinch bolt. Adds hours of labor and anxiety to the whole process.
 
fartymarty said:
I don't even have half the miles that some have but I change out the front fork oil weekly.....just kidding....I changed mine when it started to leak at the seals...well to be honest (why start now everybody says)...I forked around with Seal Mates, old pieces of 35MM film, and wiping up the oil for almost a year before I gave up and took the forks off* and had the seals replaced along with the fork oil at the dealer. That was at around 106,000 miles.
Rear shock?...when that leaks or quits working then I'll get it serviced or replaced.
My bike is lucky when I knock off the top layer of bugs.

*you do NOT want to be careless and round off the head of a triple tree pinch bolt. Adds hours of labor and anxiety to the whole process.
Click to expand...
had 76000 miles on my 2008, never touched front or rear and never had a problem. took my 2013 to san antonio dealer to have the seals replaced when I went to the Kerrville rally because the seals leaked.
 
Had 95K on my 08, Now 78K on the 13, and 16K on the 18. Going back and forth with the 13 while commuting and the 18 on trips I decided that the forks and rear shock are going up to Ft Wayne https://daughertymotorsports.com/ to have them rebuilt. Since my kid is an engineering student up there I will pull them and carry them in rather than ship. Just got to find tools. space and time and then see if Fred's Vids have some instructions.

My lardass is taking some bumps and handling is different enough between the 2 that I need to do this ....even on straight-ass Indiana roads.
 
freebird6 said:
Had 95K on my 08, Now 78K on the 13, and 16K on the 18. Going back and forth with the 13 while commuting and the 18 on trips I decided that the forks and rear shock are going up to Ft Wayne https://daughertymotorsports.com/ to have them rebuilt. Since my kid is an engineering student up there I will pull them and carry them in rather than ship. Just got to find tools. space and time and then see if Fred's Vids have some instructions.

My lardass is taking some bumps and handling is different enough between the 2 that I need to do this ....even on straight-ass Indiana roads.
Click to expand...
Sure happy with mine. I made a strut to replace the rear shock while waiting for my parts to return. Didn't want an accident. They did a great job on mine.
 
rlievenski4555 said:
It is recommended to change the suspension fluid in the front forks every 6-10K miles. The rear shock seems to be a sealed unit. Is there anyone out there who services the shock by changing fluid and recharging the gas? New shocks are super expensive and I am curious. Also wonder the mileage and/or elapsed time for when this would be done. Thanks in advance for any feedback.
Click to expand...
I sent my front forks and rear shock to a guy in Idaho. He rebuilt my stock front forks and stock rear shock, all with the valving I asked for and springs for my type of riding. For the rear, he re-honned the piston, added valving (I asked for racetec) and a spring that was calibrated to the weights I usually ride with, as well as a valve to allow for the future rebuilding of the stock shock.
 
I've had my rear suspension rebuilt, re-revalved, and made "rebuildable" by my local racetech service center. Best $650 I ever spent along with the ZX14 front fork upgrade I performed myself with the right racetech springs for my weight+honda fluid+new seals, etc. Turned painful for my back (I have two 3 level spine fusions) rides of less than 2 hours to literally all day long rides back to back to back with enhanced control especially at speed. After tuning now just glides over the roughest pavement I can find.
 
redline said:
had 76000 miles on my 2008, never touched front or rear and never had a problem. took my 2013 to san antonio dealer to have the seals replaced when I went to the Kerrville rally because the seals leaked.
Click to expand...
You may have never had a leak before then, but fork+shock fluid does definitely degrade after even just 6000 miles.. reduced contact with the ground, increased/weird tire wear, and less control are all side effects of old fluid.
 
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