AT XRV750 - rear shock problem
 

Hi all,

We've been reading a lot on the HUBB the last few months, while doing the preparations for our travels. This is our first post here, and we can use your help :)

We reached Iran without too many issues, until the rear shock absorber started to create knocking sounds when going over bumps - both big and small. The bike is a Honda Africa Twin XRV750 RD07a, year of build 2000.

We have taken off the shock absorber, and noted that he bottom mounting bracket (part 11 in the drawing below, circled in red) had come loose from the damper piston rod (bottom of part 7 of the drawing below, circled in green)... It looks like the damper piston rod unscrews itself from the mounting bracket while riding.

We tried unscrewing the adjuster nut and locknut (part 1 and 2) to take the preload off, but it's too tight. So we compressed the spring manually as much as we could, and screwed the mounting bracket back on, and got it as far as it should be (when visually comparing with another bike). The welded dot on the stopper plate (part 10 of the drawing below, circled in blue) looks like it sits in the position it should be, in order to lock the mounting bracket and stopper plate - see purple rectangle. A result of the reassembled shock is shown in the picture.

Yet... it continues to unscrew, and we need to tighten it again each 100~200 km, depending on the road conditions. Once screwed back in, the bike feels quite normal, though it's hard to confirm that since now we are being suspicious about everything :)

So my questions:

1. How is it possible that the damper piston rod is unscrewing itself out of the mounting bracket? I don't know what the inside of the damper looks like, but I suppose it should not be able to turn..?

2. What would be an advisable way to fix this? Weld the mounting bracket to the piston rod? Since we are in Iran, and a replacement shock absorber will take quite a while to get here, we're reluctant to go for "permanent" modifications such as welding, since this will destroy the thread of the piston rod and mounting bracket. Though as a last resort, do you see any harm in it - as long as we keep the heat away from the damper itself?

3. Any other possible solutions you can think of?

Looking forward to your suggestions :) - and regards from Tabriz

Pieter and Bart

Have you tried Loctite? Although a different design the nearest comparable part on my BMW shock has some kind of thread lock on it, even araldite if you don't have loctite.

XRV 750 shock
 

Hi there,

I just had a look at my old shock (150.000km) and this parts never came loose and they should not come loose.

As you can lock part 11 (which is threaded) and part 9 (the nut) on the threaded part of the shaft (your green circle). If you have done this with the right torque it should not come loose. You will need a vice for part 11 and than lock it with part 9.

But if it comes loose (maybe because the threads are damaged) I would not have a problem spot welding it from the bottom (part 11 to the shaft). And yes, the shaft turns freely. Dont think Loctite will work for long.

The showa shocks on the AT are good shocks, I kept mine after 150000km (and one overhaul done by the previous owner) as a spare after I changed for a Wilbers also to raise the rear of the bike and to have a better handling with all the luggage.

Enjoy your ride through Iran :mchappy:

mika

Hi all,

Thanks for the clarification and tips.

In the meantime we passed by a mechanic in Tehran (Mahak Ciklet, great guys!). They opened the shock again on a bench to take the pre-load off, and tightened it with a greater amount of torque and some metal glue. One week later, still looks as it should be!