no one likes it! it's a PIA! and so on. i do mine every 2nd or 3rd tire, or, if i sub the bike a bunch of times in river crossings. and, never do a shock service w/o doing the arm too. whats the point of a nice new shock when yer swing arm is SCCRRRUNNNCCCHHH! and holding up the damping parade. i do mine in under 30 mins. there's a million ways to do it, you find what works for you best. I take pics of stuff with my phone so i note the orientation, then just yank the bolt and get bizzay. the first time? i pull it all the way off, cllean and use the same grease i'll be using in the future. im off road so i use Bel-Ray w/proof stuff. moto guys like the moly stuff, they say it's slicker and dont drag as much. either or, best reuslts when not mixed. same with whiskey and beer. derail! my key is - i place a stand under the axle, then, support the front of the arm with a bungee. yank the bolt, watch the spacers go flying, gently slide it back and service it, there's usually enough slack in the brake hose and plenty in the chain. slide the collars out SLOWLY, 7/10's of the way. stuff some grease in the hole, slide it back, do it the other way now. do it wrong and you get to chase needles. do it right and yer in n out that fast. round up the spacers- if there's a ton of spacers ill tack them in place with grease or use scotch tape to bundle em up , getter back in place, stuff a dowel or something in the nut side, chase it out with the greased pivot bolt from the head side- i do it this way w/o removing the brake pedal all the way in most cases, it's easier to set the arm up with a smaller dowel then chase it out with the bolt holdin the pedal down or out of the way (you can space the pads with something or spread them afterwards CAREFULLY with a screwdriver). torque it. goes w/o staying but im sure you did the links and pivots yes??? good. now grab the manual and a couple of these and FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS. guess what, s/a, pivots and links torque is CRITICAL. if everything is as is should be the arm will go through it's arc like silk w/o the shock on- this smoothness allows the shock to do its job WAY better. now go have fun til it's time to do it again! yay for preventative maintenance!
Nice write up pvduke, Great how you help out with all of your great tips. Makes this place what it is cuz of folks like you. "the first time? i pull it all the way off, cllean and use the same grease i'll be using in the future. im off road so i use Bel-Ray w/proof stuff. moto guys like the moly stuff, they say it's slicker and dont drag as much. either or, best reuslts when not mixed. same with whiskey and beer. derail!" No trying to sound like a "know it all".... but give me a second- I mix up my own grease that has (i think) the best of both worlds for low speed bearings, bushings, shafts etc. I start with Chevron Ultra-Duty EP NLGI2 high pressure water proof heavy equipment grease, and add a generous amount of powdered moly and have had no problems with the mix. We just need to remember that moly grease isn't good in high speed bearing applications like wheel, trans, electric motor etc bearings. Much of the moly grease sold has enough molybdenum (moly) to make it look black, because moly is a very expensive additive. Chevron NLGI2 grease has served me very well after using several other greases in the last 35+ years in heavy equipment high to extreme pressure, low speed, even underwater applications and have found that adding 5-8+% pure moly makes a really good grease for suspension, steering head or other low speed bearings or shafts. FWIW BTW, I really started to understand more about moly after coating bullets to shoot in a firearm with a rough bore.
awesome point. and my pop did the same thing i didnt know his recipe but he augmented lubes with graphite, moly and such ( i stepped on his graphite squeeze bottle once...what a mess. and i heard about it for weeks!)...great point and i've seen it done with sucess. i was told not to mix the "wet greases propper"- due to the solvent actions of them or something about the liquids in them that clash and cause issues with adhearance etc etc etc...but either or thats cool how you brought that up and powdered moly is awesome. they use it on bullets!
If you ever replace the bearings beware they pressed into "blind bores" not straight thru like most jap bikes.
If you're saying what I think you're saying, that was not the case for my '09 TE250. I wasn't sure if there was a shoulder between the two bearings, so it took me ages to get the first one out (not having a puller). Once it was out, I saw that there wasn't a shoulder, so I just drove the other bearing out with a socket. For the second side, I drove both straight through in minutes.
One of my bikes, I just rounded that shoulder off in the middle of that knuckle piece ...It was just too big of a pain to drive them back out the way they came in ... SA no shoulders and you can even a slightly longer bearing in there also ...
I find that the biggest enemy of the linkage bearings is a pressure washer. I stopped doing that and my linkages last a season or more. I use belray waterproof grease mixed 50/50 with anti-seize for the lube. Cam.
