02-02-14, 07:03 PM
Can you post up some photos ?
May need to get some decent lighting up around it tho, particularly this time of year
As for the condition of the shock, is it actually absorbing impacts or are you on the receiving end of a battering? If you push down on the rear of the bike does it bounce straight back up or is there a more controlled upward movement? Does the shock have any fluid around the central stem or has any rust broken out on it? If the oil has leaked out of it you'd soon feel the difference, and not in a good way.
Clean out the grease in the linkage's roller bearings. They can take some serious abuse before collapsing, the discoloration may be due to moisture but may not be serious. However if any rollers drop out while cleaning them they should be replaced as a set, tho you'd probably get away with pattern replacements. Yamaha bearings are not usually cheap...
Sounds to me like the shock is original and has not been disturbed / removed since the bike was first made. If you have more than 30k miles up on the bike IMO it'll be time for some intervention - rebuild or aftermarket / alternative ;-)
May need to get some decent lighting up around it tho, particularly this time of year
As for the condition of the shock, is it actually absorbing impacts or are you on the receiving end of a battering? If you push down on the rear of the bike does it bounce straight back up or is there a more controlled upward movement? Does the shock have any fluid around the central stem or has any rust broken out on it? If the oil has leaked out of it you'd soon feel the difference, and not in a good way.
Clean out the grease in the linkage's roller bearings. They can take some serious abuse before collapsing, the discoloration may be due to moisture but may not be serious. However if any rollers drop out while cleaning them they should be replaced as a set, tho you'd probably get away with pattern replacements. Yamaha bearings are not usually cheap...
Sounds to me like the shock is original and has not been disturbed / removed since the bike was first made. If you have more than 30k miles up on the bike IMO it'll be time for some intervention - rebuild or aftermarket / alternative ;-)