Rear shock linkage and rear caliper
 

An afternoon in the garage today.

I bought this off an .orger a little while back. MoT is due next week so I thought I might change the old one as it got an advisory last year.
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shock linkage and rear caliper (4)rszd by garynortheast, on Flickr

Rear wheel out first for ease of access....
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shock linkage and rear caliper (9)rszd by garynortheast, on Flickr

Not forgetting to loosen the brake torque arm.
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shock linkage and rear caliper (10)rszd by garynortheast, on Flickr

I don't have an Abba stand so I needed to improvise a way of keeping the bike in the air once the rear shock was disconnected.
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shock linkage and rear caliper (12)rszd by garynortheast, on Flickr

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shock linkage and rear caliper (13)rszd by garynortheast, on Flickr

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shock linkage and rear caliper (14)rszd by garynortheast, on Flickr

You need to undo the dogbones from the swinging arm and move them out of the way before you can get to the bottom bolt of the rear shock.
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shock linkage and rear caliper (7)rszd by garynortheast, on Flickr

If you have fairing lowers on the bike, the bottom rear nearside mount will need undoing and the mounting point, secured by the rear bolt of the sidestand mount, will need swinging out of the way in order to remove the bolt that fastens the linkage to the frame.
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shock linkage and rear caliper (17)rszd by garynortheast, on Flickr

One grotty, manky old linkage out ready for a clean and service, one clean and freshly greased linkage ready to fit.
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shock linkage and rear caliper (18)rszd by garynortheast, on Flickr

Don't forget to do up the bottom bolt of the shock before attaching the dogbones.
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shock linkage and rear caliper (19)rszd by garynortheast, on Flickr

All was going swimmingly until I came to put the rear wheel back in and this happened.
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shock linkage and rear caliper (3)rszd by garynortheast, on Flickr

So I thought while I was at it I would service the rear caliper ready for the new pads when they arrive from Wemoto. As I started to pump the pistons out the dust seal started to come out too. Not surprising when I split the caliper and got the pistons out.

Lots of that horrible white oxidisation under the dust seals.
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shock linkage and rear caliper (2)rszd by garynortheast, on Flickr

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shock linkage and rear caliper (1)rszd by garynortheast, on Flickr

Fortunately, the main seals were in good order, and after I cleaned the recesses for the dust seals I was able to refit the originals along with a good coating of red rubber grease. Cleaned up the pistons and refitted them, the whole thing is now silky smooth.

I shall be back out there tomorrow to give the front calipers a service.

Re: Rear shock linkage and rear caliper
 

Nice write-up! Is it correct that the linkage needle roller bearings have no seals at either end -- the bushing / spacer just goes inside the bearing, and then it just bolts up to the frame / lower end of the shock / dogbones?

Re: Rear shock linkage and rear caliper
 

Yep, no seals. There are a pair of large thin penny washers that go on the linkage where it bolts to the frame though.

Re: Rear shock linkage and rear caliper
 

Great write up and love the,"Step Ladder" trick :)

Re: Rear shock linkage and rear caliper
 

Thanks for sharing Gary :D Did my front calipers last year, don't like to think what my rear one is like as ive not touched that since I got the sv in 2009 eek. I might just try and find a 2nd hand one and sort that instead for when its needed.

Re: Rear shock linkage and rear caliper
 

Cheers, I thought that was the case from pictures etc. I must get round to stripping mine at some point to see what it's like.

Since I got the bike I've been flooding the linkage pivot points with a spray chain grease every 6 months in the hope that some of it will find its way into the bearings. The back end is still very smooth and not at all stiff when bounced, so maybe it's worked ...

Re: Rear shock linkage and rear caliper
 

I use ACF50 on things like this as it has the ability to creep into joints and apart from it's other attributes is a good lubricant.Then another lubricant of choice on top after it's been a couple of days :)

Re: Rear shock linkage and rear caliper
 

This is well worth doing, especially on a second hand bike with an unknown history. When I took the rear linkage apart a couple of years ago, the bearings were rolling around on grains of rust. Everything was bone dry and I don't think it had ever been touched. Possibly the cause of the 'slight play in the swingarm' MOT advisory, which went away after everything had been cleaned up and greased.

Re: Rear shock linkage and rear caliper
 

Serviced the front calipers today. I will post the pictures and a write up when I get a chance.
The offside caliper has been binding against the disc by the look of it. The disc (a really nicely made Chinese Arashi) hasn't blued or warped at all but it does look like the constant side pressure has done the bobbins in as there is a lot of lateral movement on the rotor. Well, there was. As a temporary measure I took the disc off and closed the bobbins up a bit to give me a more acceptable level of movement.

Re: Rear shock linkage and rear caliper
 

Time will tell if it helps, but after cleaning out my linkage I reassembled with O rings as seals on each side. All 2mm cross section, looks like two were 20mm ID the others 17mm. That was a pointy.