Rear Shock (lower bushing maintenance)

[pkoosa]

This is just a preventative maintenance tip...
While taking off the rear shock for a spring swap I discovered that there was a metal bushing to keep the shock in place. This bushing is precision fit, I had to use needle nose pliers to persuade it out.

I don't have a lot of rain riding miles on the bike, but I can see how this bushing may seize in there if it were constantly exposed to water and road grime. This particular area will take the brunt of the water, dirt, etc., which may find it's way in and seize the bushing in there making extraction should the rear shock ever need to be removed difficult, because there's not a lot of room to work with.

If it's hasn't been done it would be a good idea to pull out this bushing whenever the rear wheel is off and put some grease or anti-seize compound on it to prevent possible seizure.


Here is the the lower mounting hole.

Here is a shot of the bushing in place without the rear shock.

The shock and bushing in place without the fasteners.

 

[Sawblade]

I'll check it out whenever I do the 520 conversion in the near future.



Please tell me that's a new chain. I wore out my good brass wire brush scrubbing mine off today and it's not even close!

 

[Wildcard]

520 conversion and that suspension setup definitely considering guys. Good tip too noodle.

 

[MarinaFazer]

good tip...I'll look in to it.

 

[Cali rider]

I've yet to see a cleaner swingarm than that!

 

[SovietRobot]

I'm looking to swap my swingarm, shock, and chain/sprockets all at the same time

Thanks for the tip!

 

[pkoosa]

I've yet to see a cleaner swingarm than that!

HA! What you see is the result of what WD40 left behind. It's an awesome cleaner.

 

[fazil]

Not just Wd40, photography is also awesome.
Great photographs!

 

[bmccrary]

Yup, linkage/suspension maintence tends to over looked by alot of people. Including myself. I made that mistake on my KX 250. There are roughly 8 to 10 bearings is a linkage style shock set up. (Ours is linkageless) Its pricy to replace.

Just a couple weeks ago I guided my roommate though cleaning and greasing his linkage bearings. His GSXR has roughly 16000 miles on it, and the grit had already found its way in a bit. Not bad, but it was still there.

Its not cheap, nor easy to replace these bearings when they seize. Trust me!

On our bikes, its two bolts and the shock is off. Next time your rear wheel is off, give it some lube...

-bryan

 

[Wildcard]

not to bring up an old topic, but I am in the process of doing this right now. I have about 8500 miles on my bike, and this bushing is NOT budging...lol Pain in the butt.

After some spraying of PB blaster, I got a good pair of vice grips, got it as tight as possible on the end, and wiggled then hammered the grips to get the bushing out. Not too bad but a pain none the less.

 

[Yatz86]

HA! What you see is the result of what WD40 left behind. It's an awesome cleaner.

noted. WD40 is good for cleaning swingarm spotless clean:rockon:

 

[Jugro]

Yeah had to remove the bugger, when i installed my new WP shock :rockon:

long story short: BIG *** pipe wrench a blow torch and two tired people was all it toke to get it out