Issue link: http://trailridermagazine.uberflip.com/i/807546
KTM PDS Heim Joint Replacement Synergy Seals F-Bushing www.synergyseals.com KTM's Progressive Damping System or PDS, for short — woods riders love the simplicity, no linkage bearings to maintain, and no low-hanging linkage to get hung up on stone walls and log crossings. It's rela vely painless to maintain; other than a seasonal swing arm service, there's not really much to it. You've got a set of needle swing arm bearings that last a very long me if cleaned and properly greased. The only other maintenance item is the lower shock heim joint. Here in muddy New England, we've found the stock heim joint to last approximately 100 hours, maybe a bit less depending on how clean you keep your ride. The stock heim is a non-serviceable item. We've been told not to grease this component as grease will destroy the Tefl on bearing surface. This is a remove and replace component. While prepping our trusty KTM 300XC-W for the upcoming season, we no ced the heim joint had developed a bit of play. Loose suspension components can make a bike feel ra y, and this issue had to be dealt with before the snow melted. We then decided to do a bit or research on heim joint replacement op ons. Even though the stock heim had provided decent life, we felt con nuous washings really shorten the life of this component. Once water gets past the seals, rust soon develops. I'll admit, I might be guilty of over-washing my bikes but being of German heritage, I'm a s ckler for maintenance. It's next to impossible to spot problems before they happen with everything caked in mud. What we found to be a great replacement is a cool component manufactured by Synergy Seals, the Synergy F-Bushing kit. (www.synergyseals.com.) Synergy makes a greaseable bushing that is en rely 20 Trail Rider www.TrailRider.com