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Replacing Rear Suspension Cones!


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#31 craigr91

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Posted 18 March 2017 - 06:21 PM

As a follow up for any future searches, took a little persuasion using hammer and chisel, but they dI'd just come away


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#32 tiger99

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Posted 18 March 2017 - 10:06 PM

That may be much too stiff but has nothing to do with the problem with the cones as it does not affect the length of the damper, only it's relationship between velocity and force.

Have you tried forcing the hub down a bit, eg by putting your foot on it? Maybe the damper is stiff in the last part of its travel where it rarely goes. That is, if you are having trouble getting the cones out or in.

If it is just low, as suggested earlier you need to check the knuckles. Replace them as a matter of routine unless they are new. The cups often through and the balls will wear the arms so badly that they become expensive scrap for want of less than a tenner for new knuckles. It badly affects the ride height and has resulted in accidents when the ball wore right through or jammed and fractured, causing a suspension collapse, a bad thing at any time, but when cornering hard likely to result in an uncontrollable spin.

You should replace knuckles about every 40k miles, and always examine the seating in the arms. If they have gone ball-shaped only expert TIG welding and re-machining (cutting the correct cone angle in the seating) would save the arm.

A trace of ball shaped wear is just about ok as the nylon cup may bridge it successfully, but the peak load on the knuckle over bumps is about 10 to 15 times the static wheel load, because of the lever ratio of the arm of about 5, and the cup is only nylon so unless most of it is backed by properly shaped metal the ball of the new knuckle will be forcing it's way through...




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