KDX shock linkage

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IdahoCharley
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KDX shock linkage

Post by IdahoCharley »

Greased up the linkage on the KDX a few weeks ago before putting it to bed for the winter.

I noticed that the lower shock pivot point seemed to be the bearing that showed the most exposure to the elements. I'm thinking that I'll add a couple of large snug o-rings to the lower clevis pivot point area in an attempt to help seal out the elements.

Has anyone else done this on the KDXs?
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Indawoods
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Post by Indawoods »

I haven't but it seems to me everytime I try to weatherproof some point I end up trapping water because of improper seal causing more damage.

You might keep out 90% of muck but it's what you trap that may be the problem.
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IdahoCharley
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Post by IdahoCharley »

I may try it just to see how it works out.

On the KTM the lower shock bearing is a hemi type bearing and contains a thin teflon liner which is not suppose to be exposed to grease, dirt ,etc. These use to fail within a short time frame. When we were attempting to lengthing the hemi's life span one of the things that seemed to really help was installation of 0-rings which encompassed the area between the clevis and the hemi. I believe the KDX linkage set-up will have a lot more movement than the KTM and did wonderlike Indawoods whether or not I would be doing more harm than good. I think I will go ahead and install the o-rings on the KDX and see if 1) they help 2) if they last any period of time at all.

Anybody try anything different. I believe CC tried some different bushing material at one time but don't recall how that turned out. (When I did a search I could not come up with the thread link)
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Post by KDXer »

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canyncarvr
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Post by canyncarvr »

Try a sealed bearing.

That's what I'm running at the moment. The grease seals are not weather proof. (Duh....really?)

A double lipped bearing is something like 4mm wider than the OEM bearing, so you have to machine a tad off the INside metal lip of the OUTER diameter of the oem grease seal.

My bearing has around 800 miles on it..still in good shape.

The OEM (no lipped) bearing? I've gone through about 1/2 dozen of them at LEAST! Well...before the latest 'fix'.

Oh...guess I could've looked at KayD's posted link first.........

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