Rear Shock Dampening

[c165]

I have a 1965 C77. There seems to be little or no dampening in the rear shocks. Despite what the Clymer Manual says it doesn't look like they come apart. Does anyone know if there was oil in there originally? Has anyone tried drilling a small hole in the bottom of the damper? adding some oil and resealling?

[piecutter]

If there is no oil, or not enough, it's because the seals have gone south and the shocks been pumping it out. As you can see, putting more oil in is kind of a moot point, since it's just going to squirt right back out. Rebuilding them is going to take an expert machinist/engineer who actually has an interest in doing such a thing. I have all the spec's if you find such a person, thanks to Honda's habit of printing extrenious information that very few people ever looked at back then.
I've seen some "close enough" replacement shocks by Hagon listed for the CB's but don't know of any for your model. Perhaps someone else on the forum may have seen something and would care to share.

[Dogsbd]

Apex did have repo rear CA77 shocks, I don't see any on their site now. www.apexcycle.com


Might have some luck with www.ohiocycle.com.

[c165]

Thanks piecutter and dogsbd. I tried apex (none left) and ohio won't ship out of the states. That gave me incentive to attack mine again and I worked out how to get them apart.

They do still have oil in them but apparently not full and they feel good - little or no play in the shaft. The first 1" or so of the stroke is only pumping air. Turned upside down they dampen really well and no sign of any oil coming out. I think I'll drill a 1/16" hole and replenish the oil and see what happens. For the little amount of mileage I'll do its worth a try.

Thanks for your help

[ggray]

Years ago, during the first rebuild of my '65 CL77 I had the same problem. A friend of mine gave me some either 350 or 500 honda all chrome rear coilovers to try and use. They were the same length although I did have to machine the "Eyes" a little narrower than they originally were to fit the upper frame brackets on the CL77 frame.

One that was done, they worked perfectly and looked better, IMHO, than the originals.

Gary