Replacing Both Shocks

[Deleted account W]

Got to replace both shocks on a mates bike.

Is it as straight forward as doing them on my 1150 or are there any tricky bits?

 

[Pukmeister]

Swapped both of mine for Wilbers units.

For the front one I had to remove the plastic alternator belt cover to give a smidgen more clearance for shock removal/insertion.

The rear one needs the exhaust can and rear wheel removing.

Not too difficult a job.

 

[Deleted account W]

Swapped both of mine for Wilbers units.

For the front one I had to remove the plastic alternator belt cover to give a smidgen more clearance for shock removal/insertion.

The rear one needs the exhaust can and rear wheel removing.

Not too difficult a job.

Great, it's Wilbers that he's buying too

 

[Shep]

On the 1150 you'd wash your hands after the work, on the 1200 you will be expected to wash them before

Shep

 

[cookie]

it's all here

 

[Deleted account W]

it's all here

Wonderful

 

[SPL]

I followed the thread that Cookie posted a link to, and it was a (reasonably) easy job to do.

The biggest issue I found is that the lower torxs bolts on the shocks (especially the front) are difficult to get at, and a real bugger to get undone.

Make sure you have a can of penetrating oil to help loosten them up!

If the front one is as difficult as the two bikes I've done, I'd recommend taking the exhaust off completely to make it easier to get at the torxs head.

The 1st bike I did I left the exhausts on and ended up replacing a damaged bolt where I slipped a few times trying to get it undone.
The 2nd bike had the exhaust off already (remus going on) and it was easier to get at and the bolt eventually came out OK.

Good luck

 

[Sgt Bilco]

Easy job but be prepared for horrible noises as you remove the retaining bolts.

I don't know what kind of loctite they use in the factory but hell it's tough so make sure the Torx fit correctly

 

[cookie]

Easy job but be prepared for horrible noises as you remove the retaining bolts.

I don't know what kind of loctite they use in the factory but hell it's tough so make sure the Torx fit correctly

and apply heat.

 

[Magwych]

Seems common; I also followed cookies thread without problems. For heat I did not fancy using a blowtorch and don't have a hot air gun, so I used good ole' boiling water. Slowly poured from a thermos to warm the lower fixing points. Both lower bolts loosened off without any trauma.

 

[Dave Ford]

Here's my tip, from a past post, fitting Wilbers - unfortunately I haven't yet worked out how to post a link to a thread:

"Fitted one two weeks ago to my 07 Adventure. I think they must have changed the design. You're right, there's no allen key hole. The flats on mine took a 32mm spanner (IIRC), which would just fit it far enough to grip the shaft and stop it spinning. The problem with clearance was not the thickness of the spanner but its width. I also had to remove the oil cooler mounting bolts in order to push the cooler down to provide clearance for the other end of the spanner."

Obviously the above refers to the front. The rear is a piece of p**s - just make sure you have a good fitting torx socket, then apply brute force.

Good luck!

 

[Pukmeister]

One other tip, be sure to check the top rubber is in place on the front shock absorber top mounting nut before fitting the washer and locknut. There is a rubber washer above and below the front subframe where the threaded spindle of the front shock passes through, plus a big washer and locknut.

My top rubber washer fell off whilst inserting the shock through the subframe and I didn't notice.

Having about 20mm uncontrolled vertical freeplay in your front suspension isn't good. If in doubt, jack up the bike under the sump plate whilst on the centrestand to get the weight off the front tyre then try to lift the front end up and down to check for freeplay once the shock is installed, just in case something isn't fitted quite right.