1150 Adventure Rear Shock preload Adjuster

[steve g]

Evening everyone.
The 1150 Adventure I recently purchased came with a seized rear preload adjuster. So after days of soaking with Plus Gas, it slowly released and the now rotates nice and free throughout its range. However, no matter how I adjust it I cannot get any resistance/pressure. This morning I removed the adjuster to possibly add some oil. The issue - I tried to get the piston within to retract fully, but no matter what I do it would not budge. Im guessing it must be beyond repair. Has anyone here any experience with these or know of a used adjuster possibly? The bike is a 2005 model with 35k on it. Can anyone suggest any cost effective options as I cannot stretch to a new rear shock.
Thanks in advance Stephen

 

[albatross]

Denzo from T Tech suspension comes to mind, he is your man

T-Tech Suspension – Motorcycle Shock Absorber Repair / TracTive Suspension Authorized Service

ttechsuspension.com

 

[GSBruce]

Perhaps you can buy a used/salvage shock and get a working adjuster.

There’s an old thread on advrider regarding backing off the rear shock preload adjuster as far as possible, removing the preload adjuster from the frame, then turning it upside down, then you unscrew and remove the hose banjo bolt but carefully hold the hose in place, then you very slowly add hydraulic jack oil until it overflows the top of the brake hose union you’ve been so carefully holding in place, then putting the banjo bolt back in, causing more oil overflow, and torquing it down, them re-attaching the preload adjuster to the frame.

The idea is to replace and eliminate the air that’s gotten in there with hydraulic jack oil and give you a firm preadjuster. You need to add the oil drop by drop. A syringe or a small bottle you can slowly drip oil out of is needed. You need to be able to get it all done at once as you can’t set it down or let it hang, you can’t let the oil brake hose union separate from the adjuster. So get your tools ready and at hand, get the oil ready to drip in, get a seat that puts you in the right place where you can stay a little while.

I did this on my 2000 R1150GS over 10 years ago. My preadjuster had only a little “slop” in it, and this procedure made it firm as in you feel the firmness with very little tightening down of the knob. Mine required maybe a spoonful or two. It is still firm.today. It’s an easy job imo, I got it done easily on my first try.

I searched advrider for it just now and the search results are limited to 25 pages which doesn’t go back very far with my searches so far.

If you can get this done, you’ll only be out the cost of a bottle of hydraulic jack oil. A 1 Liter bottle was the smallest I could find. Hydraulic jack is one of the least compressible oils.

The oil in the preload adjuster and shock seems to disappear without a sign of leakage over the long term.

 

[Welly]

I used this video to overhaul my rear adjuster. Basically same method as GSBruce describes above. It obviously requires the ability to get the piston to retract. Since yours appears stuck a second hand rear adjuster might be a workaround after doing the oil refill

r1150gs refill rear shock preload YouTube - Google Suche

www.google.com

 

[steve g]

Perhaps you can buy a used/salvage shock and get a working adjuster.

There’s an old thread on advrider regarding backing off the rear shock preload adjuster as far as possible, removing the preload adjuster from the frame, then turning it upside down, then you unscrew and remove the hose banjo bolt but carefully hold the hose in place, then you very slowly add hydraulic jack oil until it overflows the top of the brake hose union you’ve been so carefully holding in place, then putting the banjo bolt back in, causing more oil overflow, and torquing it down, them re-attaching the preload adjuster to the frame.

The idea is to replace and eliminate the air that’s gotten in there with hydraulic jack oil and give you a firm preadjuster. You need to add the oil drop by drop. A syringe or a small bottle you can slowly drip oil out of is needed. You need to be able to get it all done at once as you can’t set it down or let it hang, you can’t let the oil brake hose union separate from the adjuster. So get your tools ready and at hand, get the oil ready to drip in, get a seat that puts you in the right place where you can stay a little while.

I did this on my 2000 R1150GS over 10 years ago. My preadjuster had only a little “slop” in it, and this procedure made it firm as in you feel the firmness with very little tightening down of the knob. Mine required maybe a spoonful or two. It is still firm.today. It’s an easy job imo, I got it done easily on my first try.

I searched advrider for it just now and the search results are limited to 25 pages which doesn’t go back very far with my searches so far.

If you can get this done, you’ll only be out the cost of a bottle of hydraulic jack oil. A 1 Liter bottle was the smallest I could find. Hydraulic jack is one of the least compressible oils.

The oil in the preload adjuster and shock seems to disappear without a sign of leakage over the long term.

GSBruce Thanks for the comprehensive suggestion but Ive already done what you've suggested but the piston is seized and wont budge despite the knob being able to move freely. Im going to have to look for a used preload adjuster and replace it complete. Thanks anyway Stephen

 

[steve g]

I used this video to overhaul my rear adjuster. Basically same method as GSBruce describes above. It obviously requires the ability to get the piston to retract. Since yours appears stuck a second hand rear adjuster might be a workaround after doing the oil refill

r1150gs refill rear shock preload YouTube - Google Suche

www.google.com

Welly, Cheers for that without being able to retract the piston I cant really progress. Ill look for a second hand one.