Kiwi's '99 Busa Rear Shock Serviced at Last!!

[Kiwi Rider]

I’m hanging in there Greg. No riding for me in the last year plus, so have been dedicating my spare time to doing some mods to my new Tacoma. 22 years is a long time for sure. On mine, I ran a piece of bar through the bolt hole and used two ratchet straps to compress the spring some. I just needed to compress mine a tiny bit to get the collar off, so the straps did the trick.

Aaaahh YES!! The old ratchet straps through the spring trick . . .
my spring was a little more resistant than yours, actually it was a right PITA!
Why no riding mate? have you been ill? sorry to hear if you have, hope you're getting on top of it.

 

[mabupa]

Aaaahh YES!! The old ratchet straps through the spring trick . . .
my spring was a little more resistant than yours, actually it was a right PITA!
Why no riding mate? have you been ill? sorry to hear if you have, hope you're getting on top of it.

Wonder why yours was a PITA? I’ve read that gen2 spring rate is a little stiffer than gen1.
COVID gave my family and I a few kicks in the pants and once we got passed that, I injured my right thumb really bad and ended up with 8 stitches and nerve damage, so couldn’t do much with my right hand. It’s still messed up, but at least the nail started growing back, which is a good sign and have I have more movement. I need to sit on the bike and start it to see if I can handle the bars vibration without upsetting the nerves too much, but it basically feels like a really bad case of when you fall asleep with your hand under you and wake up with that tingling sensation but for me is 24/7. Weird stuff.

 

[rd99]

Tonight I finally got off my a$$ and removed the rear shock from my bike . .
I stripped it and found it had virtually no pressure in it (175psi is the specified Nitrogen pressure)
Also the oil was dirty and very smelly (as Frank would say, 'like a sewer').
21 years old that oil, time for a fresh fill!
I'm going to clean it up and fill with fresh oil and recharge with Nitrogen, refit to the Busa, and I'll let you guys know the difference asap.
Pics . . .

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you have inspired me to do the same.........perhaps a new years resolution........what year I have no idea.

 

[Kiwi Rider]

you have inspired me to do the same.........perhaps a new years resolution........what year I have no idea.

Great!! I actually started this thread in the hope that it would inspire amateur mechanics to have a go, and also as a reference for anyone in the future to look back and go . . "them Kiwis are pretty smart people after all"!
It's actually not that difficult to do . . providing you are a qualified motorcycle technician with many years experience . . give it a go, you may surprise yourself!

 

[Berlin Germany]

@Kiwi Rider

and yes.
a real newbie should start wrenching elsewhere.

 

[Kiwi Rider]

@Kiwi Rider

and yes.
a real newbie should start wrenching elsewhere.

Frank, newbies to the wrenvh game have gotta start somewhere, and why not jump in the deep end and go straight to shock servicing?

 

[ROADTOAD1340]

Thought you'd have yourself an Ohins shock by now Kiwi , lmao .