800 Rear Shock Replacement

[CDNRatMan]

  I have one of the lads from the Honda shop going to help with setting up the sag and then deal with the preload with my once the shock is here, on back order till the 14th of Jan.

[TripWire]

This upgrade was worth every penny.  My old shock had about 40,000 miles on when I replaced it so it was tired to begin with and my fat butt didn't help.  I never figured out how to adjust the preload without removing the shock.  I only needed to adjust it once, the local shop recommended the initial preload and they were pretty close.

[CDNRatMan]

  *BUMP* tripwire did you get any chance to try out the progressive shock on the back, any feed back. I am thinking of switching my tired old shock to a 465 and am wondering what difference yours made. Were you able to make adjustments once it was mounted?

[CDNRatMan]

  Yes more info please this sounds like a good winter time project......

[greenbarn]

Hey Trip, how about an update on the new shock?  I don't remember reading how you liked it.  Did you ever find a way to change the preload without removal??   I see the 465 is also available as a "remote adjustable preload" model.  Your recommendations???

Your weight, riding style/terrain, and the preload setting you're using would be helpful, too.

I'm considering doing a rear shock upgrade, maybe this summer, maybe winter.  The front progressive spring upgrade I did was fabulous.

[TripWire]

Here is how my rear shock replacement went:
Note:  The instructions I have seen online say you need to remove the exhaust but I was about to replace the rear shock without having to remove it.  My bike has the stock exhaust pipes so if you have custom pipes your results may vary.
Removal
1) Placed bike on motorcycle lift and lift it just enough to stabilize the bike.  Both of my tire were still on  the ground.

2) Remove seat.  You probably don't need to remove the seat but it sure makes it easier work on the upper shock bolt.

3) Remove the 3 screws that hold the front half of the storage box

4) Remove the 4 bolts that attach the storage box to the frame

5) Remove the nut from the Tie-Rod bolt and then slowly lift bike until you can remove the bolt without too much effort.  You may have to go up and down a little to find the position where the bolt will come free.

6) Remove the lower shock bolt

7) Remove the upper shock bolt

Remove the shock

Reinstall Process
9) Pack the rocker arm needle bearings with grease

10) Install upper shock bolt and torque to 43ft-lbs.  Because it's a tight space I found it easier to lift the shock into place and use nail set or smaller bolt to hold it in place.  Then insert the correct bolt when backing out the temporary.

11) Install lower shock bolt and torque to 43ft-lbs

12) Lower or raise the bike until the Tie-Rod holes line up and then insert the bolt and torque to 43ft-lbs

I installed a Progressive 465 series rear shock.  Adjusting preload looks almost impossible while the shock is on the bike so I hope I guessed correctly otherwise.  Looks like I may need to remove the shock to adjust the preload.  Is there an easy way to adjust preload that I haven't found?

[TripWire]

Just clicked on the post link and it works for me, just tried again and it still works.  I have saved the PDF file (yes I'm a file pack rat) so If you want me to send it to you let me know.

[chief]

How did you get to it? Keeps coming up as a bad url from here?

[TripWire]

Reiner, thanks for the link.  Lots of good stuff in there even if I don't know how to read German.

[chief]

Reiner... that's a bad url. Sounds like the owner manual not a repair manual.

You can download the Owner's Manual directly from Kawasaki... likely the same in your area.

Have a look at this from ACCESSORIES area of the web site.

http://www.vulcandrifterriders.com/mods/manuals/Drifter1500Manuals.pdf

[drifter1946]

Hi, here a repair manual for the 800, but in german, i thin the pture a same , take a litle time for download 110 pages !

http://www.vulcan-800.net/technik/vn800/drifter/800drifterwhb.pdf
Reiner

[TripWire]

Thanks for the info!  Bike is currently in storage in the garage on a lift (strapped) so the brake shouldn't be an issue.  As for as selling the old shock, probably not much of a market for a shock and spring with probably 40k miles on it.  I will probably have a rear spring for sale from a 465-1148 shock.  Picked up a progressing replacement spring for my new shock.

The only job I am farming out is replacing the spring on the 465 shock unless someone in the Green Bay area has a motorcycle spring compressor.

[chief]

Do you have the 800 manual? I know we have info on adjusting the monoshock, but I'm not sure there is anything online here about replacement. I can look it up in the manual if you need that.

The book says:

- Remove the pipes, storage box and tool kit container
- Using a jack raise the rear wheel off the ground
- Squeeze the brake lever slowly and tie off with a band... this is a must as the bike may fall over when the shock is removed.
- Remove the lower shock bolt
- Remove the Tie-Rod bolt
- Remove the upper shock bolt
- Remove the shock.

Reinstall -

- pack the rocker arm needle bearings with grease
- install the shock so the spring adjust bolt is to the left side.
- tighten - Shock bolts - 43ft-lbs, Tie-rod nuts - 43ft-lbs

Note: the stock shock is filled with nitrogen, so don't burn it without releasing the gas... it might explode. Of course, if the shock is still good you might want to sell it or donate it.

Cheers.

[TripWire]

Is there a "how to" anywhere on replacing the rear shock?  Only found something for the front springs.

Ordered the 465-1148 rear shock, 11-1126 front springs and 1165-20B (upgraded progressive rear spring for the 465 series) today.  Looking forward to getting it all installed, hopefully I will remember to take pictures.