Wilber Failures?

[bvail]

Anyone have a problem with their Wilber shocks. I have the one with a remote setting. Today I thought I would take her for a spin, since it's in the high 40's. I started her up and wheeled her around the garage to check and fill up the tires and I noticed a trail of liquid that had dripped off the bike. No sweat I thought. Just some water from the pipes since I had just started her up, but NO! Under further investigation, finger in the puddle, it was a thin red liquid. The darned shock was leaking.

It appears that a shaft seal let go. Bummer, since I really haven't put a whole lot of miles on this shock. A few thousand at the most.

I guess I'll have to give them a call this week and have it fixed. :angry2:

Anyone else have a problem like this?

 

[SkooterG]

I believe Warchild's Wilbers let go while travelling home from some event. Not sure if it was the same problem, but he had to have it rebuilt. He chronicled the problem on the forum.

Other than that, I haven't heard of any other Wilbers going. 60,000+ on mine with no problems. Sorry to hear about your misfortune. At least there is a 5 year warranty.

 

[Warchild]

I believe Warchild's Wilbers let go while travelling home from some event. Not sure if it was the same problem, but he had to have it rebuilt. He chronicled the problem on the forum.

Yep, mine suffered a blown seal. Actually caused a lot of damage on the Blackbird. Not too happy with that.

Had it totally rebuilt. Including a new spring, since the one that came with it was woefully less than it was purported to be. Replaced it with a Eibach.

And then sold the entire system.

Running an Ohlins on the XX nowadays. :glare:

 

[Grumpy]

I had a seal let go after I did last years trip to Nova Scotia. I frankly attributed it to a fat ass plus luggage, and too soft a spring coupled with the lumpy Canadian roads. Had the seal replaced and went from a 110 to a 140 kg/mm spring. At the moment things are pretty good.

jim

 

[bvail]

Thanks guys,

I thought I was getting a 'phatt' spring on mine, since I'm no lightweight, sometimes bring the wife (she's pretty trim) and had intended to continue pulling a trailer, but did not since I purchased a Wing for the heavy haulin'. I was pretty surprised at the spring, which after a while seemed a bit mushy. I didn't crank up the settings much, just a few clicks. They had my order (GB) jacked up and I sort of fell to the back of the pack when I first purchased.

I guess I better get on the stick and call them since I plan on bringing the bike to Park City and they aren't real quick. Of course things were pretty hectic during the group buy.

I took the bike for a ride (just a few miles) and when I returned no more leak - probably pumped out much of the juice. Oh well, they can rebuilt and maybe put a heftier spring on it.

The Wingers go nutz over Traxxion suspension. New front cartridges/springs and a rebuilt/modified rear shock plus head bearings. Would you believe ball bearings on that monster? Total rebuild over $2k. Makes the Wilbers seem 'cheap'...

 

[Ignacio]

Thanks guys,
I thought I was getting a 'phatt' spring on mine, since I'm no lightweight, sometimes bring the wife (she's pretty trim) and had intended to continue pulling a trailer, but did not since I purchased a Wing for the heavy haulin'. I was pretty surprised at the spring, which after a while seemed a bit mushy.

Mine got mushy too last year with about 25K on it, think it was undersprung to begin with (my fault), and the think the spring got weaker (not the best quality spring). It was a 650 or 700 and tested at 616 when I sent it to GPSuspension.com for rebuild and respring. I think it was in the $250 range for a rebuild and new spring. They ended up putting an 800 on it and it's MUCH, MUCH happier. I think it will hold up better that it's sprung correctly and better quality spring.

I'm not ready to give up on it yet though. We'll see how it goes this season.

 

[skyway]

I've had 2 different wilbers springs tested and they were both below the advertised rate. I'm going to have mine rebuilt soon and will be checking the spring again to see what it is now.

 

[Bounce]

interesting. i sent my original one right back (2 weeks) and got a stiffer spring. since then everything's been okie dokie.

considering all the time involved since then, the shock must have at least a hundred miles or so on it by now!

 

[lucky]

My name is Steve Wilber and I resemble those remarks!!!

Lucky

 

[stryg8r]

It's not just you. My shock developed a slow leak at the seal after a cold snap last November. It's currently sitting on a work bench in New Jersey waiting to be rebuilt under warrantee. :angry: I'm also having a stiffer spring installed.

Be advised they are extremely busy right now. Mine was sent at the end of Jan and I don't expect it back until the third week in March.

 

[bvail]

It's not just you. My shock developed a slow leak at the seal after a cold snap last November. It's currently sitting on a work bench in New Jersey waiting to be rebuilt under warrantee. :angry: I'm also having a stiffer spring installed.
Be advised they are extremely busy right now. Mine was sent at the end of Jan and I don't expect it back until the third week in March.

Not surprising - the wait. Been there, done that :angry2: If I hurry up and send it in, hope to get it back before WFO6. I didn't throw out the OEM shock, so I'm not totaly 'grounded'. Just pisses me off because there aren't that many miles on this shock.

 

[bvail]

My name is Steve Wilber and I resemble those remarks!!!
Lucky

So tell me Steve, does this mean you are developing a leak :dribble:

 

[skyway]

It's not just you. My shock developed a slow leak at the seal after a cold snap last November. It's currently sitting on a work bench in New Jersey waiting to be rebuilt under warrantee. :angry: I'm also having a stiffer spring installed.
Be advised they are extremely busy right now. Mine was sent at the end of Jan and I don't expect it back until the third week in March.

Not surprising - the wait. Been there, done that :angry2: If I hurry up and send it in, hope to get it back before WFO6. I didn't throw out the OEM shock, so I'm not totaly 'grounded'. Just pisses me off because there aren't that many miles on this shock.

Why not see if they have any authorized dealers around the country who could get your shock straightened out a little quicker?

Almost 2 months out is a looong time, thats even longer than super brace. I would have guessed product failure to get priority over new sales? I mean, it should only take a couple of hours to fix? Sounds like wilbers are way thin in manpower to handle their clients in a timely manner.

I'm planning on having Aftershock in the Bay Area handle all my suspension needs from here on out. I know they used to be a wilbers authorized dealer, so you may check them out.

 

[twowheelnut]

Why not see if they have any authorized dealers around the country who could get your shock straightened out a little quicker?
Almost 2 months out is a looong time, thats even longer than super brace. I would have guessed product failure to get priority over new sales? I mean, it should only take a couple of hours to fix? Sounds like wilbers are way thin in manpower to handle their clients in a timely manner.

I'm planning on having Aftershock in the Bay Area handle all my suspension needs from here on out. I know they used to be a wilbers authorized dealer, so you may check them out.

Thanks for that info skyway. Of course, you could also do what I did: Just by a spare bike for those times when the FJR is down for maintenance.

 

[SkooterG]

Thanks for that info skyway. Of course, you could also do what I did: Just by a spare bike for those times when the FJR is down for maintenance.

+1 :yahoo:

The thing is, the ****** has a spare bike.

 

[HIGHLANDER]

Aftershocks is a great shop. That's where I took my Wilbers to be repaired after the weak ass " custom " spring that originaly came with my Wilbers !!

 

[skyway]

Aftershocks is a great shop. That's where I took my Wilbers to be repaired after the weak ass " custom " spring that originaly came with my Wilbers !!

Highlander, how long did they take to get you all fixed up?

 

[GunMD]

Funny that this thread got started. I was just looking at my Wilbers (which has less than 10K on it) and it's leaking. This discovery comes just two weeks after I ran into problems with my ABM rotors... The German's aren't my friends right now.

 

[HIGHLANDER]

Aftershocks is a great shop. That's where I took my Wilbers to be repaired after the weak ass " custom " spring that originaly came with my Wilbers !!

Highlander, how long did they take to get you all fixed up?

It was a 7 day turnaround. They swapped out the weakazz sping in the rear and installed the new front springs also. The owner test rode the bike twice after the swap to dial it in and quickly knew what the setup needed to be. Been great ever since.

I've pulled the shock from the 04 and transplanted it onto the 06. I'll put new front springs in eventually, but the 06 fronts seem firmer than the 04 stockers ever were.