3rd Gen ES Suspension Problems Poll

[mcatrophy]

I have a 2015 ES with 45000 miles. I haven’t been very active this year due to some heath issues. So it’s been sitting for a while.  Recently I went for an hour ride and noticed I was flat footing!    I checked the rear preload and it was set to my usual Rider with Luggage.  I adjusted to 2 Riders with luggage and felt no change in height.  The display acts normally. Repeatedly settling it up and down the range made no difference.  

Looking at the manual it doesn’t offer much insight on how the system works.  I gather that it’s hydraulic from looking at the hoses going to and from the ride height pump/ motor units.  I see no leaks of any kind. 

Hopefully I’ll get some good feedback even though this is an old topic.  Any ideas on what to check would be appreciated.

thanks!

Had similar on my 2014 when I took it in to my dealer when I exchanged it for my 2018. 18000 miles, but little used for several months. Anyway, to cut a long story short, the dealer said that it had leaked its hydraulic fluid, though I hadn’t noticed. He had the suspension rebuilt before he sold it, so rebuilding is possible if you can find an appropriate suspension person. 

 

[Biquer]

My 2015 had 47,000 miles on it when the rear shock failed. I felt the sudden loss of damping and it was basically bouncing all over the place. I examined the shock and it was soaked with oil. I then had a lot of fun trying to find a solution. A replacement from Yamaha is north of $3,000. Apparently only one company (esarepair.com) in Holland can rebuild these and recharge the gas. My shock piston had a nick in it which wrecked the seals and rendered it useless. So I needed a new piston and a rebuild. I have about 4,000 miles on the bike since the rebuild and it's all good. 

 

[Fred W]

Any idea how the piston got nicked?  

 

[Biquer]

It appears to be a rust spot that dug in! It's not big, but it has a jagged feel. I might take it into work and put it under a microscope for a closer look. The repaired shock is wrapped in a shock tube, I've had great results with one of those on my '08.

 

[JAB]

Does anyone know of a company in the USA that can rebuild these Gen III ESA rear shocks? 

 

[escapefjrtist]

Does anyone know of a company in the USA that can rebuild these Gen III ESA rear shocks? 

From discussions in another sandbox, Cogent Dynamics is reported to have the ability to rebuild ES shocks. 

Good Luck!

~G

 

[JAB]

From discussions in another sandbox, Cogent Dynamics is reported to have the ability to rebuild ES shocks. 

Good Luck!

~G

Many thanks! I'll give them a call.

JB

 

[Niehart]

We also have a friend with a used ES shock.

 

[Fred W]

Which gives me an idea…

What shocks might we be able to safely substitute temporarily for an ES rear if/when it needs to be serviced?  There are lots of non-ES stock shocks floating around after people have upgraded to a Penske or Ohlins.  
 

i suppose a few measurements and spring comparisons might rule it out.  I do know that the shape of the relay arm is somewhat different, maybe because the total shock length is different?  Or maybe for a different leverage rate, though the difference in them seems pretty small.

I still have an original ‘05 shock and relay arm on the shelf, though the bike is now gone.  It would be comforting to know that could be pressed into service if the ES needs extended work, depending on turn around times.

 

[RossKean]

 It would be comforting to know that could be pressed into service if the ES needs extended work, depending on turn around times.

Perhaps after XX,000 miles, it might not be a bad idea to schedule an "of-season" refresh for your ES shock.  Not like we don't do it for aftermarket shocks even before failure.   Depends, of course, on cost and turnaround time.  Still not much information out there on expected lifetimes but it appears to be better than I initially thought it would be.

 

[Fred W]

I’m at 55k miles now and have no symptoms of impending failure or degradation of performance.  It seems like most failure reports are leaks or acute fails and not chronic reduced performance. 
 

With as few total failures as have being reported here, I would want to just wait and “fix on failure” rather than do prophylactic maintenance for two reasons:  1) we don’t really know how long they will go due to lack of data points and 2) things often fail more often the more you mess around with them.

It is comforting knowing that there are a couple of options for shock refurbishment though.  Glad to hear that.

 

[RossKean]

 1) we don’t really know how long they will go due to lack of data points and 2) things often fail more often the more you mess around with them.

I get that.  The problem is not knowing the "XX" part of the XX,000 (or maybe XXX?).  If there is no noticeable degradation in performance prior to failure than I agree that you should wait for failure before doing anything.  You might find it is a little like riding on a worn tire (or old rebuildable Penske/Ohlins etc. shock) - you don't really notice how bad it was until you experience the new (tire) or refurbished (shock). 

Still, in the absence of additional information, I would most likely wait.  Especially if I had another motorcycle in the stable capable of sustaining my riding needs in case of an extended, unplanned layoff for repair.

 

[Fred W]

Well, that gets back around to the idea of jamming an old non-ES shock in there while the ES shock is being rebuilt.  Used to do that when the Penske needed rebuilding.

Usually when a shock is losing performance it is the damping getting weaker.  With the old Penske you would get “clicker creep” where you had to add more and more clicks to approximate the original shock performance, but of course that doesn’t help with the high speed damping, which is set with internal orifices and shim stack, and isn’t adjustable.  With an ES one could just set it higher on the dash, but I haven’t felt a need to do even that.

 

[griff]

From discussions in another sandbox, Cogent Dynamics is reported to have the ability to rebuild ES shocks. 

Good Luck!

~G

I just had Cogent rebuild an ES shock.  They can do it.  That's the good news.  The bad news is that the electrical fitting on the shock that controls shock damping leaks and Cogent could not repair this.  It's not a specific replacement part.  The shock I sent them was a warranty replacement because of the fitting leak.  I plan to pull my existing shock with 155k this winter and have Cogent replace the fitting on this rebuilt shock with the fitting on my shock that does not leak.  At the same time I am looking at putting a new spring on my rear shock.  This will require a new spring perch, but there is a wealth of knowledge on what Super Tenere guys have done with their ES shocks and Race Tech does have kits for the Super Tenere, so hopefully Race Tech can help me.  You might check with Race Tech on rebuilding your ES shock.

 

[griff]

Oh, and I did some checking on if a after market shock could replace the ES shock.  The upper mount and relay arm are different between the ES and A models.  That being said, it may just take a different upper collar and replacing the relay arm to get an aftermarket shock to fit.  And taping a piece of tape over the yellow shock warning light on the dash, since the SCU can't see the rear ES shock now.

 

[Fred W]

Thanks Griff.  Yeah, I was figuring on having to put a non-ES relay arm in with the temporary shock.  Didn’t realize the upper mount was different.  Must just be different spacers since the same frame has a non-ES configuration.

I’m not in need of a rebuild yet.  Just like to have my ducks in a row before the time comes.