| Author | Message | ||
     Pepperk496 |
I hit a pot hole a few months ago and a small tank slapper followed. My rim was destroyed so I had a good excuse to buy the black ones I had always wanted, and then I was inspired to seek out a steering damper. But $500 for that slick GPR unit wasnt gonna cut it. I remember seeing a few different posts about home / garage made dampers a couple years ago so I thought I would give it a try. I bought a $14 damper on eBay, from a 2006 GSXR. I picked up the fork clamp from attack performance. I found out a few days ago though, that you can also get the damper bracket from Harris performance at Kneedraggers. I had the nut welded on rather than drill and tap the hole so that with the damper removed I can still access the isolator bolt with the proper allen key for removal. The rubber did melt a bit while the nut was being welded on but 200 miles later and all seems to be ok. The thing actually works! $14 damper + $10 weld + $40 bracket = $64 well spent! The only issue I have had is after bringing down a monster wheelie a little bit hard, the damper had rubbed the left fork clamp and removed some of my spray paint job. Oh well, as you can see I dont care to have everything pretty, I just ride.    | ||
| Gentleman_jon |
Very nice. And the price was right !! If I could take the liberty of making a suggestion, I would have put a jack under the motor, or strapped it up tight to the frame if I didn't have a jack, and then removed the front motor mount before welding on the new bolt extension. The reason I say this is that the front rubber isolator is prone to failure, (and has been upgraded), so I would not want to put any additional stress on it. | ||
| Teeps |
Is the front engine mount commonly used for the addition of a steering damper? Can the damper unit foul the steering, if the (welded) bolt breaks? (Message edited by teeps on March 08, 2009) | ||
| Pepperk496 |
Jon, I considered removing the bolt to have the welding done but I didnt want to wait on the new isolator to show up. I was impatient so I just left it there. I think you can see where the rubber did melt a little bit. But it was only at the very end of isolator, the rest of the rubber above the nut was hardly even warm to the touch immediately following the weld. So my fingers are crossed and I have a new isolator on the way just in case. As far as the front mount being used for the steering damper, I believe its the LSL that uses a modified isolator bolt and costs $369. If the welded nut broke the entire damper would probably dangle about 2-3 inches but wouldnt effect steering as far as I could tell. I'm sure I would be able to hear it smacking the fender but shouldnt be an emergency otherwise. |
