Motorcycle Front shock fail

Motorcycle front shock fail in time especially if it came from an accident and just reused it, rebuild, pressed to salvage for further service.

Shown is what happened to my front shock last 2006. The left side front absorber took the hit., Buying a new one isn't possible, therefore was forced to send it to a nearby machine shop for pressing. From till then, it still serve my motorcycle front suspension to date. But, every year i have leak, damping rod bolt keep on loose, i always have to dismantle the front end, put it in a bench Vise for repair. But then got an idea on how to dismantle just the front absorber cap, and tightening the damping rod bolt at the other end of the suspension. Without removing the entire absorber for their original location, like the bolts that secure them from the T-post,

i already have a VISE. The two bolt as shown will not be removed in this procedure, instant clamp.

The procedure i am doing in this page is actually due to the DAMPING rod bolt getting loose after the rebuild, it keeps on getting loose, and without any help from an air compress impact driver to secure it again, i have to tighten it manually but, unfortunately cannot be done because the damping rod bolt just keep on turning as shown on the video.

As the video is presenting, the allen key just keeps on moving, and tightening is merely impossible without accessing the inside damper rod, to counter it. The only solution to this is by removing the cap at the other end, and using an improvised tool like this

with a nut that fits inside the top of the rod.

First is to remove the cap,

Use the right size of allen key driver as shown.

turn it loose.

When it is nearing to pop, slightly press the key to fight the spring inside, failure to do so may throw that cap.

Remove the spring, clean it. If the color is too black, then you can change the for oil too in this process.

Using the improvised tool i made for this procedure,

the damping rod bolt can be tighten,

Failure to tightening the damping rod bolt causes me lots of front fork oil leaking, worsening the handling of my steering, with a slight "TOK" sound.

After the procedure, everything went to normal. This trick made me to this in less than an hour. I have no bench vise already, and removing the cap without the said tool, will just make you think of sending it to a machine shop.

Hope this helps thinking on how to remove nor replace and or tightening every loose bolt on that front suspension.

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