Busted rear suspension

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Bside003

Member

Jul 23, 2008

9

0

• Jul 19, 2010

• #1

My wife was riding her 87 KDX 200 while riding over some whoops, the upper dogbone bolt spit itself out into the brush and the whole top end of the bike came crashing down.

After hours of fruitless searching for the elusive dogbone bolt I got a new bolt and put it in, but now when she rides, the rear suspension looks all wrong, sits too low and mushes out over any kind of bump.

I've tried the clickers but I really don't know what I'm doing with them and didn't notice any kind of change when I adjusted them.

Any ideas on what is wrong?

 

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craig_enid

Member

Mar 23, 2000

872

0

• Jul 19, 2010

• #2

Well, 'looks all wrong' would be MY starting place....
Do you have a similar bike to compare it to?

 

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Bside003

Member

Jul 23, 2008

9

0

• Jul 19, 2010

• Thread starter
• #3

I guess "looks all wrong" is a little too vague. I was trying to describe the way it looks from afar. The seat is really close to the tire and is very mushy looking over any kind of terrain

 

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craig_enid

Member

Mar 23, 2000

872

0

• Jul 20, 2010

• #4

1 shock internals damaged
2 spring, spring mount damaged
3 shock attachment damaged, lower or upper
4 incorrect re-attachment of dogbone

2, 3, and 4 may be diagnosed visually with a similar bike to compare it to
1 would be indicated if all is hooked up and un-damaged.... visually

 

Dirtdame

Member

Apr 10, 2010

146

0

• Jul 20, 2010

• #5

You could post a picture of it. Sounds like something in part of the shock broke, since it's kind of hard to link all the linkage together wrong. You didn't take any of the linkage apart to put the new bolt in, did you?

 

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Bside003

Member

Jul 23, 2008

9

0

• Jul 21, 2010

• Thread starter
• #6

Doesn't look like anythng external is broke. I didn't disassemble anything to put the bolt back in. What kinda stuff inside the shock should I look at replacing?

 

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glad2ride

Member

Jul 4, 2005

1,071

1

• Jul 24, 2010

• #7

I would take it (the various linkage pieces) apart and see how the shock works without the spring on.

 

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mudpack

Member

Nov 13, 2008

637

0

• Jul 25, 2010

• #8

Bside003 said:

My wife was riding her 87 KDX 200 while riding over some whoops, the upper dogbone bolt spit itself out into the brush and the whole top end of the bike came crashing down. Any ideas on what is wrong?

Click to expand...

Not sure what you mean by "whole top end of the bike", but my guess is that a "crash" of any kind has damaged something here. I can't imagine how this could have damaged the shock internally (or even externally), but look over the spring seats anyway. Check the rocker very carefully.

 

Patman

Pantless Wonder

LIFETIME SPONSOR

Dec 26, 1999

19,765

1

• Jul 25, 2010

• #9

Any chance the shock has ever been serviced? Just wondering if perhaps you have lost the nitrogen charge... assuming it is more than just a straight oil & spring system. I've seen similar results when somebody left the charge out of a shock before knowing what the ramifications were.

 

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Bside003

Member

Jul 23, 2008

9

0

• Aug 24, 2010

• Thread starter
• #10

I got it!

O.K. so I rebuilt the shock: cleaned, refillled the oil, and replaced the seal head and anti-bottoming bumper.I took it to get charged up only to find out that I didn't put enough oil in it :bang: so now I've got it filled back up, pressurized it from my air compressor, BTW the shock rod will extend if you have enough oil in it and you pressurize it.(ask how I know!)

Any way, now that I'm re-installing the shock, I cant seem to figure out which way the hose routes from the lower part of the main tube. I never disconnected the hose from the resevoir, so that end is O.K.

Can anyone take a look at theirs and let me know which direction the hose should point comiong off of the bottom of the main tube?

i.e. is it facing rear 12 o'clock facing front 6 o'clock?

 

Dirtdame

Member

Apr 10, 2010

146

0

• Aug 25, 2010

• #11

The hose is facing forward straight up through the bottom mount tabs.

 

Last edited: Aug 25, 2010