Thank You Search...Finding All Sort of Stuff about Ohlins

[Ignacio]

I just wanted to note that I'm taking my own advice and before I go start a new thread asking what shock to buy....I'm finding ALL SORTS OF USEFUL information using the search feature. I'll probably get to a point that I ask some obscure or alternative question on the subject, but finding that searching on "Ohlin" gets the ball rolling, I've found a variety of model choices that I cross reference to Google searches, come back and search on alternate models, lots of great advice from people that have talked about it before, and sure I'll find more as I go.

So thanks all for being the best technical resource on FJRs there is.

P.S. Suffice it to say after last weekend's abuse of my Penske and 2nd cracked clevis...I'm doing some soul searching, technical review, and may jump brands again.

 

[Fred W]

Matt,

Did the Penske's lower clevis yoke crack even with the correct (stock) shoulder bolt in there?

The shocks that I've seen broken previously were because the clevis was being pinched (flexed inward) by using an aftermarket bolt. The design is to only have one side of the yoke secured by the bolt and the other side is "floating" on the shoulder of the bolt. Just curious.

Not trying to talk you out of spending the Grover on a new Ohlins.

 

[Ignacio]

The shocks that I've seen broken previously were because the clevis was being pinched (flexed inward) by using an aftermarket bolt. The design is to only have one side of the yoke secured by the bolt and the other side is "floating" on the shoulder of the bolt. Just curious.

Hmmmm.....may be the case. i don't remember any shoulder on the bolt. Good food for thought.

Regardless of clevis...I'm tired of seals popping on me. I had *heard* somewhere there might be better uber-unobtanium-seals somewhere, but never found an actual source and Seattle area suspension shop said they were already using the best they could find.

Other food for thought is I may be undersprung. I think it has an 850, but maybe a 950 would be better for what I've been doing.

I'm thinking of the YA342 that comes with a hydraulic spring preload adjuster and sprung to my choice might be the best way to go with all the stuff I'm trying to carry around. $1157 delivered by Kyle.

 

[Fred W]

I hear you. The aftermarket shock guys seem to build shocks for maximum goodness, but not for a lot of miles. Maybe there are better seals? We might have to chase down our Tex-Inuit friend Odot to find out more about that. But it seems that even if the seals don't blow the shocks fade quickly some time between 15 an 30 k miles. I suspect that has more to do with the amount of leverage applied on them vs, in comparison, the forks, which we are able to flush and renew on a regular basis quite easily.

The hydraulic spring preload will just be a way to dial in the spring rate. It will not help sustain the damping any longer than what you'd get from the basic shock. Those Swedes are quite proud of their shocks, and rightly so from what I can tell. But I'd be tempted to try a 3rd gen A shock just to see how that holds up. My crappy 1st gen shock lasted about 50k miles with no catastrophe, though it was probably never really optimal.

YMMV