rear plungers

[broom34]

Hi
    I'm just refurbishing my rear shock absorbers (plungers) because the left hand side one's seized up and they now appear lopsided, the left hand side is longer than the right by a1/4 inch,now my problem is that the centre core is so badly rusted in and I can't knock them through to remove the suspension ,I've purchased a compressor tool No 61-3222 but even this can't move it, any ideas please

Richard    

[muskrat]

G'day Richard,
                   apply liberal amounts of penetrating oil over a couple of days, then add heat, and a bigger hammer. You can also try putting the axle back in with the wheel or a spacer of the same width to hold things square. This method got mine out after the bike had been in a chook shed for 15 years. The right side was seized and twisted the rear sub-frame by over an inch.
Did you see the rebuild kit on evilbay. Good luck.
Cheers

[rocket man]

hi Richard i would try some  penetrating oil try to drill
some holes in the plunger units then spray the oil into
the holes sounds like the springs are rusted up then
leave it over night for the oil to work then use your
tool on them thats not being rude  

[Brian]

Firstly, if that plunger rebuild kit is still available on flea-bay then buy it, its cheap. I'll explain why in a minute.

First thing you need to do is work out exactly what is stuck as there are a couple of possibilities. With the pinch bolts top and bottom and the bolt through the lug done up can you twist the lug, if not then you know for sure the centre tube has seized on the shaft. If you can twist it then the next most likely cause is the spacers (part no's. 5 and 14) have rusted to the shaft. If this is the  case you will be able to twist things but the shaft will not come out.

If the spacers have rusted up then a few days with penetrating oil and a smack with a hammer every now and then will free them. If you have a lathe or a friend who can do it get a old piece of tube and thread it to screw into the top of the plunger shaft so you can clobber it. By the way, the plugs that are in the very bottom of the shafts are just plugs, they come out. If you put a piece of rod down through the shaft they will knock out the bottom.

Now if the centre tubes have rusted to the shaft things get a bit harder. There are a couple of ways around this. First remove the grease nipple and use a piece of wire or a small screwdriver to dig out the old grease and try and get as much penetrating oil into this hole as possible. This is the only way you will get oil to the rusted bushes. If the grease inside has gone hard then this wont work. If all else fails then there are two ways to get them apart.

First method is to drill the shaft out from the top and bottom. Second method is to get two small wedges of wood and jam between the top cover and the frame, you only need a gap the width of a hacksaw blade. Then cut through the shaft with a hacksaw. Do this to the top and the bottom.

You will need new shafts and bushes in the centre tube and quite likely new springs as these are usually compressed and not the same length.

I recently had a pair of shafts hard chromed and ground and it cost me AUS $260 and then I had to make the bushes, thats why those ones on flea-bay are cheap.

Have fun........................

[broom34]

Hello every one
                        I've read all of your replies and it sounds like a lot of hard work,i'm just off out to the local shop for a big hammer and a gallon of penetrating oil,I will keep you informed on my progress,once again thanks for your replies, if anyone can come up with a magic wand i'd be most grateful,I'm going to need it

Many Thanks
Richard

[Josh Cox]

Broom,

Sorry if this appear to be a stupid question, but, have you removed all the bolts (particularly the bottom bolts) ?, the ones the silencers bolt onto, this bolt holds the inner shaft inplace, there is a recess the bolt sits in to lock the shafts solid.

[broom34]

Hi Josh
            Thanks for your responce but i've taken out all the bolts ,but I'm afraid it's the rust thats holding them,nice thought and thanks .But what I have done is drilled a 8mm hole in the outer shroud and realy saturated inner springs with oil and I'll leave it to soak over night, and then get the dreaded hammer out and give it a good old wack,

Richard

[broom34]

Hello Everyone
                       I wish to thank all of you for your help in my hour of need and between us I've done it ,after drilling two small holes in the shrouds and saturating  the springs  the column popped out like two peas in a pod "loverly".And thanks Josh for the photos,all I have to do now is reassemble and that should be a lot easier , once again thank you all.

Richard

[rocket man]

your welcome Richard nice to help you out mate