KYB Shock Reservoir question

[Sin_Tiger]

Have the eccentrics already been flipped?

[motoOzarks]

Have the eccentrics already been flipped?

Not from what can be seen in the picture

[ZuluSafari]

Have the eccentrics already been flipped?

The 12mm hex key socket is at the top, and the offset notches are at the bottom.  There is a small scribed line at the bottom on the swing arm clamp, so I believe the eccentrics are in their stock orientation.

[Mustang]

correct !

[London_Phil]

Glad to hear the work you put in gave an improved ride.
So far, I am relieved  I had a spare to play with.
As mentioned before, shrader valve sheared off.
Next the bladder cap was seized in the reservoir, I was able to compress it to get the spring clip out, but unable to push it out the end.
Possibly dismantling hose between shock and reservoir before getting this off was a bad idea. Had to use grease gun to get hydraulic pressure into reservoir to finally force cap off.
Would think carefully about doing this if your not able to budget the possible downtime.
Bladder is good, and surface corrosion on the Ali parts will clean up, and as its the "spare" and the piston shows no sign of leaking, I think I will repair the bladder cap, refill with ATF, and use air to pressure the bladder. Its probably got a capacity of 100ml, and is not worth the added overhead of chasing Nitrogen.
Suspect anything is better than the one that is on the bike now.

Regards

Phil

[ZuluSafari]

  Another member here offered up that though the use of air may not be correct, 5 psi of air pressure has to be better than no psi of nitrogen!

The firm gas chamber really helped the ride, so I am excited to see what a correct spring for my (substantial) weight will do, too!

[Sasquatch]

While I am a fan of ATF in forks, not so much in shocks.  The valving in that stock shock is set up for 5w oil.  Changing that without altering the valving will change the way it rides.  And if you are this far in, take the shock fully apart, change the shaft seal, clean the shaft and bore, and put it back together.  Make sure you properly bleed all air out of the shock/reservoir.  Your bike will thank you.

Shock oil degrades with time and miles.  Every single Steamer shock I have done has had little to no pressure in the reservoir left and the oil was beyond trashed, unless it was rebuilt in the recent past.  Nitrogen should be topped up every year or so (schrader ports do leak), and the fluid exchanged every 3-4 years or 25-35k miles, whichever comes first.  Shocks are a service item and do not like to be ignored.

Sasquatch
Adventure Power Sports, llc

[London_Phil]

Apologies, I seem to be hijacking this thread, but hopefully the info is useful.
Got carried away today, took the plunge and stripped out the shaft anyway.
Some marking on the shaft, but nothing that wont polish out.
Next problem is with the (rebound?) adjustment valve on the lower fork. It is seized in position (ie the adjustment), and the adjusting slot is munched. Looks like someone has tried to use a punch to rotate the whole valve out.
So glad this is a spare unit, not sure if the valve is replaceable, gonna take it to work and Xray it to see if its a screw in assy, unless anyone already knows.

[London_Phil]

Just in case your interested

[Bixxer Bob]

I split out BruKen's envy of your Xray tool into a new thread ..... 

[London_Phil]

I might start an informal, occasional series of images.. If I can carry it my backpack to work, and get it to lie still on the table, I'll record it for your pleasure. Might do igniter (pick up) coil tomorrow, if not too busy.
There not Industrial quality, there on a medical device, but the detail is good enough for a general look see.

Happy viewing

[trophydave]

Is the lower fork alloy?Some gentle heat might persuade the adjuster screw to come out.

[London_Phil]

The fork is indeed Ali.
The adjuster is brass it would seem.
You can just make out, from those low res images, that the adjuster internal piece is threaded into the fork.
Its clearer in the originals, but they are   15Mb, so no chance of an upload.
My suspicion is the body is an interference/push fit, possibly the 10 turns is actually the thread depth, so it would need to be loosened by heat, then screwed out until the threads came apart.
Will need to get advice, before I risk terminal damage.

[trophydave]

It's the sort of thing we do at work,I might be able to get it out but couldn't give any guarantees.

[ssevy]

I had my forks and monoshock rebuilt by propilotsuspension in NJ. Great work and reasonable too. Very happy with the improvement.