750 rear shock installation

[jam718]

Does anyone have any tips on procedure for installing the rear shocks? (pictures if possible.....I'm very visual)

Thanks!

Jamman

[Re-run]

Which year and model do you have?

[mitchberry]

really, it shouldn't be all that difficult.. unscrew the nuts, keep track of how many washers go on either side of the shock, put the new ones on with the correct amount of washers on either side, put the nuts back on it and you're done....

The only thing you really need to know is that you have to put it on a center stand, or have some way to lift the back wheel off the ground before you do this.  

aside from that, it's a piece of cake and shouldn't take more than 20 minutes if you have everything sitting in front of you.

[jam718]

It's a 1977 CB750F Supersport

[jam718]

"The only thing you really need to know is that you have to put it on a center stand, or have some way to lift the back wheel off the ground"

This is the part I'm trying to get a visual on.....if I don't use a center stand I held the compressed shock up to the side as is right now and it looks like if I attach the top of the shock first and then lift the back of the bike up (not the tire) it will raise enough to get the bottom of the shock into place. Is my assertion correct on this or am I not picturing this correctly? (like I said, I'm a very visual learner)

[Re-run]

that would work fine. You should not have to compress at all. If you lift the bike, the rear drops and the shock should go right on.

[mitchberry]

yeah, the shocks don't need to compress... if your bike has a center stand on it (mine does i dunno about yours) you can use that... you unbolt the old ones, and the swing arm moves freely up and down...  basically, you lift the wheel back n forth until you get it in the right position to slide the shock on it.. then the other side should line up directly...

 if you dont get the weight off of the wheel by using some kind of center stand and you take both of the shocks off, the bike wont stay standing.. the shocks are what hold the swing arm at the angle it needs to be... it will bottom out and probably fall over -if you just use your normal kick stand...  then you have to pick up a 500 pound bike off the ground..

that or, if it doesn't fall, you have to lift the entire weight of the bike while trying to get the shocks on it...

 i strongly suggest using the center stand the bike comes with, or a floor jack.... even an egg crate and some 2x4's...  just.. something to get the rear wheel off the ground even 1cm....  

Here is the ONLY scenario in which you would need to compress either the new or old shock:

you take one shock off and leave the other one on the bike, and either the new or the old shock are longer or shorter than the other one... then you would of course need to compress one of them to make it fit....    that can be avoided by taking -both- shocks off...    know what i mean?   honestly, this shouldn't be any more difficult than changing oil on a car....   there's a few steps, but it's very basic stuff and shouldn't take more than maybe 20 minutes.     on my T500, it took me about an hour to change out the shocks, but in that time, i had to cut the bottom mounts off, drill new holes, weld new studs, and mount them for a more aggressive rake but to maintain the stock height since i purposely bought 1.5" longer shocks than i had stock.

 you shouldn't have to do any of that.. its purely stylistic on my behalf. its a matter of removing 4 nuts, sliding the old ones off and putting new ones on it....  if you go out and look at it for a while you'll see what i mean.

 unless of course you have some really weird shock setup that i'm unfamiliar with - which may be the case, i dunno-

[jam718]

Thanks for all the input!   "the shocks are what hold the swing arm at the angle it needs to be... it will bottom out and probably fall over "......this is the one statement I am trying to understand since I am on the newer side to bikes. I guess I figured that if I took the shocks off then the rear fender would bottom out on the tire. Right now, the previous owner had taken off the shocks and replaced them with the square tubing to ride lower and rigid. I thought if I took those off and put the top of the shocks on then all I would have to do would be to lift up the fender and line up the bottom of the shocks. Maybe you can explain more on this swing arm?....

[ferroussphinx]

okay look here    this chrome piece that   is going to tire is swing arm    now that little ol shock is the only thing holding that bike off that tire    


and here is the visual  imagine if you will    a four hundred pound fatty lady and somebody kicking her in the back of the knees    now what happens                    thats right with nothing holdin her  up  


look out below here she comes  lol    

now stop laughing because   you take those shocks off with out something holding that bike up your gettin hurt because it will not catch its fall and i know no one who can lift my bike straight off the ground   so unless you know professional lifters   make something or by a jack that is designed to hold that bike  



and a center stand    is the secondary kick stand  the one that you have to pull the bike onto  not the one you use when you run into the store my bike does not have one   yours may