How-to: R1100 RT-P Shock Replacement

[Santron]

This past weekend I changed out the shocks on my 2000 R1100RT-P. As I got into the job, I found out that the task was different than the write-up that I had seen below:

 

http://www.bmwbmw.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3569

 

The rear shcok was a piece of cake: Just remove the seat, the seat height adjuster and you have access to the top. Remove the rear wheel and you have access to the bottom. I did not remove the metal side pannel like the article above mentions.

 

The front turned out to be a whole different game, though. The RT-P's crash guards are pretty tightly integrated with the engine, and where it wraps around the front, it prevents you from simply removing the shock like on the regular RT. I messed around with trying to remove the crash guards but gave it because it was too difficult. After messing with it for quite a while, I found that the "easier" way (haha..yeah.."easier") was to un-bolt the telelever arm from the engine and then the other end at the fork brace, and move the arm forward 4"-5" and slide the front shock out the bottom until the top of the shock clears the steering head, and then move it back up and out the side. To un-bolt the telelever arm you will need a 12mm hex key to remove the left side cover, and a fairly lefty spring clip remover to remove the right side cover, then just standard 14-17mm sockets and a breaker bar. Probably need two people as well to break it loose. Anyway, annotated pictures below show the lay-of-the-land in how I got it done:

 

 

 

 

 

The result: It does make a difference in how the bike rides. I have 65K on my RT-P with, I believe, the original suspension. I can't say it made a HUGE difference, but the bike is a lot stiffer now in a good way; not just the ride, but the bike overall just feels better.

 

[russell_bynum]

Yowsa. That crash guard sure does complicate the front shock replacement process!

 

Nice work!

[twolfy]

Mike,

Thanks for the pictorial. We will be changing my son's shocks soon on his RTP and I can see it was more than I thought for that front shock. Good excuse to get in there and grease up that front telelever swingarm.

Tom