Rear Suspension Linkage Help!

Hi all.

Long story short- I am about to leave on Sat for a tour of the Pyrenees on my ZX10. At  the last minute a friend returned from overseas and wants to come along- no problem he can borrow my 2006 Tuono- if he helps me do a little maintenance (I have my own stuff to sort out on the Kawasaki).

Anyhow the jobs in hand were to fit an Ohlins shock thats been on the shelf for a while and to replace the rear link plates and the bearings as I was concerned as to how bad they could be as I didnt know when they were last looked after.

Yesterday night I removed the exhaust, got the shock, linkages and dogbone out and got the bearings changed in the dogbone. The existing bearings were toast so I was glad we took on the job before going away.

I had to wait till tonight to get a long M10 bolt to pull out the swingarm's linkage bearings but had that done and the new bearings in by 18:00. I figured I'd have tea then get it all back together- easy :)

I started by putting the dogbone back in so I could then put the exahust back. I realised I had not payed complete attention during dissasembly as my friend was helping so I checked the parts fiche as below:

http://www.apriliaforum.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=183831&d=1326329764

My problem is when trying to attach the dogbone - according to the parts fiche it looks like the bolt (6) enters through the bike from the riders right side, trhough the dogbone's bearing inner and then through the "tbush" (7) which I assume is inside the bike's "lug". The problem is that I cannot get that Tbush into the lug. A quick and not so accurate measurement shows the Tbush outside diamater at its narrow point is 16mm and the inner diameter of the "lug" is 15.8mm.

Any idea what is going on?

I have a feeling that when dissasembled the tbush was actually placed on the other side, so the bolt passed through it and was just free to rattle around on the other side where the bush should be!

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers,

Ed

wigginsjp wrote: I can look at mine tomorrow but yes the bolt enters through right side so the Allen head recess's in the frame. I can't recall the collet (7) on mine so I think it was already in the frame. Will look in morning if no one else has picked this up for you.

Cheers mate- that would be superb! Much appreciated.

Not sure what I can do if you do confirm that- Its clear the Tbush won't pass through the hole in the frame. I did start to pull it through with a bolt and nut but there was more resistance there than I felt comfortable with- then I measured it with a vernier!

All I can assume is that maybe the hole has been made somewhat oval due to the sized bearings in which case we are in bad shape for Saturday's trip :)



Cheers,

Ed

Spoonz wrote: The top hat spacer does sit inside the hole in the left lug of the frame. If it doesn't fit either it is distorted or the hole in the frame has some damage. The head of the bolt is the same size as the spacer from memory so see if that fits in the hole. If it does the spacer is the problem.

Cheers mate - also appreciated. I've come inside now to drink myself happier as I hate getting stuck on things like this but tomorrow I will see what the issue is.  I did try the other spacer from the top mount which has the same part number so I assume should be the same and that also doesn't fit.

I'll do some measuring tomorrow and may have to turn down the spacer by 0.1-2 of a mm to get my friend out to Spain!

Cheers,

Ed

Right I overslept!
Off to check bud. Be about half hour.
Spoonz will be right though and you are trying to put it in the right way. Something has happened though. Where is your nearest dealer? They may have one you never know. Fowlers in Bristol probably keep one if the part is damaged. Does it look okay?

Cheers for the help and checking guys.

This morning I double checked everything, cleaned up both surfaces and tried the frozen spacer and still there was no way the spacer would get into the lug. I settled for not knowing how the F this happened and fixing it so I put a bolt through the spacer, chucked it in a drill and turned it down in some emery paper. I took off just over 0.1mm according to the verniers (although obviously not completely uniformly down the length). Anyhow it now goes in "normally" with the level of clearance you'd expect and much like the top spacer.

No idea how it came out if it was that tight- never experienced such a strange case before!

Anyhow bike is now back together and I just need to set the rider sag for my mate and he is good to hoon round the Pyrenees!

Cheers guys!

Ed

Proper odd that.