Friction Steering Damper

[wirespokes]

Has anyone taken apart one of the 70s steering dampers? I'm curious how they work. I've got one that does nothing so assume all of the friction material disappeared. There's the knob-section that screws into the anchored main body. Evidently something gets squished and expands, applying pressure to the rod, between the two. And at each end reside felt seals.

I ground off the 'retaining bumps' at the end of the rod and removed it to look inside. Is there a way to remove the threaded section? It would be nice to disassemble and replace the friction material.

There's been two views on steering dampers and I kind of feel they do have their place. In both of my crashes a good damper could have helped. Glancing off an Elk's butt at 60 caused one helluva tank slapper I
didn't recover from and resulted in flying off a 20ft embankment. Would have been nice if I could have steered the bike back onto the road, but there's no steering during a tank slapper.

Since I already have this old friction damper, I'd like to resurrect it rather than spend a hundred or two on a new hydraulic adjustable. Those new ones are cool, but not sure I need something that fancy.

[PeteS]

I have one on my ‘76 LeMans. Its either on or off. They are useless. If your suspension is working and tires are not cupped you don’t need one even at triple digit speeds. If you want a steering damper replace it with a hydraulic one.

Pete

[StuCorpe]

The friction type damper on my 03 died quite rapidly after putting the sidecar on.  Would not recommend another of the same type, hydraulic seems to be better with longer lifespan.

[wirespokes]

I got the body apart. With the body clamped in the vise I was able to unscrew the section with the 24mm nut. It didn't come easy, but not horrible either.

It looks like there was some sort of friction material in there that gets compressed - now all gone. I'll look around for something to use in there that might work.

There are hydraulic dampers on ebay for $30. Are they any good? What's the least I could spend for a decent one?

Very true about tires in good shape.

[faffi]

Friction dampers work opposit to what is needed; static friction make it hard to make small corrections, make straight line riding more difficult, but once static friction is broken, damping decreases just when it is needed to stiffen. Go with a quality hydraulic damper with low initial stiction and finely tuneable damping - if you want a damper in the first place.

[John Croucher]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/358809325412?_skw=fxcnc&itmmeta=01KXXG05MY1YYNREWHSYDYCQRY&hash=item538ab3cf64%3Ag%3ATYoAAOSwpoloAHnA&itmprp=enc%3AAQALAAAAwGfYFPkwiKCW4ZNSs2u11xCP1gcfHF%2Fe%2B3nIqJRVuTuCGvhG7vUcLsaz13pQDGjsFZlgGmlqCzpW2YiU%2Bq%2BzPddOgfvL9psFJqdI9k%2FmTSbDlwbNEe%2FVNubQQFcQ0E0kzctYTfL2HK3nUhTkjaUPxPSfoSIccs5VJEsuNyL7xSofylIZ5WWiFTod%2BRZakO9%2B9tckwRiFMBK5Fxy6iHdxe62GFwic%2F5ljv8tchnywJmtB348rJ4NtqyTktvxSMwSt3g%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR-DagLDvZw&keyword=fxcnc&sacat=183730&relatedSearch=true

I have one of these.  Works great.  Adjust from zeros resistance to extremely heavy.  It also acts like a shock by preventing rapid turning from a shock to steering direction.

I can reach down and change settings while riding.  From slow city riding to high speed highway.  Makes a difference on the highway maintaining lane position.  Wind gust, and road grooves are easily overcome.

[ridingron]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/358809325412?_skw=fxcnc&itmmeta=01KXXG05MY1YYNREWHSYDYCQRY&hash=item538ab3cf64%3Ag%3ATYoAAOSwpoloAHnA&itmprp=enc%3AAQALAAAAwGfYFPkwiKCW4ZNSs2u11xCP1gcfHF%2Fe%2B3nIqJRVuTuCGvhG7vUcLsaz13pQDGjsFZlgGmlqCzpW2YiU%2Bq%2BzPddOgfvL9psFJqdI9k%2FmTSbDlwbNEe%2FVNubQQFcQ0E0kzctYTfL2HK3nUhTkjaUPxPSfoSIccs5VJEsuNyL7xSofylIZ5WWiFTod%2BRZakO9%2B9tckwRiFMBK5Fxy6iHdxe62GFwic%2F5ljv8tchnywJmtB348rJ4NtqyTktvxSMwSt3g%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR-DagLDvZw&keyword=fxcnc&sacat=183730&relatedSearch=true

I have one of these.  Works great.  Adjust from zeros resistance to extremely heavy.  It also acts like a shock by preventing rapid turning from a shock to steering direction.

I can reach down and change settings while riding.  From slow city riding to high speed highway.  Makes a difference on the highway maintaining lane position.  Wind gust, and road grooves are easily overcome.

Thanks for that link.   

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

Thanks for that link.   

This was all that was necessary... https://www.ebay.com/itm/358809325412

How does the damper rod attach to the clamp thingy?

[wirespokes]

Thanks for the link, John. I wondered about those and how well they worked.

How many miles has yours gone? I presume it's holding up.

A photo of yours mounted, please?! 

[John Croucher]

The lower triple tree has a hole in it. I threaded the hole.

Made a spacer that allowed the swivel ball to mount below.  I put a washer and acorn nut on top for extra strength and clamping pressure.

The opposite end is mounted to a piece of 3/8 x 1 bar stock.  This is mounted to the voltage regulator mount on the frame.  Using both holes.

.

[John Croucher]

[wirespokes]

For forty bucks I'll give it a try on your say so.

[wirespokes]

The damper arrived yesterday. Like John said, it does adjust from light resistance to very stiff. However there's an issue - it's about a 1/2" short. The stock mounting on both the G5 and 85LM are about 9.5" and the damper's max is about 9".

I'll need to craft an extension to mount it.

I did a search and found that most of them offered on ebay are the same, if not the same unit, the same dimensions.

[Dukedesmo]

Has anyone taken apart one of the 70s steering dampers? I'm curious how they work.

____________________________________________________________________________

         Essentially, they don't.

>Mine did nothing, wherever the adjustment was as it was worn out but, even if they 'work' all they do is make the steering stiffer.

I fitted a Ducati 916 damper to mine, just the right size & stroke although I still got into a tank-slapper when riding across some diagonal white lines so maybe I need something with a bit more damping?

Unfortunately the Ducati damper is non-adjustable so I'll keep an eye out for an improved version.

[John Croucher]

[Gusable]

Don’t know if Would have helped me today but had massive tank slapper on uneven concrete panels getting on highway. Almost went down. 60mph. 85 cal2.  Shaking pretty good when I looked it over ( me that is!!). This stuff is dangerous. I couldn’t see the 3-4 inch step up ledge on these concrete panels  same thing happened on my tiger.  Same town.

[wirespokes]

I made a bracket to extend the damper about a 1/2" and it works well. On the first ride I tried the full-on stiff setting and learned it's a good idea to reset it soft before stopping. The bike balances by turning the front wheel, and with the
damper stiff I almost dropped the bike. It was a scary moment and a lesson I won't be forgetting any time soon.

The damper uses up all but about a 1/4" travel lock to lock. The eyes are 8mm and the Guzzi dampers are 6mm, so I had to make a sleeve for the front one to take up the slop.

[Ncdan]

My OCD kicked in in regards to that little shock like part on my 07 Calvin, with only 4k miles and well kept, so I figure the part was still in good working order.
I found a stretch of road, approximately 3 miles long, that had a combination of curves dips and roughness to it.
I made approximately 5 to 6 runs with the shock starting at the lowest setting and increasing a couple clicks on each run. I ran the route with the same aggressiveness and duplicated each run as close as possible to be the same aggressiveness each time.
I attempted and think I succeeded in eliminating any pseudo effects.
At the end of my test, I was convinced that that little shock had absolutely no effect whatsoever in the handling of the bike, nor didn’t improve any of the functioning capabilities that was built into the bike from the factory.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it😉

[BMCMOTO]

Some here think that the mother ship added brackets and even dampers for their good looks. I think that Guzzi looked at risks and being risk averse the penny pitchers decided that providing a mounting system for, and in some cases dampers, was w wise decision. Almost every bike that came from the factory with a fairing had a damper, and bikes that could reasonably be expected to have one mounted were either provided with a damper or at least mounts for one. Just my opinion and obsevation, obviously  YMMV.

Brian

[guzzisteve]

Scroll to the left even on a computer to see RH side of post.

[73 sport]

   The Problem is not on my end.

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

No, it is not. When someone posts a super long link to a product, one must scroll to the right to see all of the following posts. In that thread, John Croucher posted a link to a steering damper on ebay and caused the issue.

[wirespokes]

Oh! That's why that happened!

I probably would have done the same thing - I just click on the address and paste it in. Don't know no better... (guess I oughta learn)

[wirespokes]

At the end of my test, I was convinced that that little shock had absolutely no effect whatsoever in the handling of the bike, nor didn’t improve any of the functioning capabilities that was built into the bike from the factory.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it😉

On the plus side, it's great it didn't adversely affect handling. And possibly also, you've got to admit there wasn't a tank slapper. Who knows?

It seems like race bikes have them. Don't they? But I'll bet they're a few levels above this little hydraulic cylinder I got.

[moto]

I put an aftermarket version of the T3/Le Mans 1 stabilizer on my T3 after instability in high winds out west. Made a big difference for that, but also harder to steer around town.

[wirespokes]

moto "Made a big difference for that, but also harder to steer around town."

Not adjustable, huh?

[moto]

no, not adjustable.

[yackee]

25,000 miles on a t3, half of those with a giant fairing, and I have never ever ever felt the need for a steering damper.

[moto]

25,000 miles on a t3, half of those with a giant fairing, and I have never ever ever felt the need for a steering damper.

In the 37K miles I have put on mine I have never had a problem, except that one day.

The wind was extremely hard from the south, and blustery, as I went WSW.

I felt in imminent danger of crashing for about 100 miles, but of course kept going.

Part of the problem may have been distribution of weight in my saddlebags.

The non-adjustable steering damper firmed things up.

The T3 is not unstable in general, but I would like to put an adjustable damper
on for special occasions like that one.

[moto]

The OEM-style damper I got from Crusty Cycle
is advertised as hydraulic, non-adjustable.
That's how it seems to me. I would be surprised
to learn that the originals were friction-based.
(Were they?)