Rear shock strip down

Biting the bullet this weekend, gonna strip down the rear shock, remove the spring and either clean and get powder coated or replace.

Consulted the Haynes manual and seems half the back end has to come off to get at the shocker. Is this the case or is that just Haynes overkill?

Any tips appreciated.

P.S with bike tests, buying a bike, the gear, camping stuff and now Christmas doing this on a shoe string so upgrades and new hagons out of the question. I'm getting the powder coating done for free and have found inexpensive spring as an alternative.

Cheers as ever guys

Its not a five minute job mate, If I remember correctly you need to suspend the bike (or block the wheel against the frame) & remove the undertray under the seat to allow the shock enough room to vacate its home.
Stripping the spring off is fairly simple, Its just a time consumer rather than a difficult job.

what exactly are you doing to the shock? too much work imo if you're just going to clean the spring. if you're going to refresh it with new oil you will have to get it recharged with fresh nitrogen. im sure you can find a shop to do it for you but good luck finding the specs for the correct pressure. if you can find a shock extension and get a r6 shock on ebay it will prob come out cheaper and it makes a world of difference.

Most rear shocks fitted to Thundercats (at least in the UK / Europe) are sealed units. I was due to have mine professionally re-oiled, springed and gassed, but the reality was it could be opened but not closed up satisfactorily, just had the spring replaced with a higher rated progressive 'coil'

it can be closed. all it is is a retaining clip and to recharge it uses a self sealing rubber valve. if someone can get.a hold of the.correct.pressure you could possibly even recharge it with the help of a welding shop as they have access to nitrogen.

I believe the shockers post 2003, (possibly co-incidentally the last year the European models were made) are resealable, the majority of what we ride here are not. I wish mine had the retaining clip.

The original question referred only to the spring replacement, so in this instance getting inside the shock isn't going to be a problem. Thanks for the info though, it does settle the concern I had with the workshop who claimed they had opened up a Thundercat shock, what they didn't say originally was they had another 2 which they couldn't reseal.

Steve, I do know that a fair bit of the bike had to be stripped down to get the shock out. All the best in getting it out, re-sprung and back in again.

im assuming we are talking about the stock ohlins shock? I couldnt find any info on it so I took it apart myself thats how I know. would you mind posting a pic of your shock? im talking about the reservoir I never took the actual shock apart so as far as the piston inside it I cant tell you anything about that.
this is what mine looks like [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

When I start stripping it down I'll sort some pictures out and post them up, if only for my benefit when putting it back together.

I've no intention of doing anything more than sorting the spring out. There are no leaks and the suspension works fine, well I'm happy with it, so no need to touch anything else.

Thanks as ever for your replies

I don't have a picture of the shock, but am pretty sure it isn't made by Ohlins. The reservoirs are different

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

The post 99 bikes have a slightly different reservoir to the earlier bikes notable by the adjuster having different settings.

I assume the reservoir is just bolted on to the frame and will come out as one piece as long as I release all the bolts etc..

one clamp, like a hose clamp no bolts

Shocker off this morning (6 weeks after I said I'd do it) job was simple but time consuming. Going to strip it down now and off to the polycoaters for some tlc