My new Wilbers shock arrived last week and I had some time today to install it. I took some piccies while I was busy so I figured I would make use them in a basic howto on shock replacement.

So here's the plan. Replace this gritty old thing:


with this piece of bling:

First thing to do -at least in my case- is to remove the pannier racks. These are SW-Motech Quick-lock, so with 4 half turns on each side they were off. Easy peasy.


Then the seat comes off.

Then it's time for the Givi top case carrier. First the passenger grab rails need to go. Pop off the plastic caps and undo the hex bolts. 2 on each side.
Then 2 more hex bolts for the givi carrier. Off they come.


Finally the small original top case holder and the thin plastic plate held by it are removed. 2 nuts underneath the tail and it is all gone.

Now we're left with this:

Next up is the entire tail piece. It comes off in 1 piece, including rear light, indicators, license plate holder.

There, s 4 plugs that need to be disconnected and some tie-wraps to be cut. The plugs are located on the lhs near the fuses. Then 4 allen bolts at the top of the tail piece.


Result:

Continue with the plastic exhaust cover.


2 allen bolts at the top and 4 more underneath.


Starting to look pretty naked:

We're finally ready o remove the exhaust itself.

Loosen the bolt that connects the exhaust to the Y-piece.


2 more allen bolts between the exhaust and the tail sub frame, then wriggle the exhaust off.


Then remove the plastic cover on the left hand side (2 allen bolts), underneath the airbox. Also remove the heat shield covering the Y-piece. You'll fist have to take out the bolts of the lower front fairing plastic that attach it to the heat shield. No need to take it off entirely, it bends away far enough to get the heat shield off. The shield itself is still fixed with 2 more allen bolts. Get these out and you have free access to the Y-piece.

Time to take out the Y-piece. 2 Hex bolts to loosen to disconnect the Y-piece from the header pipes. 1 bolt underneath the air box.




And finally here's why we are doing all this: unrestricted access to the top of the rear shock.

To make access easier it is best to also remove the rear wheel at this point. Also get the mud flap out of the way. Don't use a paddock stand to jack up the bike, use a centre stand if you have it, otherwise use an abba stand or put a strong box underneath the engine.

Loosen the top bolt and nut. The nut can be a bit tricky to get a good hold of. As you can see in the picture below the L-part on the frame that holds the bolt has very little clearance to get a wrench nicely around the nut.



But with some care it will come off.

Then do the same at the bottom of the shock.


And out comes the original shock.

Time to get the new one in.

Once the shock is installed all that is left is to mount the compression reservoir and the hydraulic pre-load adjuster.


mud flap back in place:


And the rest of the installation process is the reverse of the removal.

Whoa, great write up! Great pictures, even I could understand what was going on!

Have you gone for a ride yet? How about putting a link to the new shock for good measure?