1982-1984 Suzuki PE175 Replacement Rear Mono Shock & Forks

[Chuck78]

If wanting to go to a conventional cartridge modern fork, the DR-Z 250 forks seem to be a pretty good candidate as far as I can tell. They only weigh a slight bit more than a PE250 or Full Floater 175.
I'm probably going to run the full floater shocks just with Race Tech gold valves, and attempt to fit a twin leading shoe front drum from an IT465 or a Honda with the same drum size as to retain the PE hub.

I looked into the steering stops or bearing sizes however, but with a bit of machining, anything can be made to work.

I contacted Drew Smith @ WER about hard anodizing and rebuilding some Full Floater PE175 shocks for my friend and I. Drew said that he currently does not have a source for replacement hoses for these shocks, so as long as the hoses are in good condition and the aluminum cylinder walls are in workable condition, he can rebuild them
I meant to reply to him about the hoses, I would imagine that just about any hydraulic hose shop locally that sells Aeroquip or Earl's stainless braided hose and fittings, could likely make up a few lines of this sort. They could probably even reuse the fittings and crimp on some new standard hydraulic hose bulk roll material.

Drew suggested for a new replacement to call YSS USA directly about a custom shock for them. I'm not sure if they offer remote reservoir mono shocks though?

I contacted Worx Shocks, and they said that they do have the drawings and specifications to make these, but they do not have any parts currently to build a large body remote reservoir monoshock, but plan to do a production run later this year, 2021.

[Chuck78]

Oct 16, 2020 14:27:14 GMT rocmoc said:

This is going to be a multi post thread of what I did to FIX my PE175's failed suspension. 

1986 Kawasaki KDX200 Rear Shock (Same shock as earlier but with Clicker adjustment) (Ebay purchase)

Is the '86 KDX200 shock still an alloy body/cylinder?

And you have found the valving as stock for the KDX to be adequate for the Full Floater linkage?
With the twin clickers, that makes it much easier to dial in the damping rates when swapping a shock from a different make/model.
Is there an internal needle type damping orifice at the end of the compression clicker?

[Chuck78]

Aug 10, 2021 15:03:07 GMT Chuck78 said:

Is the '86 KDX200 shock still an alloy body/cylinder?

And you have found the valving as stock for the KDX to be adequate for the Full Floater linkage?
With the twin clickers, that makes it much easier to dial in the damping rates when swapping a shock from a different make/model.
Is there an internal needle type damping orifice at the end of the compression clicker?

I answered my own question reading vintage sales brochures. Yes, the '86 KDX200 shock IS an alloy body same as all the rest of the early mid 1980's 1st gen KYB monoshocks of this variety.

I was going to snatch one up right away but all of the shocks that I can find for sale have bad chrome on the shafts and rust pitting in those areas. The shafts are hollow I am assuming, for the clicker adjustments to exist on the end opposite of the main body. The PE shaft would not swap.
Phil @ Rusk County Mfg iirc, who manufactures reproduction Fox Shox shafts, may likely be able to do a one-off shaft for this, but at that point, I may as well piece together what I can for now & wait for Worx Shocks to do a production run of the necessary pieces to build a nice & very $$$$ PE175 replacement.

[rocmoc]

My '86 Kaw shock was in really good shape & tuned perfectly for the PE and my weight. Still riding on it but scheduled for seals this winter by Z1 Suspension in Tucson, AZ. He rebuilt the DR350 forks I used to replace the stock forks. He also put softer springs in as the PE weights less than the DR and I'm a light-weight(lol). Riding tomorrow on the PE and parking the Yamaha for a while. The PE is better in sand washes than the XT and I'm riding with a guy that likes sand washes.

rocmoc n Th SouthWest USA

[Chuck78]

Any updates on your suspension work?
Are you referring to ZR1 suspension in Arizona? That guy Don / Donnie comes highly recommended amongst the KDX fork swapper/upgrades crowds.

I'm wondering if anyone has had any luck dealing with the guy overseas I believe in the UK or Australia, that makes steel shock bodies for the PE shocks?

I don't have the info saved or at least not easily accessible without digging rather deep into my archives, but I did forward it to my friend with the '84 PE175. I had written to the guy once or twice but he was very very slow to reply. He wanted the shock sent to him to figure out what was salvageable.
I'm wondering if the entire piston assembly is replaceable with a standard KYB for that shock diameter, or Race Tech Gold Valve piston etc?
I would imagine the piston itself is probably also fairly worn out if the cylinder walls of the aluminum shock body are trashed. Or at least the piston ring / piston band.

[ESR80PE]

I have a good condition 82-84 remote res 175 shock coming (arriving early 2023). Plan on doing a full rebuild/break down/report on it which no one has ever done, well at least not shared it anyway. I will also design a new steel shock body for it and explain what you can do . Will look at Race Tech gold valve up-grade plus Luft/White Brothers replacement reservoir.

[Chuck78]

Dec 31, 2022 11:06:55 GMT ESR80PE said:

I have a good condition 82-84 remote res 175 shock coming (arriving early 2023). Plan on doing a full rebuild/break down/report on it which no one has ever done, well at least not shared it anyway. I will also design a new steel shock body for it and explain what you can do . Will look at Race Tech gold valve up-grade plus Luft/White Brothers replacement reservoir.

Please do keep us updated Leith.
My PE175 has gotten pushed back towards the rear of my projects list as I've become heavily immersed in the 1986-2006 Kawasaki KDX bikes (the PE250B is sitting in my workshop bay currently though!), however my friend with the '84 PE175 is absolutely needing a shock rebuild and most definitely a new shock body.
I had planned to tear down & inspect myself and just send all 3 of them to Drew Smith at WER / Works Enduro Rider as he does the hard anodizing that these shocks badly need in order to last (have 2 shocks built from the best parts of the 3). If I had a source just for the hard anodizing, or a source for a new shock cylinder, I'd just do the rebuild on my own.
I've got a lathe and milling machine, but am not proficient enough yet at using them to be doing internal threading or even external threading etc. Then I'd also need to make myself a DIY electro-plating setup for Nickel and/or Zinc plating the steel bodies...more work.

[Chuck78]

ESR80PE If you had any other good sources to recommend on a replacement shock body, that would be very much appreciated.