Greeting fellow enthusiasts, here is the start of a long and drawn out journey.
Ok, so I'm gonna take my bike and tinker with it a bit. It will enjoy my company and beats a therapist here in Los Angeles.
I had a Scorpion Alarm sitting around that I was going to put into my Triumph 955i, but decided I only need one bike, so into the VTX the alarm goes - went. That little pocket in front of the battery made a nice little nest for the guts of the alarm. After installing it there, I took an old vinyl DVD case and cut a little panel to fit right behind where the tools go to hide the sensors. It's mainly for looks, since a thief will pretty much know the few places an alarm can be installed.
Next I decided to try my hand at surgery, the patient being one of the rear shocks. Stumbled across this thread: http://www.vtxcafe.com/showthread.php/26831-cutting-down-stock-shocks, in which Okie Bob documents cutting his shocks. I did not have the desire nor materials to make his nifty shock squeezer, so I made a much smaller one the did the trick, but can certainly be improved upon. I'll get a pic of it tomorrow.
Once I removed the left side shock, I could see that the rubber bushings would need to be replaced. Anyone have any insight as to OEM or aftermarket?
Anyhew, got the shock taken apart, without losing any digits and then was faced with the dilemma of cutting the housing and the spring nice and straight. Upon rummaging through that vast expanse otherwise known as the great void, or my brain, and then rummaging through the even greater cluttered expanse known as my garage, I recalled having some kind of cut off wheel for my skill saw. Knowing darn well that I wasn't gonna achieve any kind of straight cut, much less a safe working environment with my skill saw, I came up with the bright idea of putting the 8" cut off wheel in my 12" chop saw. Not a bad idea, but now I had to raise up the parts to be cut since the 8" wheel would not reach far enough down to cut all the way through. No matter, since I had to make a cradle for the part anyway to keep them nice, straight, and secure while cutting. Long story short, the parts were cut semi straight but actually caused part of the plastic in back of my saw to catch on fire due to all the sparks being created during the cuts. I smelled the plastic before actually seeing the melted part. Take care kids.
Once cut, I got out my trusty belt sander and put some smooth edges on the cuts. All in all, not too bad, although I'm probably gonna cut the housing shorter as well as cut one more coil from the spring. I purposefully cut leaving a bit of excess, since I had no idea if all of this was going to work. The biggest question mark was the cut off wheel. Why? Because I wasn't sure if it was a masonry wheel or a metal wheel. It was so old and used, that no writing was left on it. I'm pretty sure it was a masonry wheel that had no choice but to cooperate. Oh yes, always wear protective eye gear and a dust mask. Safety first. Here is the before and after. This is close to about two coils removed, but it looks like it needs to have one more taken out. As you can see, the housings could also be whittled down some more. It seems to me that shortening the shaft would not be such a big deal. Get the correct die, cut about another inch worth of threads, and then cut an inch off the end. Gonna see if I have a die flying around somewhere that might fit, and if not, I'll find one somewhere. I'll report back on this experiment when concluded.
One more note of caution - should really be a lot of notes, but I'm not asking you to repeat what I have done - when I had the left shock off, I also wanted the right off to take before and after pics. So I go and see how heavy the rear of my bike is...lift...right shock responds rather easily. Hmmm, I figure, I'll just take the right off also and genly lower the rear fender onto the rear tire, right? So I get ready, take out both shock securing bolts while holding on to the rear fender with all my not minuscule strength, and start to wiggle the shock off it's mounting studs. Well, turns out that the rear end is so heavy, that I could barely hold it up with both my hands. I had to let the shock dangle on the upper mount while holding the rear up. The reason I could not let it rest on the tire is that the brake caliper was hitting the bottom of the fender. What to do? I let go one hand, grabbed a nearby wrench, and stuck it between the fender and the caliper. Once that was done, I was able to get my trusty hydraulic jack, a piece of 2x4, and jack the rear up from the back, behind the license plate mount. Make sure you are in gear when doing this, or the bike might roll forward off the jack. Again, don't do this at home, at least not in the way that I did it, lol.
Final note: When I started to reassemble the shock, I checked the pre-load setting and found that it was on 2, on the soft side. I'm 6'4" at 240lbs, so I set it on 4. Can't wait to do the other side tomorrow and take it for a spin. Eventually I'm going to buy Progressives, but for now, this will have to do. The reason I am doing this is because my feet won't reach the floor when sitting on the bike - not! It's because I'm gonna rake the front by about 6 degrees and I read that the rear needs to be lowered about 1.5 inches to be on the safe side. Something about trail, I believe. Lot's of talk about it, just no clue what trail is?
Ok then, till a few hours from now...Good night.
Ok, so I'm gonna take my bike and tinker with it a bit. It will enjoy my company and beats a therapist here in Los Angeles.
I had a Scorpion Alarm sitting around that I was going to put into my Triumph 955i, but decided I only need one bike, so into the VTX the alarm goes - went. That little pocket in front of the battery made a nice little nest for the guts of the alarm. After installing it there, I took an old vinyl DVD case and cut a little panel to fit right behind where the tools go to hide the sensors. It's mainly for looks, since a thief will pretty much know the few places an alarm can be installed.
Next I decided to try my hand at surgery, the patient being one of the rear shocks. Stumbled across this thread: http://www.vtxcafe.com/showthread.php/26831-cutting-down-stock-shocks, in which Okie Bob documents cutting his shocks. I did not have the desire nor materials to make his nifty shock squeezer, so I made a much smaller one the did the trick, but can certainly be improved upon. I'll get a pic of it tomorrow.
Once I removed the left side shock, I could see that the rubber bushings would need to be replaced. Anyone have any insight as to OEM or aftermarket?
Anyhew, got the shock taken apart, without losing any digits and then was faced with the dilemma of cutting the housing and the spring nice and straight. Upon rummaging through that vast expanse otherwise known as the great void, or my brain, and then rummaging through the even greater cluttered expanse known as my garage, I recalled having some kind of cut off wheel for my skill saw. Knowing darn well that I wasn't gonna achieve any kind of straight cut, much less a safe working environment with my skill saw, I came up with the bright idea of putting the 8" cut off wheel in my 12" chop saw. Not a bad idea, but now I had to raise up the parts to be cut since the 8" wheel would not reach far enough down to cut all the way through. No matter, since I had to make a cradle for the part anyway to keep them nice, straight, and secure while cutting. Long story short, the parts were cut semi straight but actually caused part of the plastic in back of my saw to catch on fire due to all the sparks being created during the cuts. I smelled the plastic before actually seeing the melted part. Take care kids.
Once cut, I got out my trusty belt sander and put some smooth edges on the cuts. All in all, not too bad, although I'm probably gonna cut the housing shorter as well as cut one more coil from the spring. I purposefully cut leaving a bit of excess, since I had no idea if all of this was going to work. The biggest question mark was the cut off wheel. Why? Because I wasn't sure if it was a masonry wheel or a metal wheel. It was so old and used, that no writing was left on it. I'm pretty sure it was a masonry wheel that had no choice but to cooperate. Oh yes, always wear protective eye gear and a dust mask. Safety first. Here is the before and after. This is close to about two coils removed, but it looks like it needs to have one more taken out. As you can see, the housings could also be whittled down some more. It seems to me that shortening the shaft would not be such a big deal. Get the correct die, cut about another inch worth of threads, and then cut an inch off the end. Gonna see if I have a die flying around somewhere that might fit, and if not, I'll find one somewhere. I'll report back on this experiment when concluded.
One more note of caution - should really be a lot of notes, but I'm not asking you to repeat what I have done - when I had the left shock off, I also wanted the right off to take before and after pics. So I go and see how heavy the rear of my bike is...lift...right shock responds rather easily. Hmmm, I figure, I'll just take the right off also and genly lower the rear fender onto the rear tire, right? So I get ready, take out both shock securing bolts while holding on to the rear fender with all my not minuscule strength, and start to wiggle the shock off it's mounting studs. Well, turns out that the rear end is so heavy, that I could barely hold it up with both my hands. I had to let the shock dangle on the upper mount while holding the rear up. The reason I could not let it rest on the tire is that the brake caliper was hitting the bottom of the fender. What to do? I let go one hand, grabbed a nearby wrench, and stuck it between the fender and the caliper. Once that was done, I was able to get my trusty hydraulic jack, a piece of 2x4, and jack the rear up from the back, behind the license plate mount. Make sure you are in gear when doing this, or the bike might roll forward off the jack. Again, don't do this at home, at least not in the way that I did it, lol.
Final note: When I started to reassemble the shock, I checked the pre-load setting and found that it was on 2, on the soft side. I'm 6'4" at 240lbs, so I set it on 4. Can't wait to do the other side tomorrow and take it for a spin. Eventually I'm going to buy Progressives, but for now, this will have to do. The reason I am doing this is because my feet won't reach the floor when sitting on the bike - not! It's because I'm gonna rake the front by about 6 degrees and I read that the rear needs to be lowered about 1.5 inches to be on the safe side. Something about trail, I believe. Lot's of talk about it, just no clue what trail is?
Ok then, till a few hours from now...Good night.