Rear shock

[Brigante7 438]

My 750X has done 23,000 miles and I think the time has come to change the rear shock. Before I bought my bike I had zero experience of any maintenance/servicing a motorbike but have since fitted, heated grips, 12V socket, hand-guards, adjusted the handbrake and fitted new brake pads front & rear but I'm still not sure about fitting the rear shock myself. Is it a difficult process, what panels need to come off? Thanks in advance for any and all replies/info.

 

 

 

Brigante7.

[makman 975]

Pretty straight forward if you have centre stand. You may need to remove upper panels to access top bolt. Am thinking of changing shock on my NC700X. Done shocks on VFR750, CBF 500, FJ1200 and CB250! Fairly easy to do with patience and correct tools.

[djsb 491]

May as well remove the swing arm and grease the bearings (linkage and swingarm) while your at it. If you remove the swingarm you can get in closer and remove the top bolt a lot easier.

A low profile socket set may be useful as there is limited space to get a ratchet and socket inbetween the frame (where there is an access hole on the RH side) and the actual nut. Also you may find that the bolt is difficult to remove due to corrosion. Plenty of releasing fluid and a gentle knock with lump of metal (I used another socket and just tapped it out) will do the job.

Edited August 18, 2018 by djsb

[Derm 380]

Are you upgrading the shock or replacing it. If it is the latter I have my original Honda shock which I removed when I upgraded.

[embee 7,288]

There's a hole through the frame to get a socket on an extension through for the top fixing nut (right hand side of bike). A panel has to come off to access this. Someone drilled the sidepanel and fitted a rubber bung so future access would be easier.

I have managed to remove this nut/bolt without removing the sidepanel on the Integra by reaching up in front of the wheel, but it's not easy that way, good training for a career in gynaecology.

As said, it's not complex, a centrestand makes it much much easier. The linkage bolts can be rather tight first time, you need good quality spanners and sockets.

Plenty of grease in all the needle roller bearings on assembly.

[Brigante7 438]

4 hours ago, Derm said:

Are you upgrading the shock or replacing it. If it is the latter I have my original Honda shock which I removed when I upgraded.

I'm upgrading to a Wilber.

 

 

 

Brigante7.

[trisaki 2,029]

Top bolt on mine is an Allen head  believe 10mm with 17mm nut on tother end 

[embee 7,288]

In case you haven't seen it before, there are all the parts diagrams here https://www.bike-parts-honda.com/honda-motorcycle/750-MOTO/NC/2015/NC750SAE/Frame/2/19331

You can usually work out from these what needs to be done.

 

One tip for getting the shock back in is to fit a smaller bolt (e.g. 8mm) the wrong way through the top eye as you offer up the shock (which is relatively heavy to support). The small bolt can usually be slipped through easily to support the shock in place. Then you can reposition yourself to fit the proper allen head bolt through from the left side,  pushing the small bolt out in the process. The left end of the hole is large to fit the allen head, the right side hole is 10mm to take the shaft of the bolt, you need to jiggle the shock and bolt to get the alignment right, then it will slip fully home.

If you have removed the right side panel to do the job you can use a longer thin rod/screwdriver etc right through that hole and then through the shock eye to get it supported.

Edited August 18, 2018 by embee

[giley 458]

it's quite easy, even I can do it!

took it all to bits and cleaned shock linkage today..it was quite dirty!! I notice that oem shock has a weep hole don't think the nitro did maybe thats why it broke???

 

oh if you don't have centre stand just use a trolley jack on the centre stand point and jack against side stand enough to lift wheel off ground.

[Guest DelBoy]

On 8/18/2018 at 01:55, Brigante7 said:

My 750X has done 23,000 miles and I think the time has come to change the rear shock. Before I bought my bike I had zero experience of any maintenance/servicing a motorbike but have since fitted, heated grips, 12V socket, hand-guards, adjusted the handbrake and fitted new brake pads front & rear but I'm still not sure about fitting the rear shock myself. Is it a difficult process, what panels need to come off? Thanks in advance for any and all replies/info.

 

 

 

Brigante7.

Take the rear wheel out first. It will give you more room to get at the bolts and take a lot of weight off the swinging arm, makes the job much easier..

Also it gives you access to give your rear end a good clean 

 

Clean and re-grease all the linkage bolts bearings at the same time.

[8ace 104]

Hi,

 

I have just changed my shock for a YSS one and it took about an hour to do. I didn't remove either side cove (just the lower screw on the righthand one) and bent it up slightly. I had to remove one of the dog bars to get the new shock back in and holding the Allen socket on the top bolt while torquing up the 17mm nut was a bit fiddly.

 

Martin

 

 

[kharli 100]

I used a sock and a small piece of  gutterdown pipe to protect my second rear shock which was replaced leaking oil at 24000 miles..now on 68 000 with no problems at all. Still I got a new one on fleabay for 28 quid ready just in case. Thank heavens for new owners replacing their shocks

[Guest machinman]

12 minutes ago, kharli said:

I used a sock and a small piece of  gutterdown pipe to protect my second rear shock which was replaced leaking oil at 24000 miles..now on 68 000 with no problems at all. Still I got a new one on fleabay for 28 quid ready just in case. Thank heavens for new owners replacing their shocks

Another impressive milage.

[TheEnglishman 401]

As DelBoy says - take the linkage off and pack grease in all the bearings.  I took the swing arm off as well and greased the swing arm bearings.  And as I had the back wheel off greased those bearings too.  And the centre stand pivot bar.  

 

It's worth doing if, like me, you do loads of miles and plan on keeping the bike.