Stock shocks rebuildable??

[piers006]

Maybe I should say refillable. My '81 1100e's shocks seem good but I'm wondering if anyone has attempted a drain & refill of the oil. I was thinking perhaps a threaded hole in the very bottom through the clevis unless these are the gas charged variety. Thanks,Guzzi John-Champlin,Mn

[Nessism]

They are gas charged and there is no reasonable way to rebuild them. Throw them in the trash and get some new ones.

[bwringer]

This is like the eleventeenth time in the last three days someone has asked this. Weird.

Once and for all: stock shocks = poo.

Throw them away ASAP and replace. It's the only way. They cannot be rebuilt or improved.

[Hammered]

Actually you can replace the spring. Just compress the spring, loosen the jam nut and remove the top mount and youre golden. Any spring shop will have a stock length of spring of this rate and size to cut to your need. I wont say its cheaper than replacing the entire shock in your area, but they can be rebuilt with a little effort. The cartridge isnt usually bad unless you have a leak.

[Nessism]

Actually you can replace the spring. Just compress the spring, loosen the jam nut and remove the top mount and youre golden. Any spring shop will have a stock length of spring of this rate and size to cut to your need. I wont say its cheaper than replacing the entire shock in your area, but they can be rebuilt with a little effort. The cartridge isnt usually bad unless you have a leak.

The cartridge damping does go off, fairly quickly in many cases. Salty Monk's departed GS1000G still had the stock shocks at 80k miles, and they still worked okay, but most of the time they are long gone by then.

[Hammered]

The cartridge damping does go off, fairly quickly in many cases. Salty Monk's departed GS1000G still had the stock shocks at 80k miles, and they still worked okay, but most of the time they are long gone by then.

Hmm, I must be lucky. The set I have are in really good mechinical shape. the new, shorter springs made an assload of difference.

[salty_monk]

I don't know that the original owner didn't already replace those shocks with new stock... could have I guess.

I have a couple of sets of low mileage 78GS1000E shocks (about 22k on one set, 12k on the other) & when I pulled the springs off the damping & adjuster for the damping worked fine in both cases.

I put some Koni shocks on the 1000G before moving it on to it's new owner & they were definitely an improvement but not a huge one.

Dan

[tkent02]

Every time I try a bike with the stock shocks I am amazed at how rough my local roads are, 15 minutes later my back starts to hurt...
An hour ain't gonna happen.
Good shocks I can ride all week.

[DPage]

To give you some idea of what the market thinks of original 80's GS shocks, look on eBay using the completed items option. People selling original shocks are lucky to get $10 for them, if there's any offer at all. There are lots of GS original parts I would like to buy off eBay, but in my book, rear shocks rank below rusted out oil-soaked brake pads. If your frame has no shocks, OK, buy some of those originals, but otherwise look for something newer. Progressive, Ikon, or even the cheap new ones they sell on eBay.

Sorry to dis this thread, but in my opinion this is one thing that just needs to be replaced on old bikes like ours.

[bwringer]

If you insist, you'll need this:

http://www.guffsturdpolish.com

[Kcwiro]

If you insist, you'll need this:


http://www.guffsturdpolish.com

Sheesh... that is great I needed a laugh my graveyard shift is almost over... +1 Progressives FTW

[koolaid_kid]

Maybe I should say refillable. My '81 1100e's shocks seem good but I'm wondering if anyone has attempted a drain & refill of the oil. I was thinking perhaps a threaded hole in the very bottom through the clevis unless these are the gas charged variety. Thanks,Guzzi John-Champlin,Mn

Quick answer, no.
AFA trying to improve them, they were considered marginal at best when they were new. Now, 28 years later...Shocks, unlike women, do not age well nor improve with time.
I use Progressives, and have heard good things about Ikons. Even the cheap Chinese knockoffs must be better than shocks designed 3 decades ago.

[bwringer]

You may find this information useful:

http://www.howtocleanstuff.net/strategies/how-to-polish-a-turd/

[850 Combat]

Not true

I have numerous test articles raving about the stock shocks when they were new, and how fade resistant they were, and long lasting.

The stock shocks on my first RD400 lost what damping they had by 5000 miles. I got about 25000 out of stock Girlings opn my Commando. I have a couple GS's with over 30000 on stock shocks, and they are still OK. That isn't to mean that they can't be improved upon, but they are neither poo nor were they considered marginal when new. They were considered to the best OEM available.

I have numerous

they were considered marginal at best when they were new. ago.