Steering Damper rebuild - help needed

[greggo]

Has anyone out there rebuilt one of these?



Mine needs a rebuild as it has clearly lost oil over time, the movement of the slide is not smooth. It should be a simple matter of popping the old seals out draining the fluid, cleaning and replacing with new (i'm assuming good light weight fork oil).

I have popped then end caps off and can see the c-clips and seals. But i've no idea where to look for replacement seals. Any ideas?

Interested if anyone has ever rebuilt one of these themselves and their experience.

[greggo]

So I rebuilt the damper. Not a difficult job.

The only downside was not being able to source new seals. I will keep looking, but the seals i did find with the correct inner and outer diameter were too thick.

New on the left, old on the right:


Basically a simple job of;
1. Undo the rose joint and knob at either end
2. Pop off the end caps
3. Pull out the c clip, pump the damper and the oil seal pops out, with the end slide and shim
4. Repeat at the opposite end, working so you dont put oil everywhere.
5. Clean with brake cleaner and allow to dry
6. Reassamble one end and fill with 2.5 weight fork oil
7. Pump the slide a few times to ensure there are no air bubbles
8. fill the oil level slightly higher than the end seal point and press the final end in place

All parts in their respective order - fully disassembled:


The damper now works smoothly, but I suspect will over the course of time leak and need further rebuilding. I will keep an eye out for appropriate seals, which will get it back to new condition. But for now it is honky dory.

[Para045]

So I rebuilt the damper. Not a difficult job.

The only downside was not being able to source new seals. I will keep looking, but the seals i did find with the correct inner and outer diameter were too thick.

New on the left, old on the right:

Basically a simple job of;
1. Undo the rose joint and knob at either end
2. Pop off the end caps
3. Pull out the c clip, pump the damper and the oil seal pops out, with the end slide and shim
4. Repeat at the opposite end, working so you don't put oil everywhere.
5. Clean with brake cleaner and allow to dry
6. Reassemble one end and fill with 2.5 weight fork oil
7. Pump the slide a few times to ensure there are no air bubbles
8. fill the oil level slightly higher than the end seal point and press the final end in place

All parts in their respective order - fully disassembled:


The damper now works smoothly, but I suspect will over the course of time leak and need further rebuilding. I will keep an eye out for appropriate seals, which will get it back to new condition. But for now it is honky dory.

Thanks for the write up, I have an older style of the same brand damper and it has been seeping oil for a while now
Bit of a bummer not being able to get new seals though So did you have to reuse the old seals or could you bodge the new seals to fit? They weren't available from a WP rep? I probably don't REALLY need a damper on a BB as they are just so stable but figure it was on the bike and if I remove it I need to get new fairing infills anyway

[Crobbo]

Take the sample to ludiwici seals they're in canningvale if they don't have it they'll be able to get it.