So....

I'm in the process of replacing my stock shock with a Katana 600.  Upper bolt came out just fine...but the lower one that's not on the wishbone thing.  Sigh.

Admittedly, I used a non-metric wrench on the 14mm bolt...now, I'm screwed.  So, I guess I should drill this sucker out to remove it?  I'd hoped to sawzall it off, but that didn't go very well, now its kinda cut halfway but not entirely flush, so I'm still stuck even when I finish hacking it off...

Any suggestions?

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http://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/02107878?fromRR=Y


Irwin bolt extractor???



Cookie

Quote from: PantheraLeo on November 13, 2014, 08:30:04 PM
So....

I'm in the process of replacing my stock shock with a Katana 600.  Upper bolt came out just fine...but the lower one that's not on the wishbone thing.  Sigh.

Admittedly, I used a non-metric wrench on the 14mm bolt...now, I'm screwed.  So, I guess I should drill this sucker out to remove it?  I'd hoped to sawzall it off, but that didn't go very well, now its kinda cut halfway but not entirely flush, so I'm still stuck even when I finish hacking it off...

Any suggestions?

Roaring via Tapatalk.

Its gonna take you forever to drill out that bolt with it on the bike.
I suggest you remove the other 2 bolts and get the linkage with the shock outside.
Stick it in a vice and hack off the bolt head with a sawzall.
Or see if you can slide the sawzall between the shock and linkage and the bolt.
Cool.
Buddha.

Quote from: The Buddha on November 14, 2014, 06:22:08 AM
Its gonna take you forever to drill out that bolt with it on the bike.
I suggest you remove the other 2 bolts and get the linkage with the shock outside.
Stick it in a vice and hack off the bolt head with a sawzall.
Or see if you can slide the sawzall between the shock and linkage and the bolt.
Cool.
Buddha.

Yeah, I got onto the bolt with a sawzall by raising the rear wheel section.  The "wishbone" bolt is already out.  I have a cut 3/4 of the way through the (shock bottom) bolt before my blade snapped and I called it a night that takes all but the last maybe 1/8" of it...so at least the drilling will be minimized somewhat. 

It was exceptionally stupid of me to attempt this with SAE sockets.

Christ, this looked SOOO easy in the videos...

Splashing thru the salt water for 10 winters now on my 02 GS it gets quite rusty underneath.  I changed a rear shock about a year ago nearing 100k miles on the bike in the non electric garage I kept it in using hand tools.  I still have a set of inch size 6 point impact sockets I used with a 18" breaker bar after soaking with liquid wrench first.  Had very little trouble breaking them loose.  Seems there's an inch size close enough for metric bolts and 6 point sockets work well.  Your 14 mm hex is close enough to a 9/16" socket.

Quote from: gsJack on November 14, 2014, 06:50:42 AM
Splashing thru the salt water for 10 winters now on my 02 GS it gets quite rusty underneath.  I changed a rear shock about a year ago nearing 100k miles on the bike in the non electric garage I kept it in using hand tools.  I still have a set of inch size 6 point impact sockets I used with a 18" breaker bar after soaking with liquid wrench first.  Had very little trouble breaking them loose.  Seems there's an inch size close enough for metric bolts and 6 point sockets work well.  Your 14 mm hex is close enough to a 9/16" socket.

Yes sir...my poor prep of the bolts coupled with the 'almost' right tool choice contributed to the fiasco.

Good news!  I sawzalled through the remaining part with a fresh blade, got the but down to 1/8" or so, and quickly dispatched the offensive bolt with a titanium bit! 

The reinstall went very smoothly, and I just adjusted the chain.  The side stand still works just fine. 

Now, time for a test drive!

Roaring via Tapatalk.

This is the exact same nut you are
talking about, I used a wiz wheel, that nut is really soft.

Quote from: Suzuki Stevo on November 14, 2014, 10:23:07 AM
This is the exact same nut you are
talking about, I used a wiz wheel, that nut is really soft.

Yes, Steve, the new sawzall blade cut right through it.

Man, I had read that this shock replacement would make a huge difference, but I did NOT expect this.  The bike accelerates and turns so much nicer! 

Its a good thing, too, because within five minutes of starting my ride this clueless cage pulled right out in front of me.  I had to do a double swerve into and back out of opposing traffic to dodge that idiot.  I'm playing with the damping.  The pre-load of 2 seems about right.  I've got the damper set on 3 ATM and its working very nicely. 

This dramatic ride improvement cost me 34 in parts and 15 bucks in material.  Amazing.

Roaring via Tapatalk.

Did the mod raise the rear suspension? (I'm on my phone and too lazy to research the mod)

It did.  About an inch.  My center and side stands function just fine.  It sits much nicer with me on it.  I'm tickled about how well it turned out.

Roaring via Tapatalk.

Ok, so it also changed the rake and trail of the steering geometry...quicker steering. The downside of quicker steering is less high speed stability, with the worst case senario being head shake at speed, but I'm sure you already knew about the tradeoff.

This mod has nearly no down side.
The stability - maybe it is less stable compared to a new stock shock when the bike was new it may have ... but ... a dead stock shock is so awful all around I really dont see there being any loss in stability.
The stock GS shock is not only flaccid and too soft by design, it also is of such crappy quality that it rather quickly degrades to the level of a pogo stick.
Cool.
buddha.

Quote from: The Buddha on November 14, 2014, 02:14:43 PMThe stability - maybe it is less stable

No maybe's about it, it's like the law of physics, you make the steering quicker, high speed stability surfers. My statement was just a heads up for anybody following the thread. At one point in my life I setup some of the fastest bikes in Washington State....start playing Bruce Springsteen - Glory Days right about here.       

Okay, since most of my riding speed is under 90 mph, I pay the price of high speed stability gladly. 

I bet most everyone's driving is much the same. 

Roaring via Tapatalk.

So. Why on earth use a non-metric spanner on the 14mm in the first place? I just don't understand that. Sorry, don't want to be a wise-guy, but WTF!!!

Quote from: Joolstacho on November 15, 2014, 01:09:11 AM
So. Why on earth use a non-metric spanner on the 14mm in the first place? I just don't understand that. Sorry, don't want to be a wise-guy, but WTF!!!

I guess you missed the part where I acknowledged it was stupid..... 

I hope that someone else who is considering attempting the same thing with SAE tools will read this, and take the time to get the tools and material to make this job easier.

Roaring via Tapatalk.

My grandad always used to say. .. "seems there is never enough time to do it right but always enough time to do it again!" Lol

I am gonna remember that one!