Another stiff pre-load knob question.

[vanandy]

Hi

Sorry, another pre-load, stiff knob question…../
The woffle
New F800gs owner and loving it, a firmly planted enjoyable bike.
I’m not planning to circumnavigate the world, maybe a trip to the mountains after the lake district. I bought the bike to slow down as my head is still telling me to go faster and overtake everything that’s in front of me, even at 50, hopefully those thoughts will stay away, for now anyway.
The Question
When I first bought the bike, 2 months ago, the pre-load adjuster clicked quite nicely, now it seems to thud on each half turn. My fear is I’ve gone to the max and past and am undoing a bolt? on complete anti clockwise is there a gap between the knob and the shock body, ie knob – 10mm of shaft – body? Or should the knob be rotating but not moving in / out?
I also noticed, after spraying with wd40, that when I anti clocked fully I heard a slight release of air, a very small, very low pressure; piss. Anything to worry about?
Is there a sure way of ensuring fitment, should I go full clockwise and let the stilsons loose?
Regards
Andy, on the Isle of Wight

 

[Dave Ett]

Dunno what that hiss was, but I can't believe it was caused by your knob twiddling. All that does is move a collar up and down compressing / releasing the spring.

If you look carefully at the shock body just above the spring, you should see a collar moving as you rotate the knob - it moves down to stiffen the spring...

 

[rce]

More likely to have done damage with the WD40 than the twiddling, WD40 is not safe on some seals.

 

[thomo57]

What is the best way to free up the pre-load adjuster ?
Just tried mine in both directions and it's solid

 

[Smythson]

I appreciate rce'c comments above but i used GT85 when i first got the bike to fix this (and still now after the occasional wash) and it worked a treat. Seal still appears intact 12000 miles later. Don't know if there's a vast difference between GT85 and WD40?

Best,

S

 

[Dave Ett]

What is the best way to free up the pre-load adjuster ?
Just tried mine in both directions and it's solid

Get the bike on the centre stad to remove any load on the shock, then use a lube of your choice which applying twiddle in alternate directions until its free.

If that doesn't work, remove the shock, use a spring compressor and dismantle the unit. This is actually really easy - seach the F800 thread for my lowering write up to see how.

 

[thomo57]

Cheers Dave
I'll give it a try this weekend

 

[thomo57]

Sorted it this morning, now turning by hand and nicely lubed up

 

[vanandy]

All that does is move a collar up and down compressing / releasing the spring.

Yes, thanks, I can see the movement of the collar though-out the movement of the adjuster, now all lubed and working by hand, but still not tick/clicking as previously but I can live with that.

Thanks for all the comments.

regards

Andy