riding some dual sport stuff with friends last weekend, felt an odd "clunk" in the rear of the bike every so often. More often when off road, or trails, not so much on the pavement sections. I checked for any free play in the wheel thinking it might be bearings, check free play in the shock thinking it might be a loose mount (felt like that). Nothing out of the ordinary. I'll pull the rear wheel off this week and check the bearings and cush drive, as well as the swingarm, and rear shock but just curious if anyone else had something similar and what it might be? My thoughts are wheel, swingarm, shock, chain, slider? I put the bike on a stand and lifted the rear end up and wiggled things, but nothing felt out of the ordinary. seems on an other bike I had, an old chain was the culprit for a strange feeling in the back of the bike, but i didn't notice any binding in the chain when spinning the wheel... anyway just looking to see if anyone has felt anything similar or areas to look at? I have about 12k miles on the bike. SPS suspension if it matters (previous owner).
Grab the rear fender near the taillight and try to lift up, then pull down, repeat rapidly, a giggle some call it. If you have a sub frame failure you will see and feel significant movement
not a rock in the chain or anything (I do think that happened on my 450 a few weeks ago though, I had 7 of 15 teeth sheered off). not muddy. happened in a few different places, some rough, some smooth, but none on the street. I'll check the subframe. I don't usually run anything on the back of the bike or a passenger, but I'll see. the original owner had done some riding out west with a GL bag on the back, but I've never had more than a dry bag for a day back there. but good call. I checked the exhaust as I had one pipe loose a few months ago. felt more mechanical like maybe the rear shock had blown a seal/lost pressure but there's no oil anywhere.
The reason I say rock in the chain. Is on our trip to Taos a couple guys on 1190s had that happen I was riding next to one and watched a couple rocks get crunched didn't do any damage just made a bunch of noise
took the tail section bodywork and rear BDCW rack off, no issues with the subframe, it's solid and no cracks or anything. one thing I did find, I had two tool kits under the seat for longer trips, and the very back one wasn't tied down to anything. it had rubbed around enough to wear a hole in it and one of the allen wrenches was poking thru the material. not sure if this was enough to cause the feeling/sensation I was getting but it could have been it. I'll continue to check things out, but that could have been it. easy fix if it is. :)
Stock disk brakes? The rivets that hold the outer disc to the inner disk can loosen, causing a clacking sound when braking. Loose chain? My chain got so loose during one ride that it started chattering over bumps and even ate away at my mudflap. Cush hub? Haven't torn into mine, but maybe the rubber bumpers in there are deteriorating.
pretty sure it's the rear shock. I checked all the standard stuff and thought it was the tool bag in the rear compartment under the seat but went out saturday for an hour or two of single track and still have a big "thunk" in the rear. I checked chain tension (it was a bit loose). Also put on a new rear tire, so checked the sprocket, hub, spokes, cush drive rubbers, swing arm, etc. and all was good to go as well as the subframe, rear bodywork, fender and BDCW rack. bike has 12k miles on it and at some point prior to my purchase the suspension was supposedly redone by SPS. I bought it with 9k miles on it about 1.5 years ago, most of the 2-3k miles since I have had it are in the dirt. :) I can twist the rear shock a little bit but my other friends 950 SE does the same so I don't think it's the mounts. when I am off the bike and push down on the rear, I get a solid "thunk" mainly when it's coming back to full extension after being compressed. I"m assuming at some point I lost the fluids and I'm just riding around on the spring. it feels bouncy but I didn't have a chance to play with the adjusters, just rode it home. I was going to remove it tonight and loosen up/remove the spring and see if the adjusters do anything, but it's got huge allen wrench to remove it and the biggest I had was a 10mm. Anyone know off the top of their head what size it takes to remove the SE rear shock, or know any tricks to getting it off? i had been hoping to do a hare scramble race on Sunday but guessing that might be no go for now, but we'll see what I can figure out this week.
My 990 rear shock just started puking oil, but it has had the weird clunk for several hundred miles. I couldn't figure it out until I saw oil around the base of the coil spring. Time for a rebuild... Where is the best place to send it? Superplush? How long do they usually last? I don't want to pay $200 for a rebuild/revalve if it's just going to barf oil every few thousand miles.
[FONT=verdana, courier new,courier,tahoma,sans-serif]just an update: removed the shock last night. It uses a 12mm allen wrench to remove the shock bolts, and there is one in the tool kit (or should be). I used a 12mm socket over the allen wrench, a 1/2" adapter and a long bar for leverage to remove the bolts. I could probably do it again in about 30 minutes if needed. I will post simple directions at the very bottom below (at least for the SE, assuming the ADV is similar). I talked to a local suspension guy and will take the shock to him today and see what he thinks. I removed the spring and checked the compression and rebound. there is definitely fluid in the shock as I can hear it gurguling, but when you extend the shock all the way I am getting a "thunk" like what I hear when riding. I assume it's being amplified by the frame/swingarm and bike. I've definitely lost oil as there was some around the shock i hadn't noticed. I'll update after I hear from him later this week. it was pretty dirty and the bottom out rubber thing was squeezed thru the slot on the bottom captive spacer thing (technical term I'm sure). There is still fluid in the shock but I'm sure it's time for a refresh and maybe see if there's a top out bumper or something that's broken/missing inside the body? Removal of rear shock on Super enduro: remove three bolts on plastic flap in front of tire. Remove flap. 6mm and 8mm? check for wear as the plastic can wear on the swingarm. trim to fit if needed. remove three rubber/plastic caps on frame over bolts. spray a bit of lube/penetrating oil on the bolts (I use PB Blaster). Use 12mm allen wrench to loosen both bolts. Leave bolts in place. Jack bike up via center stand or lift under skid plate. remove rear wheel. remove top bolt, making sure to support the rear swingarm so it doesn't drop. With no pressure on shock, loosen the lower shock mounting bolt. You have to be careful to not drop the bolt in the swingarm. I used a paper towel wrapped around the allen wrench to make a tight fit in the bolt, so as I unscrewed the bolt, it would "stick" to the allen wrench and allow me to remove the bolt thru the hole in the swingarm. Once the upper and lower bolts are removed, I put the top bolt back into the upper shock mount and hit the back of the swingarm downward with a dead blow hammer (or something soft) to get the lower shock mount out of the swingarm. put something under it to catch the swingarm when it comes loose from the shock. Or you can pry it up with a pry bar. Mine came out pretty easily, but I only have 12k miles on the bike. remove the top bolt and the shock slides out where the rear wheel would be. [/FONT]
Wait till you have to put it back . Then the easy disappear hope you are lucky and it goes back easy. Mine made me think that I got the wrong shock back. Squeak sound is the bearings - clunk - haven't broken that part yet.
The shock probably has lost pressure, so it will act like there is air in the oil, but only as it gets close to topping out. OR, the 'jesus' nut has come loose and the shim stack is floating around. When this nut comes off, you see Jesus.
Local guy put in a few seals and new fluid and nitrogen. No more clunking!!! Wasn't too bad reinstalling the lower bolt, I bought a 12mm 1/2" drive Allen so that helped. Rode around a bit in the neighborhood and no odd noises!!! So it's off to highland park in the morning for the hare scramble. Time to let the big dawg eat!!!!
