Help! Rear Shock non-functional in Huaraz, Peru

[Champps]

Hello,

So I am 2 days into my journey back to San Francisco from Lima. My rear shock was leaking hydrolic fluid in Lima and the mechanic there said that he could rebuild the shock. I let him send the shock out to be rebuilt and it came back, was installed and dampened fine. So I rode up into Huaraz and on a dirt road up to Lagoa Llanganuco, I lost all dampening and was riding with just the spring. I rode back to Huaraz and I am now trying to figure out what my options are. All support and ideas will be helpful.

1) I am making calls to the US to see if I can find a replacement rear shock and have it sent to Peru.

2) One mechanic this morning said he could squirt some hydrolic fluid into the shock and that might help in the short run. Any one heard of this as a temp fix so I can get back to Lima?

3) Replace shock with something from Peru. I am hoping talking with a Kawasaki Mech this afternoon will yield some info on this option.

4) What do I have to worry about most if I ride back to Lima on just my spring. (should I even consider this as an option?)

I am riding a 2006 Kawasaki KLR 650. This bike will get me back to San Francisco by the end of the trip so I need a real fix ultimately. There are two of us on the ride. My friend is on a 1999 KLR 650 if that info is of any use.

Thanks for all of the support and words of encouragement.

Hadjh
2 KLR's to SF

[albert crutcher]

You should try a search for Tator racing in Miraflores Lima he can rebuild shocks,he,s also right next door to Desert racing the best stocked bike shop in Lima,you can get the number for them in the local yellow pages or paginas amarillas as we say down here,you can also get this online.As for riding without damping it,ll go just fine just be a bit bouncy thats all,going back to Lima is your best option for the moment as the only other place you might get a shock is Quito and thats a lot further.
Albert theturtleshead

[desert dweller]

don't ride with a bouncy shock, as you will likely damage your subframe. this quite apart from the control issue.
grab out your trusty leatherman, and cut some appropriately-sized 'fingers' of branch. shove them in between the spring rounds, and tape them in with duct tape. or visit a carpentry shop or similar and get some wooden blocks made out of the hardest wood they have. this solution will get you to lima i reckon, though the blocks will need replacement at some stage - ours did, though we are two-up on an r11gs so more weight than you, champps.

check this blog entry if you want: Out for a spin: Shock gone fut. third time

i recently got a hyperpro shock sent to me in bolivia, just put it in and rode away and very happy with it so far. klaus at info(a)epmperf.com most helpful. also the DHL service was very good.

cheers,
andy

[thecanoeguy]

i got this military shock as in the ones they put in the deisel klr 's and it is magnificent from noleen j6 NOLEEN J6 RACING - MAIN PAGE in california $500 plus super fast shipping from DHL ,i rode with a blown shock through half of mexico ,not pleasant i can say ,but this shock is high end quality. and i have my bike well loaded with lots of off road, it's a straight easy bolt in , my kx 250f front end is the next mod to finish it off
cheap aussie dave

[AndyT]

If you are in Huaraz, I would go talk to Simon, who owns a restaurant called Chili Heaven. It is in the little plaza where all the guiding companies are. He is an avid motorcyclist and will likely have local contacts for repairs. Good food, too!

[Champps]

Hey guys,

Thanks for all of the support....I found a guy here in Huaraz who could take the shock apart (akin to the Lima situation). So my rear end has stopped flopping around but I am not sure how long this one will last so I am having a shock sent down to one of my forward destinations in Quito or Medellin.

I think may have figured out why my shock failed.....no one here has the pressurised nitrogen so they are not filling the shock. As I understand it there is only shock oil in my shock right now. Anyone know if this sounds right? My thought is that when I took the bike on the dirt track and played with her over the bumps I blew out my seals. This was just a thought. The back end does not have any spring back when pushed down. It just sort of sits there but it no longer bottoms out. The questions me be better asked in the teck section.

Thanks for all of the help and any suggestions on shipping into Quito or Medellin with regards to customs will be helpful. I am going to ask dualstar and klr650.com if they can put a lower price on the invoice so i do not get nailed on import taxes.

We will ride out of Huaraz tomorrow on our way to Casma directly over the hill....no canon de pato for us on this trip but I will for sure make it back down here to play some more!

Hadjh

[Mr. Ron]

Originally Posted by Champps

Hey guys,

Thanks for all of the support....I found a guy here in Huaraz who could take the shock apart (akin to the Lima situation). So my rear end has stopped flopping around but I am not sure how long this one will last so I am having a shock sent down to one of my forward destinations in Quito or Medellin.

I think may have figured out why my shock failed.....no one here has the pressurised nitrogen so they are not filling the shock. As I understand it there is only shock oil in my shock right now. Anyone know if this sounds right? My thought is that when I took the bike on the dirt track and played with her over the bumps I blew out my seals. This was just a thought. The back end does not have any spring back when pushed down. It just sort of sits there but it no longer bottoms out. The questions me be better asked in the teck section.

Thanks for all of the help and any suggestions on shipping into Quito or Medellin with regards to customs will be helpful. I am going to ask dualstar and klr650.com if they can put a lower price on the invoice so i do not get nailed on import taxes.

We will ride out of Huaraz tomorrow on our way to Casma directly over the hill....no canon de pato for us on this trip but I will for sure make it back down here to play some more!

Hadjh

If you can find a welding shop, you may find nitrogen. If not, use argon or nitrogen argon mix, commonly used in TIG or MIG welding. The trick is putting together an adaptor to rig to your shock. I re-built an old Works sock years ago and filled it with Blueshield 8, an Argon/CO2 mix... it worked fine. May get you going until you can get it properly filled, as long as you use a preasurised inert gas. Time to get creative!

[albert crutcher]

You can send it to my address here in Quito,but first I,ll talk to Kawasaki here in Quito to see if they have one in stock and how much it costs.I,ll let you know tomorrow night.
Albert theturtleshead

[thecanoeguy]

dont get a progressive shock ,it wont be long before you end up back in the shit you are in right now read a bit about progressive and then weep ,oh well you will find out the hard way why the us military dont use a shitty progressive shock on there bikes ,good luck

[Champps]

Re: Military Shock

Any chance they would have one of those military shocks at one of the US military bases in South America. Just a thought.

The second rebuild of the shock lasted 5 hours and was blown before I read Mr Ron's post. So we are headed out of Huaraz to the coast as we keep working to arrange a new shock. Thanks for the support. I am talking with the Noleen company suggested previously in this thread about getting the shock and sending it down.

Thanks

Hadjh
2KLR's to SF

[charapashanperu]

A quick short-time fix I have seen is to drill a small hole in the base of the reservoir and tap a grease fitting in there. Then put a little grease in, try it, and continue putting just a little in until it feels about right. This should get you a good distance until a new shock can meet you somewhere.

Toby (charapa) Around the Block 2007 |

[Simon D]

I rode a NX650 without oil in the rear shock for about 400km before the shaft broke from the lower U mount. I think this shock started leaking after i overheated by riding too fast over sand dunes for 100s kms (Simpson Desert, AUS) with excess weight on the back (ie 20L fuel). I then had it welded back together and rode on it a further 2000km to home but didn`t attempt to repair it because i`m sure the internals would have been in a sad state without lubrication. Plus i was then walking like the puppets in The Thunderbirds TV series.

I also rode a BMW F650 without oil in the rear shock for about 5000km in Europe, after my repair started leaking 1000km later (initialy caused by dirt scratching the shaft), and this wasn`t as bad since it had a harder spring and i wound the pre-load up to maximum. But either way riding without the oil will damage the internal bushes etc.

Inserting a block of wood doesn`t sound that funny since for flat track racing some guys with MX bikes take out their rear shock for that race day and replace it with a piece of 1" square tubular steel, with 2 holes drilled at either end, for the purpose of making the rear end rigid which is better for sliding. But then you`ll probably be searching for linkage bearings and shock mounting bolts.

Seeing as your planning on getting another sent in then i would ride on the current one. It`s a whole new riding experience in corners but since the bike always wants to go straight!

[MotoEdde]

Originally Posted by desert dweller

i recently got a hyperpro shock sent to me in bolivia, just put it in and rode away and very happy with it so far. klaus at info(a)epmperf.com most helpful. also the DHL service was very good.

I also used Klaus who sent me a shock to Mongolia when mine went out
in Kazakhstan. And recommend going with whatever shock, a shock expert recommends, as the setup(shock and spring combo) and future service is more important than the sticker.

Riding without a shock is an interesting experience, and one your ass will remember for a long time to come

Hoping you're enjoying your trip apart from that~!

[albert crutcher]

Kawasaki Quito has a shock in stock!!!! but they want $1150 for it,seems like a hell of a price to me! but check out what the cost of importation would be with the transport and all,it may work out to cost about the same and with the **** ups you can get with South American
customs e.g taking ages to get things through.A bird in the hand may be better than one in the bush.
Albert theturtleshead

[MotoEdde]

Originally Posted by albert crutcher

Kawasaki Quito has a shock in stock!!!! but they want $1150 for it,seems like a hell of a price to me! but check out what the cost of importation would be with the transport and all,it may work out to cost about the same and with the **** ups you can get with South American
customs e.g taking ages to get things through.A bird in the hand may be better than one in the bush.
Albert theturtleshead

Have Klaus send you the shock with some dirt on it, a receipt for a rebulid of $42. 37, some tampons and band aids. This could be construed a care package and customs guys won't want to touch tampons.