Question regarding removal of rear shock

[Gio]

So I'm planning on checking rear splines for the first time (for me anyway). I have the wheel, brake caliper, speedo sender etc all out of the way and swing arm supported with a strap where fully extended shock was holding it. But having removed the shock mounting bolts I am unable to slide lower shock mount off the stud due to right side tragkorb bracket - and the lower two bolts holding that in place just turn without movement ...

Question - would it be ok to lower the swing arm another inch or so (current eye to eye on shock mounts is ~13" - service manual says 13.7 max but unclear from where to where) so that I can slide shock out of top mount - or maybe it would be easier just remove the final drive with shock attached at lower mount?

[Motorhobo]

Just pull the screws holding the side case brackets and either bend it so it clears the footpeg plate or unscrew it at the top under the fender so it hangs freely from th remaining screw at the rear. The screws holding left and right side are different, so keep them separate. I used to just bend the bracket but these days I've just gotten used to unscrewing things that are in the way.

At least that's what I do...if there's another way I'd like to know about it too.

[Gio]

Hi Motorhobo - I had the same idea but the two bolts that hold the bottom of the tragkorb bracket just spin in their bushing - I even tried applying some separation force with a screwdriver whilst turning the bolts but no joy. The two top bolts/screws for the bracket came out no problem - but without removing the lower ones I don't think I can bend the bracket enough to allow shock to be removed ..? The only other thing I can think of is to try and stop the rear of the lower bracket mounts from turning with vice-grip pliers or something?

Hope I'm not misunderstanding your advice (someone once told me that there are no stupid questions - only stupid people ...)

Gio

[Gio]

So I went with option b) and was able to remove the final drive with shock attached. Despite having owned the bike since 2006 (but only having put 3 or 4k miles on in that time) and never having looked at the splines before, it would appear that one of the PO's had done some maintenance - splines were well lubed, and after wiping this off for pics (see attached) there was no evidence of wear of any concern (in my novice - but increasingly educated opinion) and so am going to re-apply some moly60 and button these parts back together. If I had found rear splines dry I was going to dig deeper and check front-end/clutch splnes - but think I may save that treat for another day ... or maybe not?

PS - not that easy to get a drive on those four (8mm) final drive bolts eh? Particularly with all the ABS stuff in the way. I had to use the old 8mm hex key and hammer routine - is re-assembly torque critical I wonder?

PPS - I also wonder how many pics of final drive splines are on this site now? I think of it as a right of passage in some ways.

What a great forum and happy to be part of it.

Gio

[Motorhobo]

Seems like the mounting screws or threaded bushings in the bracket may be stripped  out. It'd be a good idea to deal with that now while you have the wheel and drive off and have access to the whole assembly.

If the bushing is just spinning around in the bore or the screw is totally stripped you may have to just use some force to separate the bracket from the footpeg plate. I think most likely the screw is stripped but you won't know until you get them apart to look. Ain't much holding those two pieces together if the screw just spins, I'd think, but I've never had to deal with this particular issue. There's not enough protrusion on the inside to get vise grips on there...and if memory serves me the bolt head is recessed so drilling it out might not be an option either since the head would probably just spin with the bit. Maybe you just need to throw caution to the wind and pry them apart. Have you tried tapping the screw out from the opposite side with a drift or pick or something of that nature?

I have used the HF tap and die set to fix stripped threads in various other locations tho, and have inserted a helicoil in a bolt hole somewhere -- can't remember exactly where though. The tap and die set is a great thing to have lying around, and relatively cheap.

[The Mighty Gryphon]

Sounds like the molded in bushings have twisted loose in the plastic tragkorb bracket.  If it was me, I would drill out the heads, and take the bracket off.  Then I would knock out the bushings with the screws still in them and replace them with new unthreaded bushings and use a longer bolt with a large fender washer and an aircraft nut.

I had to do this to one of the bushings on my brackets.  The alternative is to get an undamaged bracket.

I think the problem is caused by the weight of a loaded tragkorb working the bracket.  All the forces are held by the plastic molded to the surface of the bushing.  It may be a good idea to replace the existing screws on good brackets with longer ones that can have a large fender washer and nut behind them to hold everything in place.  Those molded in bushings are nice to save assembly time in the factory, but for the application, they are crap.

[Gio]

I think that is exactly what has happened - in turning the screws I can see the rear of the bushings rotate in the bracket - although they do seem to be secure in there (ie still holding the bracket securely against the foot-peg plate) ... having said that I agree that a through-bolt (or maybe just a dab of good old JB weld on the inner side) would offer some peace of mind.

Thanks both for your help / suggestions.

Gio