'06 m620d Fork Cartridge - Broken Washers

[Fergus]

Hi All, I'd appreciate any help I can get.

For quite a while I've had some funkiness in my forks. I noticed it after I had the springs changed, but that was probably just driven by the post-mod hyper awareness that I always feel. It felt like some kind of bind, or hitch, in the fork motion. One mechanic said he didn't feel anything, but one of my buddies noticed it straight off.

Anyway, I decided to change the oil to see if it made any difference. It didn't and I noticed something moving inside the left fork tube while I was handling it. I pulled the cartridge out and heard it inside of the cartridge - the small spring in it was sliding. I eventually coaxed out some pieces of broken washers.

The other half of the one on the left is probably still in there.

What could have caused this? What are my options? Can it be repaired, or should it be replaced? Thanks!

[Fergus]

I took it down to Salt Lake Motorsports and showed it to a mechanic. He said those were fork broken valve shims and that the cartridge needs to be replaced. The one they have is $260 - pricey for what they are.

I could get a used for for way less. How wary should I be of that? What should I look for?

Should I suck it up and do the sbk conversion?
http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=64128.0

Thanks, Ferg

[BK_856er]

Don't know what caused your broken parts, but if you have the budget I'd use this as an opportunity to upgrade the front end.  You can retrofit forks from other models (search the archives, know what you are getting into) or drop in a real cartridge setup and keep your existing fork tubes.  Few different options for that.  Money spent on the front end of this model is money well spent in my opinion.  On a tight budget I'd bet you could pick up some OE takeoff parts for waaaaaay less than that dealer price.

BK

[Fergus]

You can retrofit forks from other models (search the archives, know what you are getting into) or drop in a real cartridge setup and keep your existing fork tubes. 

Thanks for the reply, BK. I'm looking around for other forks.
-Ferg