Rear shock mounting

[Guest]

Need some help mounting the right rear shock on a 83 850G
My bike is different than Basscliffs bike in his rear wheel removal tutorial.
I had replaced the rear tire fine though using it, everything buttoned up, got the left shock on with some compressing of the swingarm, but couldnt really get the right side that way.
Do i need to be doing something differently? Starting to think removing the tailpipe would make it alot easier, but would it come off easy..

[bwringer]

Can you clarify what problem you're having? Which end of the shock is giving you trouble, are you using original or aftermarket shocks, etc. A few photos might help.

Not sure if this will help, but: to remove the rear wheel, you only need to take the shocks loose at the top -- there's enough "give" in the rubber bushings to do this easily (it gets a little more complicated if there's rear rack hardware in the way, but it's still basically the same). If you took the shocks off completely, you'll need to take the left shock loose at the top so you can raise or lower the wheel enough to get the bottom of the right shock in place. Then raise the wheel a bit -- I have a couple of rubber wheel chocks I use to hold the wheel elevated -- and slide the tops on.

In other words, no, you can't really reach the fasteners at the bottom of the shocks with the exhaust in place, but you don't need to -- take the tops loose and then you can move the swingarm as needed.

[Steve]

Yep, keep the bottoms attached, lower the shocks with the swingarm.

.

[jprice90]

Removing the exhaust would make this soo much easier, not needed because i got it, but it really just gets in the way.

Way i got it was using a, about an inch and a half piece of wood under the wheel, pushing and holding the back of the tailpipe approx half inch and getting someone to put the bolt in.

This was the hardest part about the whole thing hahaha, I thought putting the wheel on the drive wouldve been the hardest but total opposite.

All good fellas! Handles soo much better. Both tires are now Bridgestone Battlax BT45's, first time using them, great tires and very affordable

[Steve]

Removing the exhaust would make this soo much easier, ...

You are definitely correct, but the problem there is that many of these exhaust systems have NEVER been off the engine, so the bolts are stuck. Trying to remove the bolts at the head will usually break one or more of them, so it is simply much SAFER to leave the exhaust intact and just remove the tops of the shocks from their mounts to lower the axle past the mufflers.

.

[geol]

You can loosen the rear muffler bolt and it will drop down enough that the axle can easily clear the muffler. I took the shocks off when servicing the rear wheel and carrier. (grese). I put a transmission jack under the swingarm and one shock went on easily and I had to wrestle with the other side. It is probably better to leave the shocks mounted on the bottom as suggested but if you did remove the shocks, they can be put back on by controlling the swingarm. Make sure you put a screwdriver through the later hole in the centerstand mount or it will want to flop forward while you are doing this job.

[Grimly]

I have never removed the shocks on mine to remove a rear wheel. Is it the OEM 4-into-2 system that causes clearance problems?

[bwringer]

I have never removed the shocks on mine to remove a rear wheel. Is it the OEM 4-into-2 system that causes clearance problems?

Yep. For reasons unknown, Suzuki placed the mufflers exactly in line with the axle. The could have kicked the exhaust up an inch and a half or so, but nooooooooooo...

[jprice90]

You can loosen the rear muffler bolt and it will drop down enough that the axle can easily clear the muffler. I took the shocks off when servicing the rear wheel and carrier. (grese). I put a transmission jack under the swingarm and one shock went on easily and I had to wrestle with the other side. It is probably better to leave the shocks mounted on the bottom as suggested but if you did remove the shocks, they can be put back on by controlling the swingarm. Make sure you put a screwdriver through the later hole in the centerstand mount or it will want to flop forward while you are doing this job.

I believe you have to remove the shocks completely, taking the shock from the top mount on a 850G, let the shock forward against the frame you can only compress the swingarm so far, then the shock gets jammed up and you cant do anything else unless you want to mess stuff up, so it's better to just disconnect

It was my first time tackling it a job like this on a shaft bike, wasn't bad though, I know what to do now incase I get another which I plan to do.

[Grimly]

Yep. For reasons unknown, Suzuki placed the mufflers exactly in line with the axle. The could have kicked the exhaust up an inch and a half or so, but nooooooooooo...

"We're in a rush, so give the exhaust hanger placement design to Young Arigato; even he can't screw that one up."