Rear Suspension Link Maintenance

[GerPa]

Hi Everyone.
I have just clicked up 30,000Klms on my 2016 XCa, and in the maintenance schedule says the rear suspension link should be serviced, In Marks Motorcycle Motorcycle Manual he recommends every 6000miles.

 It's a pretty major maintenance task and for a bike of this caliber I think 30,000klms or 18,000 miles seems a bit early to me.

What is other people's experience? How often does it REALLY need to be done and how many failures have people had?

[ijinak]

Probably zero failures, but I'd do it at the factory specified interval as water can get in there. I had a bike years ago which I bought with a completely seized link. It took a lot of swearing and bashing with hammers to get it free

[Chippy4467]

I'd do it as soon as - my Gen2 was almost seized at around 12000 mls and there have been others on here - one case of a collapse failure while 2 up  - not good.
The "pins" corrode at the ends and you wreck the bearings/seals when driving/pressing them out (should be a push fit but not when corroded  )
Probably be OK for longer if done well at 6000miles because Triumph are not very generous with the grease but definitely worth doing early 
(My Gen1 was better than my Gen2)

[GerPa]

Well Fourm Members, Feedback time.

6/2016 XCa with just 30072Klms on it I am its 3rd owner it had 18,000klms on it when I purchased it so there is I'm My opinion a bit of concern about the previous treatment, thus do the maintenance and draw a line in the sand as I did when I got all the Engine Stuff down at 20,000klms

I bit the bullet this afternoon and stripped the Rear Suspension Link, I had Mark's Motorcycle Manual to assist and follow which certainly makes life a bit easier. However, I had to remove the exhaust to get the Rear/Swing Arm link bolt out.

Once everything was removed it was as expected. 7yr old aged limited amount of grease and it's impossible for it to be any other way. as the tolerances between the Pins and the Needle Rollers is so precise that any excess grease is pushed out when reassembling it. there was no sign of any dirt or water ingress however the lower Shockie Eye Link Pin had some slight blueing when the pressure had been applied to it at some time. there was absolutely no wear in any of the pins. there were some minor wear marks on the inside of the Rear Swing Arm links where they touched the side of the Aluminium link.

I cleaned all the Needle Roller bearing in the link and repacked them with some fresh Heavy Duty grease,

N.B. Be very careful cleaning the Needle rollers in the Bottom of the shockie as they're not captive like the Link bearings and will all fallout and you then have to take extreme caution repacking and reseating them correctly in the Lower Shockie Eye.

All up it took about 3Hrs which in My Opinion is not too bad for a Mature Aged Motorcycling Enthusiast (73) rolling around on the ground because He had sold his service ramp with the sale of the the last Triumph Thunderbird and the Ol Harris Bonneville.