Getting My Wilbers Shock Serviced

[yamafitter]

I ended up going with the GP Suspension Group Buy to get a discount on getting my Wilbers Shock rebuilt. I had GP Suspensions rebuild & re-spring the Wilbers shock back in September 2010 and with something in the neighbourhood of 25000 miles I could tell the suspension needed to be refreshed. We replaced the bushings & seals at the last Bust Tech Day but rebuilding the rear shock was something that needed to be contracted out.

We had our first decent snowstorm of the year so it is now time to start taking the FJR apart. The first thing I found was that the garage was a little chilly and when I went to plug in my 220V Barn Heater I found that that the plug wasn't the same as on my welder. I've only been living here for 18 years and I know I had that heater plugged in before so I believe the garage fairies had sneaked in and changed the plug so that it no longer matched. After running around town to various outlets such as Canadian Tire & Home Depot I finally sourced at correct plug at Tractor Supply Company and returned home to change out the plug...

The next step was to test the heater to ensure the garage would be a warm or at least not a freezing work environment ....

I don't really trust that heater since it is painted in KTM colours.

With the garage warming up it was time to start getting the bike ready for some disassembly. When the bike was at GP Suspensions we had a very bad time with the remote reservoir location. It is not possible to remove the shock without first either pulling the swingarm or loosening the ABS module to allow clearance to pull the reservoir with the shock. Wilbers locates the reservoir down near the footpeg and the hose goes between the frame and the ABS module....

I want to service the swingarm bearings and linkage bushings anyways so I think I will be pulling the swingarm which should allow me room to get the reservoir out but it is a PITA.

I also have the hydraulic preload adjuster which is mounted up on the subframe rail....

If anyone has a better mounting option please post up. I had to stop for the day since I needed to get ready to go out for the evening but will get back to this tomorrow since I should get the shock to GP Suspension soon.

 

[SkooterG]

When the bike was at GP Suspensions we had a very bad time with the remote reservoir location. It is not possible to remove the shock without first either pulling the swingarm or loosening the ABS module to allow clearance to pull the reservoir with the shock.

You must be a masochist. I've never had to do either of those things to get my Wilbers (With remote reservoir and hydraulic pre-load) installed or removed It has always been relatively straight forward. Now the Ohlins piggback reservoir shock for the Gen I IS a major PITA. I had to partially un-do the rear subframe to tilt it up to get clearance for removal/installation.

You are making me wonder about the safety of Nuke power plants now...........

 

[Mr Bill]

KTM orange eh?

I never pulled the swing arm for the wilburs. Do you remember this guys detailed pictures and instructions?

Can't help you on the preload adjuster, that's where I had mine too. The Penske is a little harder to route because you need to fish it through the rear brake linkage.

 

[Bungie]

I don't really trust that heater since it is painted in KTM colours.

LOL! Good one.

 

[yamafitter]

When the bike was at GP Suspensions we had a very bad time with the remote reservoir location. It is not possible to remove the shock without first either pulling the swingarm or loosening the ABS module to allow clearance to pull the reservoir with the shock.

You must be a masochist. I've never had to do either of those things to get my Wilbers (With remote reservoir and hydraulic pre-load) installed or removed It has always been relatively straight forward. Now the Ohlins piggback reservoir shock for the Gen I IS a major PITA. I had to partially un-do the rear subframe to tilt it up to get clearance for removal/installation.

You are making me wonder about the safety of Nuke power plants now...........

I didn't do the initial install of the Wilburs and when we did the servicing of the shock in 2010 we unbolted the ABS module but access to the bolts is not what I would refer to as a relatively straight forward process. If you have the Wilbers on a Gen 1 without ABS then it would be very straight forward. If you have put the Wilbers on a FJR with ABS I would be interested if you located the the reservoir in the same location and if you did what magic you performed to get it into that location without disassembling anything. If you located the reservoir in another location I would also like to know where you mounted it.

Given you were once in the Navy you make me wonder why the entire fleet didn't sink.

 

[yamafitter]

I mis-identified the part that is causing me issues with the removal of the Wilbers shock with remote reservoir and hydraulic pre-load adjuster. It is the master clutch cylinder module that is causing the issues and will need to be moved to get the remote reservoir off the bike with the shock.

The manual states that you need to remove the swingarm to do this but we were able to unbolt the module and slide it out of the way enough to allow us to slide the reservoir out.

Unless you have an AE this is a part most of you don't have to contend with. When I had the bike at GP Suspensions having to deal with the removal and installation of the clutch master cylinder cost us about an extra three hours of labour since the bolts are not easy to access. In the end it might be easier to pull the swingarm which I was planning on doing anyways for other maintenance.

 

[SkooterG]

Ahhhhh.......... you LUCKY AE owner, you!

 

[yamafitter]

Well the shock is now removed but it wasn't pretty. To get access to the top bolt I had to remove the shifting actuator and even with the swingarm removed it ended up I had to unbolt the master clutch cylinder to get the clearance required to get the remote reservoir out with the shock ....

I now have the shock out ....

I've got it cleaned up and will take it over to the local UPS store to get it boxed up and on its way to GP Suspensions for its rebuild.

I just hope I can sort of remember how all this goes back together by the time I get the shock back. There are a lot of bits and pieces on the workbench.

In the meantime I can take off the center-stand and grease it up and service the swingarm bushings and all the rear suspension linkage.