Seals and shocks

Rapt · 01-08-2002, 05:58 AM

Well I heard from my dealer last week. My S has had the input shaft seal on the transmission replaced as the source of my oil seep.

My shock has been sent off to Lindemann for a total overhaul including revalve/respring as necessary to achieve my goals of better compliance and better handling. Will have to wait until spring now to see if it really works as advertised.

Can't wait.

jclark · jclark's Garage

Had the tranny seal fix, works wonders!

How much is LE charging for shock work?

And whataretheydooin' to it?

jeff
has this urge to post nudity, where none existed before...

Rapt · 01-08-2002, 09:50 AM

LE charges $220 for rebuild with seals and revalve, $315 for rebuild with seals, revalve and respring. (Half the cost or less of an Ohlins.)

I'm dying to get it back and try it.

Rapt · 01-17-2002, 08:25 AM

Update:

Just got off the phone with Jim Lindemann. Seems the rebound adjuster on my shock was seized and they were unable to free it.

So after some conversation about my options, and how the adjuster works, they are going to try and drill and replace it with another needle/aperture seat screw to acheive the same effect.

Anyways if this doesn't work I will most likely be looking for an inexpensive (used stock) donor shock.

Raven · 01-17-2002, 06:43 PM

Rapt, Hope things work out OK! LE is the best there is. If anyone can fix it, they can.

Jeff, I know how hard it is, but you need to control those urges. Send them away to the place where those bad urges should go!

JeffD · 01-17-2002, 07:38 PM

Rapt, I had the same thing happen and I got my dealer to give me credit towards a new shock even tho the shock was only warrantied for one year and mine was two years old at the time. they subtracted the price of a bmw shock off the price of an Ohlin and even installed the shock under warranty.

lennie · 01-17-2002, 08:12 PM

Rapt,

Not good news. I had the same thing go wrong as well as other problems when I originally had the shock rebuilt. After getting it back the clevis at the swiangarm came loose and the shock seperated. It broke the damper adjustment rod that goes up the guts of the shock. It was repaired and rebuilt but was never quite the same. I stripped a friends stock shock to get the stock rod and had a new one made. The shock works fine now. The shock guy made the new adjuster screw for it at the same time.

I think LE should be able to or know someone who can make the adjuster screw.

regards.

Lennie

Rapt · 01-18-2002, 05:47 AM

Thanks guys for your feedback. Seems this is a common problem with the shocks. I'm going to talk to the dealer to see if I can get some "assistance" with it if LE can't solve the problem.

So far I'm in wait and see mode. I trust them to do a good job, they certainly have the rep for it.

Supermag · 01-18-2002, 06:14 AM

Just got my S out of the shop. Had the factory recall on the gas line and the input shaft seal replaced.

Rapt · 02-12-2002, 09:44 AM

So Lindemann had my shock finished Feb 7 and called me with the final bill ($274 US)

That included a rebuild and revalve for my riding style and specific complaints. Also the repair of the seized adjuster.

My dealer should have it in a week or so, (its being shipped slow/cheap way). There's no panic since its snowy and cold here. Will give another update when I get to try the new shock out...

EZ-RIDER · 02-12-2002, 10:06 AM

Hey Rapt;

Was it the front or rear shock ?, And with the front adjustment screw how many turns before it bottoms out?

EZ

CurveBurglar · 02-12-2002, 12:59 PM

A friend of mine in South Australia had his damping adjuster seize on his standard shock and BMW Australia replaced the whole rear shock, even though the S was well out of warranty.
There was no charge for the shock but a small labour charge for removing the old shock and replacing with the new one.

Rapt · 02-13-2002, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by EZ-RIDER
Hey Rapt;

Was it the front or rear shock ?, And with the front adjustment screw how many turns before it bottoms out?

EZ

It was the rear shock. Thats the only one Lindemann will do without the bike there to "fit" it to.

My new (rear) adjuster has a 3 turns from closed to full open. Which combined with the revalve to suit me should be plenty.

Rapt · 03-19-2002, 07:58 AM

Well I'm still waiting for my shock. Lindemann sent it late (there was a mix-up). So it was shipped 3-day International on March 4... Its now March 18 and I'm still waiting for the shock to arrive.

UPS called me about clearing customs and when I checked the delivery address they had it wrong, except for the postal (zip) code. So I had them "correct" it. Since then its been back and forth between various hubs and warehouse locations and the original UPS shipping location but it hasn't made it across the border. At one point it was two hours away from the destination but they chose to send it back to California.

Inquiries with customer service have resulted in even less information than is available in the online tracking system and a form letter response stating that they can't do anything like intercept a package while its enroute.

Everytime I mention my problems to people they give me similar stories about their experiences with UPS...

I have used the postal service (in both countries) and had better succes and reliability for significantly less cost. Or for service that is orders of magnitude better, go FedEx. The "shipping" cost is slightly more but they don't hit you with a large "brokerage" fee (typically 2-3 times the total cost of shipping) to clear customs, which is over and above any duties/taxes to be paid.

All in all UPS isn't worth the trouble at ANY cost. I will NEVER be using them again. Nor will I be doing business with any firm that insists on shipping with them. Any savings that might be gained are lost in aggravation, delays, hidden costs and wasted time.

tvrla · 03-19-2002, 11:56 AM

Sorry to hear about your problem, Rapt. I had a similar problem with them, but, thankfully, it worked out in the end. But not without my calling supervisors and their supervisors until I got to some one who could do something about it. Very frustrating. I realized that you had to get to a supervisor who didn't have a toll free number. Those are the ones with some power.

Don in Oz · 03-19-2002, 10:11 PM

rapt

I posted a similar thread recently about that ****ty rear shock dampening adjustment screw freezing up. I've only got 14,000km's on my "S" & must say that I am pretty dissappointed in some aspects of the BMW product.

On a more positive note, I replaced both the front & back shocks with an italian product named "Bitubo". Whilst I basically got new second hand shocks they still cost an arm & a leg. The handling difference in the bike is totally unbelievable, & I would thoroughly recommend the change to anyone, provided of course that they have the hooch to pay.

pbeau · 03-20-2002, 04:18 AM

hey guys
could someone tell me if Lindemann engineering
has a web site?
thanks

Rapt · 03-20-2002, 07:28 AM

www.le-suspension.com

And yes it seems that the rear shocks are prone to having the damping adjuster seize. Probably regular movement and lubing would prevent that. FYI my S has close to 30,000 km on it.

Rapt · 03-25-2002, 08:08 AM

So an update.... UPS initiated a trace on my package after it hadn't shown up in regular tracking after a couple days (and two weeks bouncing around between UPS locations).

The trace was resolved Thursday Mar 21 when they confirmed that it had been "found" in the original departure location. It was then "shipped" AGAIN and it now is currently (according to them) "in transit". The elapsed time is 21 days since it was originally shipped, 3-day-international. And it has yet to actually make it halfway across the US.

UPS's much vaunted "web-tracking" is completely ineffective at actually tracking packages. (when you talk to them on the phone etc, they make reference to "physical scans" as opposed to tracking/shipping scans. I believe that it results from the scanning of the manifests rather than the individual packages and thats why my shock has been so slow. All the apparent travelling it did was simply the result of it appearing on shipping lists that travelled to Windsor. The physical package never left the original collection point in Sunnyvale California and so there was a problem when the physical and "trackling" scans mismatched. since then they have been just hoping I'd let it slide.

UPS is a complete embarassment of a corporation. I have no idea how they continue to remain in business, but I do know that they will never receive another dollar from me directly or indirectyl through my doing business with a company that ships with them. Indeed I am going to make sure that they get many dollars of NEGATIVE advertising over this incident, and their inability to do ANYTHING around it even remotely close to "right".

If I had wanted slow (albeit faster than this) service with poor trackability I would have had it sent regular post. At least they're "reliable", in MANY packages sent I have never had one go astray with the postal service and have had shipments arrive from Oregon in less than a week (across the border...)

WHAT IS THE PROBLEM WITH UPS that they can't provide a third the service with 3 times the cost? I urge you all to consider very carefully if you want to support a company like this the next time you have something to be shipped.

Rapt · 04-03-2002, 01:00 PM

UPS STILL hasn't managed to get the shock from Sunnyvale, CA to Cach, IL. Let alone all the way to Canada.

They've attempted it 4 times, and each time the tracking shows an arrival scan followed by an unload scan... Then after a few days of no progress and some hassling by ME, it shows up in Sunnyvale again as "Left in a UPS facility, delayed" then it goes into "transit" to Cach again. Each cycle takes nearly a week.

At this point I could have driven down there easier and faster than they've made this.

I've given them until the end of the week to make good with the delivery and then I'm filing a claim.