Another way to tell if your steering damper is shot

6802 Views 30 Replies 16 Participants Last post by jzeiler, Oct 13, 2014

deputy5211

Discussion Starter · Jul 27, 2012

By now, many of us have seen threads on how to tell when our steering damper is shot. Most of them talk about swinging bars from left to right and back quickly (whilst stopped, of course). If there is resistance that is not there when moving slowly, chances are the damper is doing its job.

Today, when I put on my new front tire and cleaned the forks, I saw copious amounts of fluid on one fork tube, originating from the damper. A great clue to damper failure indeed!

Paging Mr. CochinoSucio... Damper rebuild on line one...

1 - 20 of 31 Posts

deanwoolsey

· #2 · Jul 27, 2012

Hey Tony, might want to recheck that leak. Mine was leaking and the air was blowing it all over the place. Turned out to be the slider tube seal. Not saying you're wrong, I would just check to be sure.

harrowbmw

· #3 · Jul 27, 2012

Hi people

I rebuilt mine last month when I was performing the bike's 80,000km service. Two new seals cost $1.62 each a few ml of oil. Perfect. Don't believe when BMW tells you they can't be rebuilt.

Cheers and kindest regards to all.

Paul Harrington
South Australia

cws

· #4 · Jul 27, 2012

Procedure writeup is due about now then, Paul....

hope you took pictures!

deputy5211

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jul 27, 2012

deanwoolsey said:
Hey Tony, might want to recheck that leak. Mine was leaking and the air was blowing it all over the place. Turned out to be the slider tube seal. Not saying you're wrong, I would just check to be sure.

Good tip, Dean. Cheers!

deputy5211

Discussion Starter · #6 · Jul 27, 2012

harrowbmw said:
Hi people

I rebuilt mine last month when I was performing the bike's 80,000km service. Two new seals cost $1.62 each a few ml of oil. Perfect. Don't believe when BMW tells you they can't be rebuilt.

Cheers and kindest regards to all.

Paul Harrington
South Australia

Cheers, Paul.

One of the members here, CochinoSucio, rebuilds them for a nominal fee and he is local to me.

andy

· #7 · Jul 28, 2012

Checking for shot steering dampeners is actually quite easy: Put the bike on the center stand, have your wife sit on the back seat, so that the front is off the ground, then *QUICKLY* try to move the handle bars. You will feel and see and hear when the steering dampener kicks in. If the handlebars move more than 1" freely (you'll see what I mean) your steering dampener needs attention.

deputy5211

Discussion Starter · #8 · Jul 28, 2012

andy said:
Checking for shot steering dampeners is actually quite easy: Put the bike on the center stand, have your wife sit on the back seat, so that the front is off the ground, then *QUICKLY* try to move the handle bars. You will feel and see and hear when the steering dampener kicks in. If the handlebars move more than 1" freely (you'll see what I mean) your steering dampener needs attention.

Thanks, Andy. That is a better job of describing the process than I did in the opening post. I should have mentioned having my wife sit on the bike. Glad you caught it. :rotf:

e7navy1999

· #9 · Nov 28, 2012

Thanks yall. I tacked the steering damper and it works amazingly well. Cost me $7 qt 10w fork fluid, $6 seals, and about 1hr labor. The most difficult parts was them dam BMW lock tight trox bolt. Lots of heat in the right places and a good snap-on impact driver. Gotta take off the fender and front wheel!!!!!

hd_ryder1964

· #10 · Nov 28, 2012

How BIG of a wife will I need??? I'm in the market for one.... if I ask a girlfriend to do it she'll say I'm insinuating that she's fat!

deputy5211

Discussion Starter · #11 · Nov 28, 2012

hd_ryder1964 said:
How BIG of a wife will I need??? I'm in the market for one.... if I ask a girlfriend to do it she'll say I'm insinuating that she's fat!

Fortunately, not very big at all. I have a spare kevlar vest you might borrow if your GF is a bit on the sensitive side.

Dragonwing

· #12 · Nov 28, 2012

Can one expect tainted results if one's GF or Daughter is perched on the bike? Or, just to be sure, should one start looking for the number of the local rent-a-wife? Just for accuracy, of course.

DW

GaryEm

· #13 · Nov 28, 2012

Lets see what was this post about again

Just kinding ;I do have a wife for rent ;help pay for the trip to CCR.

jzeiler

· #14 · Nov 29, 2012

You don't need anyone to sit on the bike, just put your case of beer in the top case. That 'll do it. (burp)

johnT

· #15 · Mar 18, 2013

e7navy1999 said:
Thanks yall. I tacked the steering damper and it works amazingly well. Cost me $7 qt 10w fork fluid, $6 seals, and about 1hr labor. The most difficult parts was them dam BMW lock tight trox bolt. Lots of heat in the right places and a good snap-on impact driver. Gotta take off the fender and front wheel!!!!!

Do you have a link or suggestion where to buy the seals? (in the USA preferably)

sorry if it is posted somewhere on the site.... I haven't searched extensively...

thanks.

Rashou812

· #16 · May 22, 2013

Ok... Im sorry call me dumb...

If I set the bike on the center stand and I lift the fnt tire off the ground and I flap the bars left and right the dampner should so what???

Stop it??
slow it??
maybe mine has never worked and I dont know what it should feel like or what it should do..

Could someone be very clear ... ty

cws

· #17 · May 22, 2013

With the wheel off the deck, if you might the bars slowly left /right/left you shouldn't feel any real resistance.
If you move them violently left/right/left you should feel it stiffen up and harder to make the movements. If you don't feel any increased resistance, its likely the damper is shot, so needs repair or replace.

I just installed a Hyperpro Reactive damper on mine, and I can now feel the resistance increase in relation to the amount of left/right movement.. plus that's adjustable compared to the OEM thats either active or it isn't.. Hyperpro make a similar one they call constant dampening.
Have a look here for some graphs & info of how these things work...

00K1200LT

· #18 · May 24, 2013

cws said:
With the wheel off the deck, if you might the bars slowly left /right/left you shouldn't feel any real resistance.
If you move them violently left/right/left you should feel it stiffen up and harder to make the movements. If you don't feel any increased resistance, its likely the damper is shot, so needs repair or replace.

I just installed a Hyperpro Reactive damper on mine, and I can now feel the resistance increase in relation to the amount of left/right movement.. plus that's adjustable compared to the OEM thats either active or it isn't.. Hyperpro make a similar one they call constant dampening.
Have a look here for some graphs & info of how these things work...

Yep, its doing nothing that I can see. With the tire off the ground and a movement left & right I dont feel anything.

Is there a kit to rebuild it? or just buy a new one?

bikerj

· #19 · May 24, 2013

00K1200LT said:
Yep, its doing nothing that I can see. With the tire off the ground and a movement left & right I dont feel anything.

Is there a kit to rebuild it? or just buy a new one?

Well, while posts #3, 6, and 9 doesn't answer if a kit's available, they do address your second question.
Perhaps posts divisible by 3 evade you?

All kidding aside, welcome to the forum. :wave

cws

· #20 · May 24, 2013

00K1200LT said:
Yep, its doing nothing that I can see. With the tire off the ground and a movement left & right I dont feel anything.

Is there a kit to rebuild it? or just buy a new one?

Were you slamming it back and forward, or just moving the handle bars left/right....?
If slamming it like in a tank-slapper and it doesn't stiffen up at all, then I'd probably buy a new one... But at over $360 that's just me....
Eg. http://pirateslair.net/Hyperpro.htm

1 - 20 of 31 Posts

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