i tried to jack the rear by putting a bar through the swing arm pivot bolt and supporting this on two car axle stands, but didn't trust it, eventually got plans for an abba style stand from ben, if you search you should find them somewhere if you want to make your own one.
the shock sits quite close to the exhaust and it can be a bit fiddly to get the shock out, the bottom mount bolt is obscured by the exhaust, if i remember right, it stops the bolt coming all the way out, if you remove the exhaust mounting bolts on the footpegs this can give you a bit more room by dropping the exhaust a bit.
remove the nut ontop of the shock, under the tank and drop the whole thing down if you can, the top pivot mount bolt is hard to get at otherwise, it can be removed from the shock after if you don't have a new set up on your new shock.
if your changing the exhaust or the gaskets do this at the same time, changing the shock is far easier without the exhaust in the way.
i think some people have suspended thier bike from the roof of thier garages or built up supports under the sump to allow them to do this job, as you need the swing arm free to remove the shock, if you can get an abba style stand do it this way, by far the safest i'd recon.
I bought a small trolley jack from a car place - only cost a few punds, and I use this under the sump with a piece of wood to protect said sump, and this always works fine. You can also raise/lower it to line up linkages etc.
Machine Mart sell 2 tonne ones for about £15, though I remember mine wasn't that much
Got the zausts off, tank etc. Had enough access to get both bolts loose. Then realised the exhaust clamp, half way down the rear down/manifold pipe needed to come off to alow the lower shock bolt to be realeased fully...
Not a problem, but its rusted to hell. I dont have a spare clamp to replace it with should it snap and im going up to Scarborough tommorow for the races this weekend. I didnt want to risk not getting the bike back together and running before tommorow
Im going to order a new clamp and have a go again when I get back on Monday. I'll keep you posted. Cheers for the help!
TBH mate, I've never removed my exhaust to get the shock out
If you've supported the bike under the engine you can remove the swingarm instead
Loads easier
Much less likely to be seized
All the nuts are easily accessible
Worth doing so you can clean & regrease the bearings anyway
About an hours work
Even with the exhaust off (with the associated risk of snapping seized bolts & head studs) its still a fiddle to remove/ replace the shock
I've got an inferiority complex But its not a very good one!
Would have had the shock on by now but had a bit of a non bike related accident at Scarborough over the weekend...
We were camping on a friends farm. Went to watch the races on Saturday avo and came back early evening. It was pretty dark and my freinds uncle had put some more wood out for the fire we were having. I had no idea the wood was about. I managed to jump (trying to clear some rubbish) straight onto a 3 inch nail sticking through one of the planks of wood. Which stuck straight into the heel of my left foot and grazed the bone
Needless to say it hurt a little! Went to Scarborough A&E and managed to limp home on the bike Sunday avo, after the racing of course Just been resting my foot for a couple of days till the swelling goes down. Once its slightly better im going to get the shock sorted! Will post some pic's when it's done! Hopefully this weekend. Cheers for the help!
I had no chance of seeing the bloody thing. One of the other lads had my head torch and the wood was left in a funny position. I just got one of my mates to pull it out straight away. The annoying thing was I had a brand new pair of trainers on and they've a ma-hoosive hole in the bottom now!!!
Main thing was to get home safe though. All the swelling came up on Sunday evening. My bike boots gave my foot good support throughout the day. Proved to be difficult changing gear on the way home but I made it.
Apart from all that the racing was very good!!! Would defo visit again. Hat's of to Guy Martin. He rode like a nutter!?!?
and very nice it is too!
Cheers LSM.