Fork & Rear Shock Oil Change

[Tbone]

I am hitting 26K miles and there are no leaks or squeaks, so I do not think there is any need to rebuild anything. Just change Oil and seals.

Called Harley & they said not to do anything to the rear shock and the Fork Oil change is $510 Parts & labor.

Called European Cycle sports and they said also not to touch the rear shock & it would be $350 Labor, Cost of parts TBD during the job. They work on the Showa forks, so it is just getting the right size parts they say.

Is the rear shock serviceable, or is it an expendable item that you only replace? Not sure if I should attempt the rear shock on my own and have the forks done in the shop? Any thoughts on this.

 

[noone1569]

I do not believe the rear shock is technically servicable. I think some have tried. Used ones are pretty easy to come across.

The front forks are really easy to change if you have tools. The proper tool kit is ~100 which already pays for itself if you do it once. Swap in some of my AMSOIL shock therapy + new seals, and the forks are like brand new. There's lots of good youtube videos on how to do it.

I was scared to do it, but got a smoking deal on buell race springs. I rebuilt mine with some help, and since, I've done my supermoto and led a change on 2 other bikes.

 

[user_deleted]

tbone: what noone said above. excellent info. the shock is not serviceable unless you send it out to a specialty shop like kyogi, dicks racing.com, wilber usa.com, shops like that. anybody local in your area familiar with rebuilding/resealing showa cartridge forks can do them for you if you're not comfortable with the procedure. as for the shock, i'd contact one of the above and see if you can send it to them. google them for all their info. hope that helps.

 

[buellxb9rs]

Um my dealer said $120 if I bring the forks and seals. But nothing to the rear has to be done

 

[Tbone]

Thanks for the info guys, there are currently no leaks or squeaks and the fork & shock are pretty good. So it is not a matter of getting them back to new, it is more of keeping them like new. I will search how to do the forks and think about doing them this winter. Are the forks cartridge? I would have guessed they were not....because of all the settings at the top of the forks. I think a 15wt Synthetic fork oil would work well in them. In the past I have had forks serviced only once during the life of the bike, sort of after a break in period for them. After they're broken in from riding, change the oil early and they usually last almost as long as servicing them every interval as stated in the manual. I am baseing this off past experience, as I mostly see the dirtiest and most metal in the fork oil at the first oil change. In my opinion this initial dirty oil turns into a grinding compound inside the fork. Then every subsequent oil change the oil always looks great as well as the seals, and I usually think I wasted time and money doing it. Have you experienced this also? This bike already has 26K miles so it is not as early as I would like, so it is motivating to change the seals and dust covers, and then leave them alone unless there is a problem of course.

 

[ircsmith]

I had to have the rear shock done. seal was leaking. took it into Catalyst Reaction. dont remember what Nikki charged me but it wasn't much. rides better with new oil in it and the adjustments make a more noticeable change.

 

[ccdirtrider05]

i just finished putting my forks back together.. made my own spring compressor and driver tool, scrap metal and about twenty minutes of welding for the compressor tool, worked great. first fork was a royal pain to get apart. second one was apart and back together on the bike in less than an hour.. found my damper assembly on one side wasnt set right as per the manual. i got all the parts from Al over at americansportbike.com.
43mm? i think. oil seals, dust seals, o-ring kit and i got the washers for the dampers (just in case.. ended up using them) and also ordered a RSS at the same time.. think it was around a 120$ (seals, dust,o-rings,washers,RSS) including shipping and they shipped quick.