[backwoods]

I haven’t seen this previously posted. Sorry if I missed it.

After watching Fred’s DVD about the rear shock and preload assembly, I’m wondering about something.

Since the piston in the pre-load cylinder only has a narrow ring to seal the oil into the bottom of the cylinder, wouldn’t it be a good idea to relieve pressure on this ring by lowering the adjustment to 0 whenever you store the bike for a while? Maybe even over night?

I don’t know how the numbers work out, but there must be several (many) hundreds of pounds of pressure in that cylinder when the oil is trying to hold up the bike, vs. 0 pounds of pressure when the setting is all the way down (to 0).

If this is correct, then it seems like setting the pre-load to ‘0’ whenever the bike is stored, would have a significant effect on how long you could go before needing to add more oil to the pre-load adjuster. Also seems like setting the pre-load to 0 while the bike is stored would keep the ‘working section’ of the walls of the cylinder well lubricated and less prone to leaking later.

Is my understanding of now the pre-load works correct?

 

[WingWing]

I asked the same question ...

http://www.gl1800riders.com/forums/view ... ht=#696473

but no reply yet.

Dennis

 

[DDL]

Hibernation & pre-load.

Wouldn't hurt anything if you did set it to 0 for winter hibernation. It would at least prevent oil loss in the system while in storage. If you have a checklist for "first ride" coming out of hibernation, add "set pre-load" to it.

 

[luckyman]

Wouldn't it be better to just put it on the center stand? I don't know.

 

[backwoods]

If it's set high, I believe the pre-load can have considerable pressure on the rings, even when the bike is on the center stand.

Likewise, I don't think there is any pressure on the ring when the setting is '0' even if the bike is sitting on the rear wheel.

 

[DDL]

Preload: 0 setting = 0 oil pressure.

I have performed an oil refill on the preload system and fully bled the line. There is no pressure on the preload system when set on 0; however, a fully filled system will have pressure on the oil at 1 from the spring alone and the weight of the bike adds more. After I was done with the oil refill, there was no sound change in the preload motor leaving 0. I opened the line with the preload off the shock @ 25. I also overfilled the piston. I put the line back on sort of loose and used the spring to press the preload back to 0 bleeding that side and tightened the adjuster bleeding the other side.

 

[Max McAllister]

For sure, this isn't a bad idea.

Reallistically, if there were some risk of the Orings failing, Honda wouldn't even put that thing on the bike. I haven't yet heard of a preload adjuster seal failing.

The centerstand will only take a little pressure off the adjuster. If you run it at 25, you will have a lot of pressure on the spring, but not nearly the same as if you put two people, gear, and a trailer on it, and go ride for 10,000 miles and bottom out a few thousand times!

So...it won't hurt, but I wouldn't worry either way.

 

[Hokie]

I haven’t seen this previously posted. Sorry if I missed it.

After watching Fred’s DVD about the rear shock and preload assembly, I’m wondering about something.

Since the piston in the pre-load cylinder only has a narrow ring to seal the oil into the bottom of the cylinder, wouldn’t it be a good idea to relieve pressure on this ring by lowering the adjustment to 0 whenever you store the bike for a while? Maybe even over night?

I don’t know how the numbers work out, but there must be several (many) hundreds of pounds of pressure in that cylinder when the oil is trying to hold up the bike, vs. 0 pounds of pressure when the setting is all the way down (to 0).

If this is correct, then it seems like setting the pre-load to ‘0’ whenever the bike is stored, would have a significant effect on how long you could go before needing to add more oil to the pre-load adjuster. Also seems like setting the pre-load to 0 while the bike is stored would keep the ‘working section’ of the walls of the cylinder well lubricated and less prone to leaking later.

Is my understanding of now the pre-load works correct?

I hope your not letting all that weight rest on the front tire while it's sitting on the center stand? The front Tire s should be Kept off the floor so it won't have a flat spot.


Now that's something else for you to worry about.