Showa rear shock service

bill

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Mar 29, 2004
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My old DRZ400 needs a rear shock rebuild
Is anyone in Thailand properly setup to service and repair Showa motorcycle shocks, and recharge with dry nitrogen ?
If not, where's the next best/closest place I could ship it to for repair ?
 

rmbike

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Jun 28, 2010
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I can do them, just no facility to re gas at the moment. :sad1::

Seen the locals use air, and of course not believing me of the dangers :wtf:

Is it leaking :?:

Even got a brand new one tucked away back in oz, not that its any good being there and not here :oops:
 

bill

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Mar 29, 2004
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rmbike wrote: I can do them, just no facility to re gas at the moment. :sad1::

Seen the locals use air, and of course not believing me of the dangers :wtf:

Is it leaking :?:

Even got a brand new one tucked away back in oz, not that its any good being there and not here :oops:
No its not leaking.
The suspension has just got progressively harder over the years and after 65000km.
Oil has probably turned to sludge ?

I'm thinking if it doesn't cost too much for shipping, (perhaps without spring to reduce weight) , I could ship it to Racetech or someone similar in this region for repair
 

rmbike

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Jun 28, 2010
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bill wrote: [quote quote=rmbike]I can do them, just no facility to re gas at the moment. :sad1::

Seen the locals use air, and of course not believing me of the dangers :wtf:

Is it leaking :?:

Even got a brand new one tucked away back in oz, not that its any good being there and not here :oops:
No its not leaking.
The suspension has just got progressively harder over the years and after 65000km.
Oil has probably turned to sludge ?

I'm thinking if it doesn't cost too much for shipping, (perhaps without spring to reduce weight) , I could ship it to Racetech or someone similar in this region for repair
Hmm "progressively harder" I'd be checking all the linkage bearings, if they haven't been serviced properly some or most will be shot as well imo, they are rather expensive to buy
all the bearings, sleeves, seals and washers adds up to a lot of parts, can come in kit form, I paid around $400 for my RM.
And no fun to fit either.

There'd be someone in Bkk that could do the shock, whether they do it properly is another matter.

Good luck
 

bill

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Mar 29, 2004
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Hmm "progressively harder" I'd be checking all the linkage bearings, if they haven't been serviced properly some or most will be shot as well imo, they are rather expensive to buy
all the bearings, sleeves, seals and washers adds up to a lot of parts, can come in kit form, I paid around $400 for my RM.
And no fun to fit either.

There'd be someone in Bkk that could do the shock, whether they do it properly is another matter.

Good luck
Yep, I should of mentioned I've already done that. Shock bearing and swingarm bearings replaced. Shock linkage bearings still OK so just cleaned and regreased.
I'll have a word with http://www.racetech.com and see what they can do for me. Shipping costs will be a pain.
 
Sep 22, 2008
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ship it out using Thai post. and remember to tell them that its going for repair it seems that they provide some paperwork that comes back with the item to ensure that you do not get slammed for duty by customs. Thats what my local Post office told me.

Also it may pay to give Dirt shop a call in BKK they may do rebuilds. Or even YSS (unlikely they do other makes but ya never know)
 

rmbike

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Jun 28, 2010
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some good guys doing it in oz, might save bit on the shipping.

i know thai>aus 10kgs 2.5 to 3.5k bht
 
Oct 12, 2005
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Bill - YSS in Bangkok can service the shock. The owner can even do revalving if you need it. Of course you want the owner to do the revalving and not their staff.

FYI I found refrigerator repair places can pump in Nitrogen to shocks. Only problem they were only able to get my shock up to 115 pounds which is less than standard pressure. However 6 months later its still working fine.

High end tire places are also filling tires with nitrogen as the latest fad so should be able to do your shocks no problem.

Best of luck.
 

bill

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Mar 29, 2004
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Thanks for the info everyone
B&T, I will request a quote from YSS next week, thanks for the lead and info on nitrogen refill.

Racetech in Singapore will service it including oil, seals, O rings for SGD280 (~USD214)
Racetech USA website quotes USD172 for same work.
Probably ends up the same after shipping costs. In fact, I could probably risk regular post to Singapore whereas I'd need to use EMS to USA.

We'll see what YSS come up with next week.
 

rmbike

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Jun 28, 2010
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Contradicting what I believed

my Suzuki manual says
Use nitrogen gas. If nitrogen gas is not available,
compressed air free of water can be substituted.
well I'll be a monkeys uncle :shock:

Getting it to the 130-150 psi is the challenge :?:
 
Aug 29, 2008
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I tried a tyre place for my shock.
I wanted 142psi, but their machine stopped pumping at 120psi.
Also I dont know if the attachment method(a regular tyre connection) loses any nitrogen when disconnected.
As the reservoir is so small it could make a big difference,
I have been using air for some bicycle fox shocks with no noticeable difference.
The nitrogen however stays the same when it gets hot, whereas air acts differently
Marzocchis roco shock was designed to use air, so it would not be so difficult and expensive to servie
Does anyone know a place in Chiang Mai that can pump shock with nitrogen to 142psi accurately?
 

bill

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Mar 29, 2004
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Does anyone know a place in Chiang Mai that can pump shock with nitrogen to 142psi accurately?
What about a place that services luxury car suspension.
Some vehicles like the Toyota Lexus LX470 have pneumatic accumulators that are charged with dry nitrogen.
 

Auke

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Nov 10, 2003
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The Cockpit Tyre shop on the Hangdong Road (a bit past Lotus if you come from town) on your right hand side does do Nitrogen filling of car tyres and you could try over there. Chin (the owner) speaks good English and rides big bikes and knows what he does. They can do also wheel balancing for motorbikes.
 

rmbike

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Jun 28, 2010
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alrikki wrote: I tried a tyre place for my shock.
I wanted 142psi, but their machine stopped pumping at 120psi.
Also I dont know if the attachment method(a regular tyre connection) loses any nitrogen when disconnected.
As the reservoir is so small it could make a big difference,

I have been using air for some bicycle fox shocks with no noticeable difference.
The nitrogen however stays the same when it gets hot, whereas air acts differently
Marzocchis roco shock was designed to use air, so it would not be so difficult and expensive to servie
Does anyone know a place in Chiang Mai that can pump shock with nitrogen to 142psi accurately?
Its not super critical as long as its around 130 + so 120 though a bit low wouldn't be a problem,
and who knows how accurate the gauges are at those pressures when working with usually much lower amounts
they could easily be out + - 10 %
but your right a quick pfsst can be the difference between 140 and 100.

The reason there is gas bladder inside a shock is that the volume inside the shock changes as the shaft moves in and out (ooh err) so before the 'De-carbon system' (separate the oil from the gas) was introduced there had to be air, inside a shock with the oil to allow for that change, which would foam up under heavy use and f00k up the shock damping.
Now the bladder under pressure takes up the slack of that change.

If my shock theory is still accurate in my fading mind :lol-sign:
 
Aug 29, 2008
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Nat at piston shop said he could service the shock, so he must know where to get it repressurized
 
Aug 29, 2008
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Out on the superhighway (rt11) past big C , past Rt121, on the right is a big place called Bridgestone Truck Tyre Centre
Cost 50 baht.
It took a few goes to get it right as they still have only a tyre line, and the reservoir is so small that you lose a lot of pressure if youcant disconnect it very quick, but they took it up to 200psi, and then I got it down to where I wanted it,
 

DavidFL

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alrikki wrote: Out on the superhighway (rt11) past big C , past Rt121, on the right is a big place called Bridgestone Truck Tyre Centre
Cost 50 baht.
It took a few goes to get it right as they still have only a tyre line, and the reservoir is so small that you lose a lot of pressure if youcant disconnect it very quick, but they took it up to 200psi, and then I got it down to where I wanted it,
:thumbup: