97 kx500 rear suspension

[greatwhitenorth]

hey guys I just purchased a 97 kx 500 everything looks great on the bike but the rear suspension leaks like crazy. I'm short on cash so I want to do all the wrenchin myself, anyone rebuilt one of these rear shocks before? any help would be great!

[GDubb]

There use to be a write up around here somewhere about rebuilding your rear shock. I was going to attempt this a few years back because my K5 came with a blown rear shock too. It seemed straight forward enough that I felt I could do it myself but I ran short of time and ended up paying a shop to do it. Dig around and see if you can find it. I'll do some looking around too and see if I can locate it.


-G

[greatwhitenorth]

I'll have a look too thanks a ton

[Friar-Tuck]

 Great White,
 I have done three seal and oil replacements and it really is not a big a deal as I first had thought.   After Replacing the seals and Oil I did have to take the shocks to a dealer and have them charged with nitrogen. That was about $20.00/shock.
  I have not tried to modify the shimstacks (Re-Valve) . 

Just be aware there could be up to 160# of nitrogen in the bladder/resivoir.  Make sure you understand what's going on as there is the potential for some serious damage and injury...
 
If you can hang on a few days I'll attempt to post what the service manual has to say.
 (this is all I used to re build mine)

In the meantime check these out..

 http://www.kxriders.com/forums/index.php/topic,119.0.html
   
   Here's a good write-up by Eric Gorr
 http://www.eric-gorr.com/rear%20shock%20rebuilding.pdf

 Tuck\o/
   
   

[Polar-Bus]

hey guys I just purchased a 97 kx 500 everything looks great on the bike but the rear suspension leaks like crazy. I'm short on cash so I want to do all the wrenchin myself, anyone rebuilt one of these rear shocks before? any help would be great!

I personally would never attempt it, better off left to pros IMO but if you want to give it a go. This series is broken down into 6 steps:

PS i'm not sure why the mechanics are using a spring compress tool in this vid, they are not needed on Kayaba MX shocks, all's you need to do is thread the preload collars all the way loose, and the spring retainers will fall right out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQRxBSpG-Ng

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UO1bBPPCNlU&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7e0pYUc40H8&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITfV7vnF8EQ&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwLo1SX3688&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiQuKz9dLbQ&feature=related

[greatwhitenorth]

thanks guys i'll let you know how I make out!!!