Rear shock linkage maintenance

This is to show what happens when you don't do the maintenance.

I'll start by referring you to a very good resource with pictures and diagrams for doing the service. https://www.fjr-tips.org/maint/sa/sa.html it gets you into the swing arm and other linkage points also.

The background on my rear suspension: I installed a Penske 8987 shock on the bike at 5800 miles on 1/10/08. I have done no service to it until 12/29/12. The bike currently has 33,670 miles on it. When I bought the shock from GP Suspension they recommended servicing it every 20,000 miles. I noticed that it was not performing as well as it should about 5000 miles ago.

In December 2012 I had the shock serviced by the new owner of GP suspension (KFG Racing in Auburn, WA). The shock had 27,870 miles on it.

I got a call from GP to come take a look at the shock. Here are pictures of the shim stacks. They show lots of corrosion in the shims. The shims are varying thicknesses and diameters of stainless steel. (EDIT - the yellow color of the shims is due to lighting - they are stainless steel)







Below is the assembly that goes inside the remote resevior. It needs to be rebuilt do to the corrosion. This caused additional expesne that could have been avoided with a more regular service schedule



I'll add more photo of the shock internals when I get them from GP Suspension. I can say they looked pretty bad.

With the shock out I decided to check all the linkage points and remove the swing arm and lube all those points too.

Here is the lower shock linkage diagram



At this point in my pictures the swing arm is removed. The linkage is still in the bike, and you have to remove the center stand to get the linkage off.



Linkage off, left side bolts the frame, right is the lower shock bolt and the center is the lower dog bone mount. Note the corrosion on the bolt that goes through bushing (piece #19 in the diagram)



Here is the linkage looking from each side





The bushing removed - looking through at the bearings - note the bearing side of the bushing had a little bit of an oil film and the bearings moved smoothly and were fine.



The dog bone bolts after cleaning up with wire brush and 600 grit sand paper.



The Shop Manual calls for lithium soap based grease to be used. My experience from my dirt bikes with soap based greases on shock linkages is that is washes out quickly and is not very effective. I started using a marine grade moly lube originally made by JetLube.



Here is where I get it at McMaster-Carr on line. Part number 10625K11 for $16.71 for a 1 lb container. https://www.mcmaster....18/2166/=kwm2ey NOTE: the name has changed to Dow Corning but the part number and specs are the same as the Jet lube I use.

Here is a picture of the label of mine (I repackaged into an old silkolene container)

On my dirt bikes, the linkages look like I just did them after a year of riding in the mud and pressure washing the bike to clean. I also use this lube on all the axles and any place that has a bolt going through a bushing.

To be continued:

Continuing...

Here is the lower shock bolt lubed with the moly grease ready to install.



Looking through the larger hole in the bottom of the shock



I did not take pictures of the swing arm removal, but the thread in post #1 is a good source for doing that. I did use the same moly based grease to lub all the bearing and bolts in the swing arm, center stand, and shock linkages.

My whole point is to let people they may want to take a closer look at the suspension especially if you are doing shock service. My bike does not see alot of rain or get stored outside. I was quite surprised that the lower dog bone bolt was a corroded as it was. I had to pound the bolt out of the bushing to get it out.

This maintenance will take the better part of the day. Take your time and you can do it. The shop manual is a must for doing this. You need the torque values for re-assembly.

As a result of what I saw and the condition of the shock internals, I will be doing this annually when the bike is put up for the winter.

Auburn FJR; Great post pix and info for maintenance.

Two other things:

1. Those washers look like they are brass shims/washers not stainless.

2. When you used 600 grit to clean the dog bone bolts, you also removed any and all corrosion resistant coating that it had. Now those things will corrode instantly and degrade rather rapidly. Any metallic bolt or part you sand and remove the outer coating to clean will definitely reduce the life of that part. If they were that bad, I would have replaced them

Just my 2 cents.

Enjoy and ride safe.

Still me anus itches..

My bike next? My Ohlin’s is down there now (KFG) and should be done in a day or two.

I have lubed the thru bolts and sleeves a couple of times already but haven't done the one pivot as I don't feel good about getting the bike securely up on my wood floor shop to drop the center stand.

Thanks for the write up Bryan, I'm at 60,000 + and it's a must do this year! George has a stand to suspend the bike from that I'm going to borrow and do this to mine.

FJRBluesman said:

Auburn FJR; Great post pix and info for maintenance.
Two other things:

1. Those washers look like they are brass shims/washers not stainless.

2. When you used 600 grit to clean the dog bone bolts, you also removed any and all corrosion resistant coating that it had. Now those things will corrode instantly and degrade rather rapidly. If they were that bad, I would have replaced them.

Just my 2 cents.

Enjoy and ride safe.

Click to expand...

They are stainless steel shims. It is the lighting that made them look yellowish

Correct on the coating, the reason to grease them with a grease that won't wash out.

I had my right front fork badly corroded and had to buy a new one! Ouch! I won't do that again.

Got a kick outa the "you have to use a "molly" based grease!! 25 years dealing with heavy equipment and stresses far exceeding what a puny 100 horse motor could inflict.

'RED" Grease has been and will always be the **** of choice... But you cool kids do what makes ya feel good. Buy a new battery while yer at it.

Hey Auburn,

Thanks for this great report. Wow what a surprise that must haven been, I think a good call to make that an annual maintenance point!

Q though? Would you think that the 20k maintenance cycle on the shock might be a tad too long?

According, or for what I know, as !'m sorta fresh in the Yamaha stuff, the suspension needs a overhaul every 16k, at least for the fork, so do you think to do then the shock as well? I'm running the same Penske shock and think that might not be too bad!

V

RPK

Great write up Bryan, I need to do my upper bushings, need to get bike on a lift, maybe our next tech day.

RedPorscheKilla said:

Hey Auburn, Thanks for this great report. Wow what a surprise that must haven been, I think a good call to make that an annual maintenance point! Q though? Would you think that the 20k maintenance cycle on the shock might be a tad too long? According, or for what I know, as !'m sorta fresh in the Yamaha stuff, the suspension needs a overhaul every 16k, at least for the fork, so do you think to do then the shock as well? I'm running the same Penske shock and think that might not be too bad! V RPK

Click to expand...

For me and how I ride 20K is probably a bit too high. But I am 2 up towing a trailer, so I am working the load limits of the suspension more than most probably are.

Bustanut joker said:

Got a kick outa the "you have to use a "molly" based grease!! 25 years dealing with heavy equipment and stresses far exceeding what a puny 100 horse motor could inflict.
'RED" Grease has been and will always be the **** of choice... But you cool kids do what makes ya feel good. Buy a new battery while yer at it.

Click to expand...

We use the red multi purpose on heavy machinery at work. The main thing was to get a marine grade grease with good characteristics that doesn't wash out like the red grease can.

What I found that works for me is moly based but there are others out there that will work as well. My back up grease to this is Silkolene waterproof, but it washes out over time where the JetLube doesn't.

AuburnFJR said:

For me and how I ride 20K is probably a bit too high. But I am 2 up towing a trailer, so I am working the load limits of the suspension more than most probably are.

Click to expand...

Auburn,

Thanks a lot for the response!

V

RPK

Thanks for the pics and write-up Auburn. Whenever y'all pull another swingarm, take some pics of that too.

Another item to put on the Tech Day maintenance list.

--G

Damn....I better rip my scoot apart. It's had over sixty thousand on it and I have never looked at rear shock stuff. I hope it looks new like that one pic with the pivot point out. Otherwise, I may have to have an aneurism or something.

Hi,

I bought my 07 with 11K kms on it and one of the first service items I did, when I rode her home, was to lube the suspension linkages.
The bearings were dry and the bolts corroded. And as usual I couldn't lube that frame bushing properly or the relay arm

Those who have done it know of the problems in trying to remove that frame linkage bolt #23.
The bracket that prevents the bolt removal.




So over the weekend (on call again) I did the mod to allow the bolt and relay arm to be removed.

I used a rotary cut off wheel and small grinding stone and removed some excess material from the centrestand bracket to allow the removal of the bolt in situ. You don't have to remove the centrestand.

Metal and bolt removed




The bolt for the frame pivot link is quite long and there are 5-6 threads extending the nut when done up. I cut the threads off leaving 1 thread past the nut when fully torqued. The bolt will not come out,(the bolt head hits the exhaust), without removing a few threads.

I used a dozen or more dremel cut off wheels and grindstones to remove the metal that prevents the bolt removal, there is plenty of "meat" left on the centrestand bracket.

After grinding




I painted the metal edges with black enamel to prevent the onset of rust. I also painted the shanks of all the suspension linkage bolts to prevent corrosion. as per Moose's notes.





It may have been easier to remove the centrestand but I didn't want to risk slinging the bike by myself.

All up it took about 6 hours to do the mod and lube, and a lot of cut off wheels.
It will make servicing the linkages real easy next time, no excuse.


Cheers

Thanks for the write up and information Brian, very nicely done. Diffinitely going make this a part of the maintenance check list

AuburnFJR said:

Bustanut joker said:

Got a kick outa the "you have to use a "molly" based grease!! 25 years dealing with heavy equipment and stresses far exceeding what a puny 100 horse motor could inflict.
'RED" Grease has been and will always be the **** of choice... But you cool kids do what makes ya feel good. Buy a new battery while yer at it.

Click to expand...

We use the red multi purpose on heavy machinery at work. The main thing was to get a marine grade grease with good characteristics that doesn't wash out like the red grease can.

What I found that works for me is moly based but there are others out there that will work as well. My back up grease to this is Silkolene waterproof, but it washes out over time where the JetLube doesn't.

Click to expand...

Holy double post.

I use a good lithium soap base grease (like crimson red) on the brgs and OD of race (bushing)and seals. Then use a good marine grease thats waterproof and won't wash off, on the bolt shafts so they don't corrode and get stuck in the race. The waterproof marine grease is called Special lube 101 grease. https://www.marine-pr...-802865q02.html

This stuff is very sticky and waterproof. It won't wash off prop shafts so it won't wash off any of your bike linkages. It has Teflon in it so not for needle brgs. I use it on high friction areas and a corrosion preventive layer such as bolts/bushings, relay arm bolts, shift linkages, rear brake linkage, axles, not on brgs. You only need a very thin coating and it will stay in place. It's like never seize in that a little goes a long way but I think it works better. Any Mercury Marine dealer should have it on the shelf.

Bust this is what the kool kids use.

Queensland Ken said:

Hi,I bought my 07 with 11K kms on it and one of the first service items I did, when I rode her home, was to lube the suspension linkages.

The bearings were dry and the bolts corroded. And as usual I couldn't lube that frame bushing properly or the relay arm

Those who have done it know of the problems in trying to remove that frame linkage bolt #23.

The bracket that prevents the bolt removal.

[img=[URL="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-BA79qO1eJsk/T5yOmnb3y-I/AAAAAAAAALk/NytfriDu0u4/s912/Before.jpg%5D"]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-BA79qO1eJsk/T5yOmnb3y-I/AAAAAAAAALk/NytfriDu0u4/s912/Before.jpg][/URL]

So over the weekend (on call again) I did the mod to allow the bolt and relay arm to be removed.

I used a rotary cut off wheel and small grinding stone and removed some excess material from the centrestand bracket to allow the removal of the bolt in situ. You don't have to remove the centrestand.

Metal and bolt removed

[img=[URL="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-73Qv4Uqv2UI/T5yOrPp7MxI/AAAAAAAAAL4/6RLV0DPjEkU/s912/cut%20away.jpg%5D"]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-73Qv4Uqv2UI/T5yOrPp7MxI/AAAAAAAAAL4/6RLV0DPjEkU/s912/cut%20away.jpg][/URL]

The bolt for the frame pivot link is quite long and there are 5-6 threads extending the nut when done up. I cut the threads off leaving 1 thread past the nut when fully torqued. The bolt will not come out,(the bolt head hits the exhaust), without removing a few threads.

I used a dozen or more dremel cut off wheels and grindstones to remove the metal that prevents the bolt removal, there is plenty of "meat" left on the centrestand bracket.

After grinding

[img=[URL="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-cXsN2-dG8cM/T5yOrzoHpaI/AAAAAAAAAMA/to8wfusVClg/s912/from%20LHS.jpg%5D"]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-cXsN2-dG8cM/T5yOrzoHpaI/AAAAAAAAAMA/to8wfusVClg/s912/from%20LHS.jpg][/URL]

I painted the metal edges with black enamel to prevent the onset of rust. I also painted the shanks of all the suspension linkage bolts to prevent corrosion. as per Moose's notes.

[img=[URL="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-b7Spe2R7aHM/T5yOrPAq8LI/AAAAAAAAAL0/AYrSfCRQA0E/s912/final.jpg%5D"]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-b7Spe2R7aHM/T5yOrPAq8LI/AAAAAAAAAL0/AYrSfCRQA0E/s912/final.jpg][/URL]

[img=[URL="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-7PrnOR6u6qw/T5yOoIXENoI/AAAAAAAAALo/l7GX4ams_ec/s912/Linkage%20out.jpg%5D"]https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-7PrnOR6u6qw/T5yOoIXENoI/AAAAAAAAALo/l7GX4ams_ec/s912/Linkage%20out.jpg][/URL]

It may have been easier to remove the centrestand but I didn't want to risk slinging the bike by myself.

All up it took about 6 hours to do the mod and lube, and a lot of cut off wheels.

It will make servicing the linkages real easy next time, no excuse.

Cheers

Click to expand...

Nice. I'll have to look into doing that on my bike. The center stand removal is a pain in the ***.