The only thing replaceable is the external spring. No repairs to internals. I wouldn't anyway even if I could. I don't weigh all that much and I can live with the OEM stuff. Any problems and I replace with after-market. Maybe progressive suspension units. I have their springs in front and they are great. Honda rear suspension is a poor proposition at best. They almost got an A for effort with the Pro-Link set-up. That works pretty good. The after-market people have made huge strides forward with rear suspension. I just looked at my manual "remove one at a time to facilitate re-installation" ...duh
--- On Fri, 9/18/09, Kyle Munz <[email protected]> wrote: From: Kyle Munz <[email protected]> Subject: [Nighthawk Lovers] Re: Removing Tires To: [email protected] Date: Friday, September 18, 2009, 12:48 AM Good point. I don't have my manual with me. Are these repairable or just replaceable? -Kyle On Thu, Sep 17, 2009 at 11:44 PM, Dennis Hammerl <[email protected]> wrote: Yup. Not a good thing. Find out why. Let's talk dynamics. Whenever the rear end is unloaded, like HARD braking, or a whoopy that gets you off the ground for a second, the rear end drops suddenly. First off, Honda rear shocks have very poor damping and thus, the spring will propel the shocks to full extension quickly. With one stop gone, what happens when the other can't hold it together anymore ? At the very least, at the full extension of the one, the trailing arm is allowed to twist because it isn't being controlled on the other side. It's rigid, but not indestructible. Now, on the other hand.. is the rider ? --- On Fri, 9/18/09, Kyle Munz <[email protected]> wrote: From: Kyle Munz <[email protected]> Subject: [Nighthawk Lovers] Re: Removing Tires To: [email protected] Date: Friday, September 18, 2009, 12:25 AM Hmmm, that makes sense. I was wondering why both shocks weren't the same. I didn't know if the swing arm had an internal stop in the hinge or not. Atleast that was my theory at the time. So if I understand, the swing arm was relying on the internal stop of only the left shock this whole time? -Kyle On Thu, Sep 17, 2009 at 11:21 PM, Dennis Hammerl <[email protected]> wrote: Try to follow this, when the bike is on the center stand with the wheel hanging, it's suspended from the extended shocks. Remove them and the wheel sits on the ground. OK so far ? Both shock assemblies should extend the same amount. You're saying that the whole rear end was limited by only one, the other could be two inches longer ? Sorry, that doesn't work for me. Something is wrong. The swing arm is very rigid and held in place in the frame, square. Removing one shock assembly might allow movement of maybe 1/4" tops. You don't want to hear this, but I'd take both off and examine them. Sometimes we have to remove one and putting it back on might require putting a pry bar under the wheel and lifting a little to align the mounts. No heroics. I think that you have a broken internal stop. The shock portion only extends so far and the spring is retained by the shock. Only pre-load adjustments being different might make it more of a chore, and only a little. --- On Fri, 9/18/09, Kyle Munz <[email protected]> wrote: From: Kyle Munz <[email protected]> Subject: [Nighthawk Lovers] Re: Removing Tires To: [email protected] Date: Friday, September 18, 2009, 12:03 AM No, when I removed the bottom bolt on my 650 it extended almost 2" and wouldn't go back in. The bike was on the center stand at the time and as far as I could tell the arm was all the way down from the other spring. I never disassembled the shock apart from removing it and the arm didn't appear bent, atleast not 2" worth of bent. It'd be nice to drop it out the bottom though, my centerstand doesn't give that much clearance ;) -Kyle On Thu, Sep 17, 2009 at 10:48 PM, Dennis Hammerl <[email protected]> wrote: Kyle, I can understand removing the shock assembly from one side if you're at home. We don't because we work off a lift and drop the wheel out the bottom. But what are you doing that required so much force to re-install it ? I've had tons of those off and never had to. At rest, both should be the same length and slip right back on. Unless, the trailing arm is twisted / bent. It's very rigid and with one still on, the other should fit right back on. Are you disassembling the shock ? No need to. Just two fasteners. OR, did it come apart when you removed it ? (hint; they shouldn't) Changing springs is a royal pita. --- On Thu, 9/17/09, Kyle Munz <[email protected]> wrote: From: Kyle Munz <[email protected]> Subject: [Nighthawk Lovers] Re: Removing Tires To: [email protected] Date: Thursday, September 17, 2009, 8:12 PM Yeah, that spring, that's something else...Trying to find a coil compressor small enough for the motorcycle shock was my problem. In the end we ended up using two ratcheting tiedown straps, a rusty bolt, and some exhaust support rod that I think came off of a volvo (pics of this contraption at http://munz.kicks-ass.net/nighthawk/?p=79). I then used some mondo zip-ties to keep it compressed while I reinstalled it. The second time around I just used the zip ties before removal and it went much easier. You do need to remove the nut to get the drive shaft out, there's also a support for the brake on the right side just under the swing arm, you need to drop that as well as the brake linkage. Also, you don't need to remove the whole shock, just the bottom bolt and it will swing out of the way. There may be more I'm missing since I'm not home to look at it. I just followed the steps in the manual for rear tire removal. -Kyle On Thu, Sep 17, 2009 at 6:43 PM, Torry Barker <[email protected]> wrote: I've got an 84 650SC, would I need a spring compressor to put the shock back on? Also did you just remove the center nut to get the drive shaft assembly out of the wheel? From: Kyle Munz <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Thursday, September 17, 2009 5:24:21 PM Subject: [Nighthawk Lovers] Re: Removing Tires What kind of bike do you have? On my 650 I had to remove the right shock, did not have to drain the gear oil. Good idea to change it anyhow while you're back there and check the brake shoes. -Kyle -Sent from Ingleside, TX, United States On Thu, Sep 17, 2009 at 6:11 PM, Weston <[email protected]> wrote: When I remove my rear tire am I going to need to disconnect the rear left shock and drain the gear oil? Or can someone give me a step by step of it? Thanks --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nighthawk_lovers?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
