R50 Earles fork shock

[hungstart]

I have a shock on the front that came unscrewed from the lower half of the shock. It might have damaged the threads slightly I will try to clean the threads with a metric thread chaser. It will take a rather large tap and die to clean up the threads of that if it becomes needed. My question is how does the upper half come undone from the upper attachment? Is there a nut under the rubber bump stop on the piston shaft under the upper dust cover?

RickC

 

[20774]

I've never been inside my shocks, but this is the RealOEM breakdown of the parts...looks somewhat straightforward.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=0213&mospid=48031&btnr=31_0469&hg=31&fg=20

 

[marchyman]

Is there a nut under the rubber bump stop on the piston shaft under the upper dust cover?

RickC

Hold down the cover. There are tools to do that, but with care you can do it holding the shock in your lap, too. Push down any bumpers that are against the upper eye. You'll see flats in the shock rod -- 10 mm I believe. Hold the rod still with the apropriate wrench while holding the cover down, then put a screwdriver through the upper eye and unscrew.

Here's my front in a tool to hold the cover down as I get ready to unscrew the upper eye:
<img src="http://www.snafu.org/restore/service/9600-mile/p-20050124-160701.jpg" title="front shock removal">

Here's the shock removed from the upper eye. You can see the flats in the rod:
<img src="http://www.snafu.org/restore/service/9600-mile/p-20050124-162456.jpg" title="front shock upper eye removed">

 

[hungstart]

Sorry for the late reply. I built a tool like yours and it worked great! The hack has another 3000 miles on it since then, even rode it to the national.

 

[vechbmw]

R50 Earles front shocks

I have a shock on the front that came unscrewed from the lower half of the shock. It might have damaged the threads slightly I will try to clean the threads with a metric thread chaser. It will take a rather large tap and die to clean up the threads of that if it becomes needed.

If it turns out that the threads are damaged, and you cannot screw the shock cartridge into the lower eye, (which is usually the case, after they come unscrewed during riding) new ones are in fact available.

The part number is: 31 41 2 054 200 telescopic leg eye shock eye lower R26-R69S

And Bench Mark Works has them in stock if you cannot find them anywhere.

RickC

Vech
BMW MOA Ambassador #9462