I hear that these bikes come from the factory with no nipples and the joints dry. Understandable I suppose. You can hardly expect Honda to have somebody greasing pivot pins on the production line. Would be nice but it's not going to happen is it. Sooo, has anybody fitted grease nipples and if so any tips please?
dont see how you could tbh without drilling+tapping into the joint. my 04zx6r had grease nipples on the rear linkages!!!
That's just what I intend to do mate. My next upgrade I think. Just got to work out how to pull it all apart. Anybody got any input? Nick.
Not sure pal but a lot of plain bearings nowadays don't need lubricating - they don't operate in the "hydrodynamic mode" and they wear over time however their life / number of cycles is typically far beyond the life of the bike or the particular subassembly (rear shock, linkage). Drilling into the housing may introduce a stress raiser and can lead to fatigue failure.
If you drilled a hole and the part failed and you killed someone and the insurer found out about it...
Yor faith in Honda is admirable but as with any mass-produced item, the 'bean-counters' hold sway. Our bikes, like every other product, are built down to a price not up to a standard.
el-nicko, you're absolutely right about the cost but trust me on this one and don't drill any holes as suggested earlier. (I design cranes for nuclear industry and use journal / sliding bearings / sleeves quite often. They're meant for dry running as they made of low friction material, either plastic (IGUS) or metal - bronze or they're made of sintered material with lubricant trapped inside the porous structure. Sorry for being boring
You're not by any means boring mate (unlike Sinewave who's posts are a guaranteed cure for insomnia ) cos that's just the sort of input I'm asking for. I thort I'd strip it down and have a look to assess the need or otherwise for a nipple. I've added grease nipples in the past to this type of linkage with only + results. My reason for contemplating this mod' is simply that, positioned as it is, low down and vulnerable to the ingress of water/salt/grit and, being aware of the cost/benefit analysis 'reasoning' of the bean counters in 'Accounts', it would be a good idea to strip it down and take a look just to see if, as you say, 'Honda' have addressed the problem of possible seizure due to lack of lubrication. Now who's being boring? Thanks again mate, Nick.
You're saying that Honda left out a grease nipple to save on the cost? I say it was left out because it's unnecessary.
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