Rear shock bushing replacement - how ?

[aSTerix]

Both the rubber bushes are destroyed (top and bottom), I have been looking at the parts fiche and it appears I have to buy item 1 (52400-MAJ-G41) for the top cushion then disassemble the shock spring and change the dome part, this seems unnecessary for just a rubber bushing, have I got this wrong ? Item 2 (52453-MT3-611) is described as COLLAR, BUSH so I'm thinking this is just the metal part not the rubber

For the bottom it looks simpler, just part 4 (90159-MG9-000)

 

[Roger]

If your bushes are so far gone, I'd be looking to replace the whole shock. Both top and bottom bushes need a little lube, especially Item 4. I believe the UK police had a special part with a grease nipple because the constant pressure washing made it seize......

 

[Bush]

Parts 2 and 4 in the fiche are metal. The rubber bushings are part of the shock absorber. Item 1 is the whole shock itself. If you buy part 1, you get part 2 with it.

I'd say you need a new shock. How many miles are on it?

 

[aSTerix]

Parts 2 and 4 in the fiche are metal. The rubber bushings are part of the shock absorber. Item 1 is the whole shock itself. If you buy part 1, you get part 2 with it.

I'd say you need a new shock. How many miles are on it?

Aha , that makes sense . Its got 70,000 km. I will now look at options to replace or refurbish the entire shock , could be challenging over here !

 

[aSTerix]

has anyone used generic replacement rubber bushes on their ST1100 ?

 

[Roger]

These work well. Ask if they supply.... http://www.hagon-shocks.co.uk/

 

[Upt' North]

Aha , that makes sense . Its got 70,000 km. I will now look at options to replace or refurbish the entire shock , could be challenging over here !

Most folks say the rear shocks are about shot at 50,000. Mine went sloppy at about that. So be careful paying for new bushes etc if the shock is tired anyway plus the rubber bushes aren't meant to be changed, although where's there a will.
Upt'North.

 

[aSTerix]

Most folks say the rear shocks are about shot at 50,000. Mine went sloppy at about that. So be careful paying for new bushes etc if the shock is tired anyway plus the rubber bushes aren't meant to be changed, although where's there a will.
Upt'North.

I will look for a quick solution for bushes while exploring the longer term option of replacing the entire unit . Apparently there is a place in the local Emirate (Sharjah) that makes the bushings to fit

Out of interest, which part becomes "shot" the spring or the damper (or both !!)

 

[aSTerix]

If your bushes are so far gone, I'd be looking to replace the whole shock. Both top and bottom bushes need a little lube, especially Item 4. I believe the UK police had a special part with a grease nipple because the constant pressure washing made it seize......

would you recomend silicon grease as the lube because it is rubber or something else ?

By any chance do you have a photo of the police special part with grease nipple or the part number ? this is an interesting idea. I doubt they would drill a hole for the nipple in the mount because of risk of fracture so I'm guess the nipple is directly into the bush somehow

 

[aSTerix]

I came across this article which may be useful for someone else with the bushing problem : http://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/~cruise/hints.html#rear_shock

The first step is to remove the OEM bushing assembly which consists of an inner and outer metal sleeve between which is sandwiched a polymer isolator. It's this polymer component that wore out on my bike, just cold flowed right out of place. In my case a 17mm socket turned out to be the perfect diameter to tap the bushing assembly out of the shock eyelet.
Once you have the assembly out of the shock eyelet carefully disassemble it as you will need to re-use the larger, outer metal sleeve. I obtained from Tim at Works Performance a .965 X 10 Igus bushing set which consists of an Igus polymer bushing and two metal adapter bushings that adapt the ID of the Igus part down to the mounting bolt size. (Igus is a company that specializes in self lubricating polymer bushings/bearings). This is the same set as used on their ST1100 shock. The cost is $10 plus shipping. The actual O.D. size of the polymer bushing from Works is 7/8" or .875" while the size of the OEM shock eyelet is approximately .95". Unfortunately, works has only the one size polymer bushing as all of their shocks are designed with 7/8" eyelets. They make up the difference with the inner metal collar to adapt to each application. By sheer luck the thickness of the OEM outer sleeve material is approximately 0.040" making its I.D, approximately 0.870", almost perfect, though a bit tight perhaps, to sleeve down the OEM eyelet to accept the Works bushing.
I carefully chamfered the inner edge of the OEM sleeve with a Dremmel tool and tapped the Works busing into it, so far so good. I next chamfered the outer edge of the OEM sleeve now containing the Works polymer bushing and put it in the freezer. While that assembly was cooling I chamfered the inside edges of the OEM upper eyelet slightly. I used a heat gun to expand the diameter of the eyelet and then, working quickly, retrieved the chilled bushing assembly and tapped it into the the eyelet. It was an extremely tight fit but it went in without too much trouble. Whew, wipe sweat off brow. Now I was ready to remount the shock on the bike.
Throw away the OEM polymer bushing, inner sleeve and bushing collar (the thick walled sleeve that slips over the bolt) and use the two machined metal bushing insert/adapters from Works Performance. To reinstall the shock I cut a 2" X 4" piece of lumber into a wedge and by jamming it under the rear tire was able to raise or lower the wheel until alignment of the bolt holes was achieved. Make sure to start the bolts by hand, especially the bottom one that screws into the aluminum rear drive case, torque them down (17 ft/lbs bottom, 36 top) and yur done.

 

[ST1100Y]

would you recomend silicon grease as the lube because it is rubber or something else ?

Waterproof marine grease works excellent.

 

[Upt' North]

I came across this article which may be useful for someone else with the bushing problem : http://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/~cruise/hints.html#rear_shock

The first step is to remove the OEM bushing assembly which consists of an inner and outer metal sleeve between which is sandwiched a polymer isolator. It's this polymer component that wore out on my bike, just cold flowed right out of place. In my case a 17mm socket turned out to be the perfect diameter to tap the bushing assembly out of the shock eyelet.
Once you have the assembly out of the shock eyelet carefully disassemble it as you will need to re-use the larger, outer metal sleeve. I obtained from Tim at Works Performance a .965 X 10 Igus bushing set which consists of an Igus polymer bushing and two metal adapter bushings that adapt the ID of the Igus part down to the mounting bolt size. (Igus is a company that specializes in self lubricating polymer bushings/bearings). This is the same set as used on their ST1100 shock. The cost is $10 plus shipping. The actual O.D. size of the polymer bushing from Works is 7/8" or .875" while the size of the OEM shock eyelet is approximately .95". Unfortunately, works has only the one size polymer bushing as all of their shocks are designed with 7/8" eyelets. They make up the difference with the inner metal collar to adapt to each application. By sheer luck the thickness of the OEM outer sleeve material is approximately 0.040" making its I.D, approximately 0.870", almost perfect, though a bit tight perhaps, to sleeve down the OEM eyelet to accept the Works bushing.
I carefully chamfered the inner edge of the OEM sleeve with a Dremmel tool and tapped the Works busing into it, so far so good. I next chamfered the outer edge of the OEM sleeve now containing the Works polymer bushing and put it in the freezer. While that assembly was cooling I chamfered the inside edges of the OEM upper eyelet slightly. I used a heat gun to expand the diameter of the eyelet and then, working quickly, retrieved the chilled bushing assembly and tapped it into the the eyelet. It was an extremely tight fit but it went in without too much trouble. Whew, wipe sweat off brow. Now I was ready to remount the shock on the bike.
Throw away the OEM polymer bushing, inner sleeve and bushing collar (the thick walled sleeve that slips over the bolt) and use the two machined metal bushing insert/adapters from Works Performance. To reinstall the shock I cut a 2" X 4" piece of lumber into a wedge and by jamming it under the rear tire was able to raise or lower the wheel until alignment of the bolt holes was achieved. Make sure to start the bolts by hand, especially the bottom one that screws into the aluminum rear drive case, torque them down (17 ft/lbs bottom, 36 top) and yur done.

I believe Honda recommend Moly Paste top and bottom.
My own shock did not leak but just felt tired and started to bottom out two up with luggage.
The new shock, in my case OEM ABS to replace OEM Non ABS was like light and day. It was like the feeling you get when you replace worn out tyres.
Good luck.
Upt'North.

 

[aSTerix]

quick update, I took the shock to a specialist suspension shop in the adjacent Emirate where they seem to do just about anything related to cars , they pressed out the damaged bushes, then installed new polymer bushes using the old outer and inner metal rings, all for $35 equivalent.

Now I just want to disassemble and check the damper, probably should have done that before I had new bushes installed !

 

[aSTerix]

I believe Honda recommend Moly Paste top and bottom.

Thankyou for this steer, I went hunting and found the shock disassembly page in the Honda manual and sure enough it says to use the Moly Paste, I'm glad Im finding additional uses for my tube of Rocol paste !