[Corse1]

Stopped for a break yesterday after 100km and noticed smoke coming from the vertical cylinder exhaust. After a closer inspection oil was leaking from connection point of the remote preload hose on top of the shock.

Checked the nut and all tight. wound the adjuster right off to try and relieve pressure so reduce leakage. Once home the puddle under the bike grew quite large!!

I can fix the connection but how do i repolace the oil?? And what type of oil?? Will I have to send it to a shock specialist or can I fix this myself.......Anyone seen this before??

 

[Mike]

How many miles on the shock?

Ohlins recommends they service the shock at 18,000 mile intervals. Costs $75 plus parts but they only replace parts that show wear.

 

[RedST]

Wow, good to know.

 

[Corse1]

Only 14200km,s Mike so should be ok with wear

 

[guido]

Had mine come loose twice (both on the '03 4s)
I believe both times on the reservoir end of the hose.
First time under warranty, AMS recharged (oil & N2) and tightened it up.
Second time local Ohlins tech rebuilt it, resprung and revalved it for my jug-butted self, and lock-tite'd both ends down before recharging it.
Hasn't come loose since, and I'm probably due for another rebuild.

 

[Corse1]

For Guido

Guido (or anyone who knows),

Need a bit of help with the comp damp reservoir hose routing. See attached picture. Existing path means to put shock back in I have to remove ABS unit to get the remote adjuster through the frame.

It sounds like you have had to remove your ABS unit. The manual shows the hose travelling along the top of the frame like the top red line in the picture.
It was easy to remove as I just disconnected at the shock end. Of course this won't be an option when reinstalling.

Anybody have their hose routing different to mine? Not to keen to remove the ABS and bleed all the brakes etc.

 

[Willum]

How many miles on the shock?

Ohlins recommends they service the shock at 18,000 mile intervals. Costs $75 plus parts but they only replace parts that show wear.

Thats some good info!

 

[marxred749s]

I think the original question was with the remote preload adjuster, not to be confused with the remote compression resevoire. How the hell do you spell that???

Pretty dang sure that is a hydraulic oil that you can up back into the system. this does not interfere with the shock as it were, only preload. Not connected hydraulic wise to the actual shock body.

However, Dan Kyle at Kyle racing can set you straight, gunna cost you though.

Mark

 

[guido]

ABS Removal? <Shudder>

Hello, Corse1
You don't have to disconnect your ABS as best as I can remember. And trust me, you don't want to. I ran custom lines from mine to hook up radial masters and I'm still bleeding 'em three years later. There's no high-point bleeder on the damn ABS unit. They must assemble that thing submerged in brake fluid to keep the air out of it.
Seems you can disconnect the unit from the bike, and leave the hoses intact, and still have enough wiggle-room to negotiate the shock out of there. You have to disassemble a bit of stuff, though. Good opportunity to lube the ride-height adjuster and stuff like that.

Good luck! If you need to re-spring your shock, you'll never find a better time.....Don't want to have to go through this again!

 

[Corse1]

Damn Straight!! The friggin ABS unit sits in a pressed steel frame. How the @*!!^ do you get it it out of there!! There is a unmovable pin sticking into the unit from one side that is part of the chassis and another pin from the pressed steel unit in the other!!

Ok so I'll start removing the oil breather box to see if I can move it back a bit but hey thats difficult as well.

Lucky I have not disconnected the ABS as i do not have an oil bath as big as the bike!! I maight have enough movement to get the thing in but will have to wait for return of the shock to give it a go.

Cheers Guido.

 

[martys]

Damn Straight!! The friggin ABS unit sits in a pressed steel frame. How the @*!!^ do you get it it out of there!! There is a unmovable pin sticking into the unit from one side that is part of the chassis and another pin from the pressed steel unit in the other!!

Ok so I'll start removing the oil breather box to see if I can move it back a bit but hey thats difficult as well.

Lucky I have not disconnected the ABS as i do not have an oil bath as big as the bike!! I maight have enough movement to get the thing in but will have to wait for return of the shock to give it a go.

Cheers Guido.

did you have any luck with this? I'm in the middle of the same predicament where I've removed the bolt under the abs unit that attaches it to the bracket, but cant get rear bolt off since its up against the breather box. I've removed the small bolts and hoses attached to the breather box but it wont move either.

WTF, how do you get this thing out?

 

[Corse1]

Martys, You do not really want to hear this but what I did was bend the little bracket that includes the front pin away towards the handlebars.

I did this by using the blade of a large screwdriver between the ABS unit and the bracket. I kept bending in small increments until I could see the unit coming off the pin just enough to move it with the lever still in place. Once the unit was out the bracket spraqng back a little.

Its not something I would normally do to my prized possession but WTF were they thinking when they designed this

Its a fair bit fidley to get back in and it moves out of the way just enough to get the adjuster through the frame. You have to disconnect the large wiring plug on the LH side of the unit to allow sideways movement as well.

I managed to get the thing back in and bend the bracket back without cracking the frame paint. Also put some insulation tape along the frame in that area to prevent scratching when the screwdriver slips

 

[martys]

Martys, You do not really want to hear this but what I did was bend the little bracket that includes the front pin away towards the handlebars.

I did this by using the blade of a large screwdriver between the ABS unit and the bracket. I kept bending in small increments until I could see the unit coming off the pin just enough to move it with the lever still in place. Once the unit was out the bracket spraqng back a little.

Its not something I would normally do to my prized possession but WTF were they thinking when they designed this

Its a fair bit fidley to get back in and it moves out of the way just enough to get the adjuster through the frame. You have to disconnect the large wiring plug on the LH side of the unit to allow sideways movement as well.

I managed to get the thing back in and bend the bracket back without cracking the frame paint. Also put some insulation tape along the frame in that area to prevent scratching when the screwdriver slips

thanks very much for the reply, I was afraid of having to force the tab away when I saw how tight it was. I'm half tempted to just cut it off, but I wont.

I've had a couple of people tell me to remove the rear inner fender and oil breather tank to make room so I'll look at that next, but this design really sucks big time.

 

[martys]

Success!