Does that include the remote preload adjuster? Given the location of the shock, that's a must for me.
Yes. Mine came w/ the remote preload. Mounts to frame just above compression tank. Only the Rebound knob adjuster is at the shock (at base, nearest the ground) and is easily accessible on my bike.
FYI, my Öhlins was built by a former world motocross championship mechanic (Esp1tech Racing Suspension, who also bulds Pål Anders Ullevålseters Dakar rally bike suspension as well as several road racing teams) and when I was talking with him he said that unless I planned to ride my bike an actualt motocross track there was more than enough gas in the shock without the remote reservoir. That way you save a little money and weight and you only have the pre load adjustment out on the frame.
Dear Dakars, here goes for a long shot. Anybody state side have a spare rad they are willing to let go? Stuck in Central America due to a damaged radiator, read beyond economical repair. Please PM me if you have a lead on a serviceable unit. Cheers, Andrew
Sasquatch had legal trouble, he won't be answering emails or phone calls for a while. http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=849319
Missed this one. Dont know that its going "out" per se, cant quite tell but dont think its leaking as best I can tell. Just doesnt feel right to me. When I first got it back, it felt very...positive. Whether at min or max, empty or loaded, it felt good. Good feel from the road, good dampening, carried the weight well, etc. Now its starting to feel soft. Feels like I keep having to turn the preload up more and more regardless of load to keep it at the same feel that I like. Ill add a disclaimer here that all of this is seat-of-my-pants. I am definately NOT a suspension expert by any stretch of the imagination.
My 03 Dakar had no issues with water pump seals until after it was crashed at 72K miles, then sat up for 18 months before I fixed it up to make it roadworthy again. 5K miles later it was dripping coolant from the weep hole in the bottom of the lefthand engine case. So I replaced the seals and impeller at 77K miles and have been keeping a wary watch on the weep hole since. Today, 5K after replacing the seals, I noticed a single droplet of coolant on the inside of the skid plate and when I looked closer I could see it had blown down from the weep hole. I removed the faux tank trim on that side and found that the coolant overflow reservoir was still at the "Max" level, so it hasn't leaked much yet. I also checked the oil for coolant and no evidence of any there, so I'm thinking it's only the seal on the coolant side leaking and not the one for the oil side (same as it was before). My question is about my installation of the new seals 5K miles ago. When I put those in, I simply pressed them in and reassembled. Is there some lubricant I should've used to condition the seals as well? I've also read that the part of the engine casing where the impreller shaft seats can become wallowed out over time to an elliptical shape and this will cause premature seal failure. How do you check for this? Also, if this turns out to be the culprit, is there a "fix" for a deformed casing or do I have to just to buy another one? Any advice from those who've gone thru this before will be greatly appreciated.
Mine always felt soft, but I too am no suspension expert. It had very little miles on the revised shock, I was always have to adjust the preload as well. Anyway when I was getting ready for a road trip I installed DOT knobbies. When testing them on flat dirt I torn my mud gaurd off. I thought it was the knobbies. Then I would here a scraping sound everytime i hit the slightest bump. Now I've lost my inspection sticker. That said I have been doing some research for a new shock, two things I found. 1) Touratech sells a bracket that keeps the license plate assembly from bouncing so much. Mine has lots of play. 2) They also have a shock that (they say) is designed for a loaded Dakar. I am going to order the first item, but I was wondering has anyone tried their rear shock. Tug
You can fix the tail light bounce problem without the TT bracket, it only solves part of the problem Details here http://www.f650gs.crossroadz.com.au/TailLightBrace.html
Are you sure it's not just a slow gas leak ? Try having a suspension place refilling it. For what it's worth, Mine was fine untill I handed it over to a shop/breaker/ metal whatever to replace the top bushing which I had inadvertently destroyed by building my own centerstand* This was in Broome WA, AUS and I fgured anyone with a press could get the old bushing out and with a lathe and some nylon he could make a new one and press that into place. I had one instruction when my buddy rode it over to him: "Tell him that he can't touch the hose to the reservoir even if it is in the way when removing and or installing the bushings". I got it back and it looked fine with a shiny new white bushing fitted. Installed it and everything looked normal (same amount of work involved in getting it back on). We packed our shit and headed for Middle Lagoon and Cape Leveque. A two day ride on deep sandy road. Every now and then there hard packedsand patches and when you hit them at 90-100km/h the I could hear this weird sound, almost like when you put a piece of cardboard to your bicycle spokes as a child. After the second time this happened I stopped to check it out and it turned out the rear knobbie was hitting the flat strap holding the soft luggage together as well as the bottom rear part of my luggage rack. Turns out the guy must've loosened the hose anyway and let out gas so the bike sat about 5cm lower. *Turned out the crossbar on the recycled F650 ST centerstand got in conflict with hte links on the Dakar under compression. Was like riding a hard tail on potholes and I couldn't figure out what was wrong, if I had a flat, if the stand was bouncing into the ground or if the shock was shot. Untill I saw the imprint of the links on the crossbar after a while. By that time the top bushing had taken up all the force and the bolt hole had become oval so the swingarm had 1cm slack.
Hope my thoughts are still welcome even if I haven't changed the waterpump cover yet, but one of the times mine was weeping it actually turned out to be one or two of the clutch cover screws that were loose. Don't know whether the seal got seated over time, the bolts worked themselves loose or if I just forgot to tighten them. If it's sat for a year and a half the rubber seal on the cover might be cracked. Operating pressure of the cooling system is about 1,7 BAR I think so. I think it may have been the screw hidden behind the crashbar in this picture. Looked like it came from the weephole untill closer inspection. After I tightened the screw the leak stopped.
Thanks for the reply. I'll check the cover screws, but doubt that's it because I torqued them all. Buy you never know.
But yes BMW does recommend their grease in there, not sure what its for. I used the grease I had, not the recommended.
Here's my water pump story... First rebuild was at 36,000 mi. I'm at 82,000 now, and I've done at least 8 or 10 of them. I've had them fail both quickly and slowly. Sometimes it weeps a drop or two for a few thousand miles before I get around to fixing it. Another time, I was on a road trip, and at the farthest point from home the coolant seal let loose and coolant was literally shooting out. I can't believe I didn't get a picture! Fixed it in the shade of a kindly BMW dealer in AR. It's almost always the coolant side that goes on mine, although I did have oil at the weep hole a couple times. I've tried lube, no lube, a couple different brands of coolant, I'm always super careful, always used the full oem kit. These days I smear a little lube on the shaft, but I don't go overboard. If the weep hole is clear, any coolant getting past the seal is going out on the ground (see above). It'd be tough for it to get past the oil seal into the crankcase. At least that's how it goes for me. Moral of the story for me is it might drip slowly for a long time, or it might go all at once. I can do one of these jobs in the parking lot in a couple hours, but it still sucks. I travel with a spare kit. I think it's beyond the scope of most of us without access to a serious machine shop to measure any runout in the impeller shaft - I'm not so sure thats the whole story anyway. Folks are finding really creative solutions to this issue - one guy fitted bearings into the case cover to support the shaft - beautiful bit of machine work! This will definitely be my last kit - the next time it goes I'll do the electric water pump. Good luck!
Thanks, I would like to check the gas side and recharge it before spending a ton of money for a new shock. I guess it would be N2 charged, any idea of correct pressure? Tug