ELKA problem

[Trooper]

Hello all,

Thank you your feedback, both positive and negative.

I will attempt to clear up alot of the misconceptions about our products, and about suspension in general. I apologise if I have not been able to clear this matter up sooner, however I am here in Missourri at Spyderfest and have been unable to respond earlier.

Sometime between October and December of 2013, we received a large batch of seal heads from our supplier which should not have made it past our quality control but unfortunately did. Hundreds of shocks were built with these seal heads and many of them made it onto a shock order that were sent out to Spyderfest 2014. Unfortunately some of you purchased those shocks at that event and have experienced some leaking issues with those shocks. Not all have experienced problems, but some have.

That being said, let me assure you that even though our warranty states one year, all of those shocks can be traced back with a serial number that is engraved on the shock, and that all those shocks will be repaired under warranty at $0 cost. We have always stood by our products, and have always been honest and fair with our customers.

As for the service intervals, all high end suspension manufacturers will recommend regular service intervals to get the best performance out of your shocks as possible, however, this recommendation is aimed more towards the offroad industry as suspension components generally take more abuse where the oil breakdown is accelerated. There is absolutely no need for you to have the oil in your shocks replaced after every year, on your Spyders as the type of riding your suspension is exposed to is nowhere as severe as you would find in the offroad market.

To respond to Anthony422, your shocks will be repaired at our West Virginia service center (Impact Solutions) at $0 and you will be reimbursed for your shipping charges.

As for the others who have added to this thread, you are welcome to respond with any additional questions or comments you may have. I will only be able to respond at the end of the day after vendor village at Spyderfest closes for the day.

Thank you in advance for your understanding and patience.

Regards

John Ilkiw
Elka Suspension

[finless]

John, so what about users servicing themselves please?

Is that even possible?

Bob

[Trooper]

In order to service them, you need the following:

- vacuum machine ( not a hoover or shopvac) to bleed the air out of the shock
- access to nitrogen
- replacement seal head
- high quality shock oil
- the precise amount of oil volume
- the knowledge and know how to rebuild a shock without damaging it.

or

Sending your Elka shocks to a certified suspension service center to have it done properly.

[PMK]

John, so what about users servicing themselves please?

Is that even possible?

Bob

Bob, the real answer is it depends...Depends upon which series of shocks you have whether they have reservoirs or not. Depends on how comfy a person is in regards to opening a high pressure shock. Depends upon how organized the person doing the work is.

To explain further, Rezzy shocks separate the oil from nitrogen via either a bladder or piston. Some shocks without a rezzy will also have a piston, but not all. If I recall correctly, when I spoke with Elka, they stated their non rezzy shocks were emulsion style, and John can correct me if I am wrong, which allows the gas and fluid to coexist in the same chamber. For this style, you do not need a vacuum bleeder. These are very simple to service as you pour in a predetermined amount of fluid and install the sealhead, then pressurize with N2.

Since it is recommended by Elka to use a vacuum bleeder on rezzy style shocks, that is the optimum way to accomplish a bleed of the fluid. In all honesty though, the suspension industry has done hand bleeds for decades before we ever did vacuum bleeds. I have been doing vacuum bleeds on motocross shocks for over 10 years now. It is better for several reasons. In the end though, it would be easy to hand bleed and obtain excellent results if the person accomplishing the work understood the task.

Most people do not have Nitrogen available to them with a proper gassing setup. A lot of DIY MX guys will build their shock and have a local suspension shop gas it for say 10 to 15 dollars. Like all suspension tuning, if the gassing is done wrong, you can have problems. The Spyder having two front shocks need proper balance, part of this is a good bleed and proper gassing.

There are also specialty tools that allow the tech to accomplish a quality rebuild with no damage. Can a DIY go without them, certainly, but the risk of damage does exist. Outside of that, you are looking at parts and fluid. I am not sure what brand / spec Elka uses, but as I mentioned most times this fluid is over $10 per litre. As for seals, John would know best how Elka sells spares. In regards to replacing the entire sealhead this may be a best practice since it contains the bearing for the shaft, however it is common to not always replace the bearing in a properly designed shock and simply replace the seal itself. The flip side is that in these instances, the suspension is constantly torn down and inspected frequently such as in a race use type situation.

Hope this helped. The Elkas are no doubt popular and a quality product. Bob, being from California, you may want to look up Race Tech in Corona. Besides selling suspension products to all sorts of moto types, they offer training in suspension rebuilding and suspension tuning. Also, Paul Thede, the founder of Race Tech, published a book a few years ago. The Suspension Bible, and in it there is all sorts of good info.

To close, since this is getting long, high performance suspension is not something to consider lightly. Realize that companies that do this, whether manufacturer or service centers understand the inner workings. Consider that failure beyond a simple leak can be dangerous or even deadly, so before you open that shock, understand 100% of what you are doing and do not cheap out or cut corners.

With almost 40 years of building shocks and forks on all sorts of vehicles, I have seen some crazy crap come across my eyes. Often making me wonder why this did not end badly...

Have fun and be careful.

PK

[jcthorne]

Thanks John, really appreciate the straightforward and honest response. So glad this turned out well, love your product and its nice to be able to recommend it to others.

[finless]

Thanks for the info!

Looks like that is a DIY project I wont be doing

Bob

[Tango]

John it was great to meet you in person and chat a while between installs. I knew you were upset about the responses here. And you would respond in a positive manner. The change in my Spyder is immense. Sometimes we don't realize how much time you spend on the road. Tom

[Tango]

So Anthony, and all the naysayers. Where are you now? John went out of his way to help you. Tom

[anthony422]

uhhh I'm here ! and my machine is in the air after removing them. As far as Elka is concerned I'm glad they are doing the right thing .... 50 bucks to ship out of pocket, labor to remove and reinstall and loss of machine during riding season...... yes a hassle, but I'm a big boy i'll get through it. Keep in mind, I would have never said a word except Elka did tell me out of warranty and you can send to service center at your cost for shipping and repair.... so now..i'm sure you wouldn't be very happy now would ya...Thank you John

[Lou]

It is recommended that the gas shocks on a snowmobile be rebuilt around 2,500 - 3,000 miles - Basically every year.
Put Elka's on my RT-S at the end of last year, will have them rebuilt before next season.

[Tango]

uhhh I'm here ! and my machine is in the air after removing them. As far as Elka is concerned I'm glad they are doing the right thing .... 50 bucks to ship out of pocket, labor to remove and reinstall and loss of machine during riding season...... yes a hassle, but I'm a big boy i'll get through it. Keep in mind, I would have never said a word except Elka did tell me out of warranty and you can send to service center at your cost for shipping and repair.... so now..i'm sure you wouldn't be very happy now would ya...Thank you John

Happy? No. Would I have blasted them here without talking to John? No. You didn't know where the factory team was at the time. SPYDERFEST! The fill in person at the factory didn't help matters either. And where are your stock shocks? You could be riding on them. Free shipping, free repair. Glad it all worked out for you. Tom

[Bob Denman]

There's no doubt that this couldn't have popped up at a worse time; everybody was in Missouri!
I think that John's response to this issue has been more than generous!

[900Dave]

Thanks for the responce John.
I did not purchase mine at Spyderfest last year. But I did purchase directly from Elka shortly after. I also had a leaker this spring. The leaking shock was repaired for free by Impact Solutions in very short amount of time. Including shipping both ways I had them back in less than 10 days. I sent the second shock back for rebuild as I wanted both shocks to act the same. I paid for that one.

KEEP YOUR OEM SHOCKS! I lost no riding time and it only takes me about 25 minutes to switch out the shocks.

[finless]

Just an observation like many I notice here on SL when there tends to be a lot of the same reports (like the E showing on the dash recently with 2014 and up).

This season there has been a rash of complaints about leaking Elka shocks!

What triggered me posting this was two things. One I just got off the phone with a friend of mine and his are leaking! Two, this has been reported on SL now SEVERAL TIMES over the last month! Just something I have noticed.

Now I am not saying Elka's got a problem just pointing out this is the most posts and users even on Facebook I have ever seen before posting this issue before.

Bob

[anthony422]

Thanks they did take care of it ... wish they would have taken that approach from the beginning ... really don't know John, but Eric told me It would be my expense to fix really don't mind maint, but not after 500 miles. Any how the shocks are on the way back. did reach out to John I regards to shipping which I paid to get them there haven't heard back... PS I did finally put the OEM's on for the weekend, really reminded me of the bouncy ride

[Tango]

Thanks they did take care of it ... wish they would have taken that approach from the beginning ... really don't know John, but Eric told me It would be my expense to fix really don't mind maint, but not after 500 miles. Any how the shocks are on the way back. did reach out to John I regards to shipping which I paid to get them there haven't heard back... PS I did finally put the OEM's on for the weekend, really reminded me of the bouncy ride

Anthony glad you kept the original shocks. Smart move. John is a good guy. The one you spoke to? Well..... Tom