How To Rebuild a KTM/Husqvarna WP Linkage Style Rear Shock

hey this is Charles with Rocky Mountain atv/mc today I'll be showing you how to rebuild a KTM and husky linkage style rear shock there's a couple different reasons you'll be in this rear shock and rebuilding it you could be just changing out the old oil and getting some fresh stuff in it or like us we actually have a leaky shock seal so we need to take care of that but doing that on these WP shocks can be a little difficult because this reservoir has a floating piston in it and you need a special vacuum pump to bleed all the air out now race tech came up with this bladder cap kit and it actually replaces the reservoir and makes it easy to bleed so we'll show you how to install that and replace this seal and we'll get that done but keep in mind this procedure will be similar for 2016 the current model KTM and husky bytes with the linkage style rear shock now we're working on a 2019 KTM 450 xcf but always refer to your model specific service manual for more information proper procedures and specs to do this job you'll need some basic hand tools rags and safety glasses we'll also be using an oil pan heat gun and strap wrench we have some specialty suspension tools and four parts we're using an all ball seal head that makes the job easier because we don't have to replace seals individually we have our race tech bladder cap kit some suspension clean and suspension fluid if you need any of these specialty suspension tools or parts they're available on our website our first step is to record the current settings we have on the shock so we can put everything back how it was the first thing we're gonna do is measure from the top of the spring to the bottom and we'll record that measurement we've not recorded now we can turn our clickers in we'll start with the rebound clicker and count the number of clicks it takes to lightly bottom out that way we can return it to that position so we have ten clicks we'll write that down and then back to the adjuster all the way out counterclockwise after that we'll do the same thing with the compression adjuster after that we'll do the same thing with the high-speed compression adjuster but instead of having clicks we'll be counting the number of turns so we'll go all the way clockwise in and then back it out all the way counterclockwise next we'll put our shock into the vise and make sure you're using soft jaws now we'll loosen this screw on our adjuster ring and we'll back it out until there's no more tension on the spring now we'll take the spring stopper and move it up then you have this lock ring on the bottom and we'll just pop that off take off the spring stopper and there's a washer on the bottom of the spring too so keep all this stuff in order when you're taking it off and sometimes these Springs are directional the only one side has a smaller diameter than the other so I just keep everything in the same orientation that it came off now there's one more washer on top so we'll move that off come with it now we can take out the screw in our reservoir when you do this you need to be really careful wear safety glasses and we'll remove this screw really slow and just let a little bit of nitrogen out at the time you can hear it leaking out right there we'll let all of that nitrogen leak out for now before we finish removing the screw we obviously won't be reusing this o-ring but we'll keep track of it anyway just in case we ever decide to use this style again now we want to keep this as clean as possible where we're taking everything apart we did try to wash the shock off as best as we could with it on the bike but there's still a little bit of sand here and there so we'll wipe that off and we'll remove this cap and then we'll kind of clean around the shock seal to remove the cap we'll just use a punch and knock up on these holes this one came out pretty easy to keep this cap out of the way I like to just take a small zip tie and we'll tighten it down around this shaft with the cap out of the way we actually do have a little bit of sand down here in here and we do want to get that cleaned up because it's important to keep all of these parts as clean as possible we don't want any sand particles getting down in this body and somehow getting overlooked and staying in there now we'll take our race tech seal head setting tool and we'll press our seal head down we'll press the seal head just low enough so we can get good access to this retaining clip for the shock seal now we'll remove our retaining clip we're using some special retaining clip pliers you can also use a small screwdriver or even a pick this tool just makes the job a little bit easier we'll clean the shock body one more time and while we do this we'll check for any damage to the shock body or any burrs that that clip may have caused next get your oil pan ready and we'll remove the shock shaft now be careful when you do this it could get really messy really quick so just use a little bit of patience and try not to get oil all over your shoes so at this point we've got it up a little bit now we'll just work it out nice and slow we'll let some of that oil drip down into our drip pan and we'll lay the shark shaft out on the table now we can remove the shock body from the vise and we'll dump all this oil into our oil pan I'll also spray off any oil so our strapped French gets a good bite to remove this reservoir we'll use a heat gun to loosen up any Loctite on these threads down here and then we'll use a strap wrench to loosen it up now this strap wrench we made it easy and we actually have these available on our website for us we did have to get this pretty warm to take this off so make sure you do that and then we also probably should have taken off the sticker first it gets a little messy so if you have a sticker on yours might be a good idea to take that off before you use the strap wrench on it now we'll remove our shock body from the vise and we'll take our shock shaft to put it in and take everything apart get it ready for cleaning and inspection now we can take the nut off of our shock shaft and we'll do that with a 19 millimeter socket now this next part is really important we'll use a a screw driver to keep the shim stacks and piston and all these pieces in order so we don't mess them up then we can remove our seal take off our zip tie take the cap off lay these out in order and the last thing is the rubber bumper now we're ready to clean and inspect all of our parts so we'll go ahead and start with the shock shaft we'll wipe it down and spray it off check for any dings or nicks in the shaft make sure it's not bent you've got a couple little holes right here we'll clean these passageways out wipe down our bumper but we won't be spraying it off we don't want any get we don't want to get any harsh chemicals on it you know our cap off spero shim stacks off and we'll check our piston ring and make sure it's in good condition if the piston ring is worn out you're going to have some wear marks on the side or scratches or it could have a bronze color to it now we'll get our shock body cleaned up we've got a ton of sand on this one so we'll definitely want to take our time and make sure all of our passages are clean after we've sprayed the shock body down we'll visually inspect it for any damage the next thing we'll do we'll take our shock shaft put it back in the vise and we'll get it prepped for assembly slide our bumper on our cap we will be reusing this top out spring so we'll remove it from the old seal head and clean it up before we put the spring on our new seal head we'll put some grease on the dust and oil seal on the seal head as well as this o-ring right here now we can take our top out spring and put it on to our new seal head so that's ready to be installed now we'll take the Tusk seal bullet and slide it on to our shaft that keeps the shaft from tearing up our new seal to help us do this we'll pour a little shock oil into the cap and we'll cool we'll coat our seal bullet and the shaft with a little bit of oil that'll make sure everything slides on nice and easy and we'll slowly work this seal on and voila next we'll take our cleaning shim stack sand piston and we'll slide these back onto our shaft you might have to be a little patient and slide these shims on one at a time if there's a little misaligned we'll work them on just like that make sure everything's seated correctly and then we can take our nut and this actually is a lock nut but just to be safe we'll put a little bit of thread Locker on there make sure it's not going anywhere one thing that's important some of this dreadlock if it gets pushed on top of the nut it could come around this rebound hole and we don't want any of it going in there so we'll wipe off any extra thread look next will torque this nut to twenty nine and a half foot pounds now we'll remove the shock shaft and we'll place it on some clean rags so we don't get it dirty and then we'll take our shock body put it back into the vise to install our new reservoir we'll need to make sure these threads are completely clean and free of oil then we'll apply some Loctite to our reservoir threads and a little bit of grease to this o-ring just down in here and we'll tighten it down using a strap wrench now keep in mind the thread lock we're using here came with our race tech bladder kit we had a little bit of this red loctite come up and we'll just wipe off all the extra with a rag and use a little bit of contact cleaner if we need to to put this thing back together we'll put some of our suspension fluid in here we'll start in this main body and let it work through our compression valving and into the reservoir that'll help any air get out of there and then we can even try tapping the top a little bit to help it bleed out we've got the suspension flowing through our compression valve into the reservoir so now we'll fill it up to maybe a little more than halfway and what we'll do we'll take our bladder put a little bit of oil on it and a little bit of grease on the seal right here and we will press it down in here to do that we'll remove our cap and the Schrader valve as we put the bladder in the reservoir we want to make sure that the resevoir overflows with oil just like that and when we get to this point this is where it seals off when we push this more in it's actually going to collapse our bladder just a little bit and we do want that to happen and I'll explain that in a minute but we'll press this down just enough there's a retaining clip groove at the top of this reservoir so we'll push it down just far enough to get that clip in make sure that the ring is completely seated in this landing here if it's not it could be really dangerous so double-check that for sure now you can either use an air pump or something like that to pull this bladder up we're actually using the race tech bladder removal tool and we'll pull this cap up to seat against that ring we just installed next we'll take some more suspension fluid and feel the shock body created close to the top maybe a half inch from the top now we'll put the shock shaft into the shock body keep in mind that a little bit of oil is going to come out when we put this in so just take it slow and be careful and what we're trying to do here will be bleeding any air bubbles out so now that we've got that in we'll pump our shock shaft up and down a little bit and we'll do that until we don't see any more air bubbles coming out and we'll always make sure that the oil level is close to the top of the shock and sometimes it helps to press quickly down as you press the shaft into the body and it helps some of the bubbles come up keep in mind that just below the shim stack on these you have some rebound adjusting holes that oil passes through and you always want to keep those submerged under oil at all times otherwise they'll get a little bit of air in the system and we don't want that okay now we'll top the shock body off with a little bit of oil we'll move this seal head down toward its seat and when this goes in there's going to be too much oil and it's actually going to compress this bladder so we do have our Schrader valve pulled out and we'll go ahead and press this in and we'll press the seal head in just plas that stopper ring groove next we'll install the stopper ring back into the shock body make sure it sits squarely in the groove now we'll pull up on the shaft and extend it all the way we'll clean all the oil that's spilled out and we'll use our side cutters and cut this zip tie that was holding our cap out of the way and now we can tap this cap into place now keep in mind the cap has a couple holes in it and we'll align these holes with the shock eyelet the same way it would go on the bike and that way the low spot if any kind of moisture or water gets in here it helps it drain out a little bit easier now we'll remove the shock from the vise and flip it over next we'll crack our bleeder bolt loose with our bleeder bolt cracked list will position the shock and the vise so that this bleeder hole is at the highest position and when we open this up all the extra oil we forced into here is going to come out along with any air bubbles and when you're tightening this down be really careful with the shock body and you'll just barely need to Snug it down and be sure to not over tighten it so that's going to let all our extra oil out as well as the air now make sure that odor ring stays in place and we'll tighten this bolt back down to things I want to point out our shaft is extended all the way and the Schrader valve is out of the bladder if your Schrader valves in the bladder it won't allow the bladder to expand back out and push the air and oil out again KTM husky and WP will tell you to use their vacuum bleeding tools shown in the service manual and that is the best way to guarantee that you get all the air out of the shock so if you have access to one of those pumps at your local shop we recommend that you use that method of bleeding if that's not an option for you then the method that we just showed you is the next best way to bleed your shock and get all the air out of the system now we can take our Schrader valve and install it back into our bladder now we can put our valve cap on and we'll use our suspension clean again get all this oil off of it now you can fill this with nitrogen either now or after the springs on I like to do it now and that way we can make the shock extends all the way and that the valving is all working correctly then that we don't have any air in there so we'll go ahead and remove this from the vise and we'll get our oil pan we'll spray all this oil off now we realized a lot of you guys won't have nitrogen tanks so if you don't you can usually take it to a local shop and they'll fill it up for a small charge now that we have our shock filled up with nitrogen will compress the shaft and make sure it extends all the way on its own and smoothly ours looks pretty good so we'll go ahead and reinstall this back into the vise now we'll take our washer that was on top put that down on to the adjuster right there and then we'll take our spring install it the same orientation we took it off in we've got another washer that's going on bottom and we'll wipe that off make sure it's clean and then we'll take our spring retainer we'll set that in place and then then we can take our retaining clip we'll slide this down into place make sure it seats fully into its groove and then we can adjust our shock preload back up and this is why we took the measurement earlier just so we can quickly put it back into the right spot and we should have the same sag we did before after you have the spring length set you'll want to tighten down your adjuster lock ring and we can now set our compression and rebound settings back to their original positions and that's all there is to installing your race tech bladder cap kit and shock sill on these KTM husky linkage style shocks the parts we use today as well as some of the special tools are available on our website along with just about anything you could want for your bike so be sure to check that out and if you like this video and want to see more like it subscribe to our YouTube channel thanks for watching

Channel: Rocky Mountain ATV MC

Views: 78,005

Keywords: Rocky Mountain ATV/MC, rmatv, rmatvmc, atv/mc, atvmc, motocross, rockymountain, dirt bike, motorcycle, off road, rocky mountain atv, wp shock bladder conversion, wp shock service, wp shock rebuild, wp linkage tutorial, ktm rear shock rebuild, husqvarna rear shock rebuild, wp rear shock rebuild, how to rebuild rear shock on dirt bike, how to, rear shock, shock rebuild, dirt bike shock rebuild, dirt bike shock adjustment, race tech bladder kit

Id: FxucmzVwlU8

Length: 21min 9sec (1269 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 07 2019