17 replies to this topic

[LewisBlackburn]

Hello 

 

Got mesen a Hagon from TDMPaul a few weeks ago and with a few mins tonight thought I'd have a got at taking it apart. 

 

Now I'm not really sure what I'm doing so was looking for a little advice first. 

The only thing I wanna do is take it apart to give it a bit of a clean then sandblast the spring and give it a good paint. I'm not fussed about a full rebuild or anything, as I might do that next year by sending it to Hagon. 

 

Anyway, I compressed the spring by tightening up the nut. I've then cable tied the spring which seems good enough to hold it. I then undid the Collar to losen the grip on the spring. 

 WP_20140306_18_16_52_Raw.jpg   78.28KB   79 downloads

 WP_20140306_18_43_37_Raw.jpg   93.97KB   115 downloads

 

I'm now at a stage where I'm not sure how to get the spring off. I've noticed this allen headed bolt but I'm not sure what it does, and I don't want to undo it in case its something I shouldn't do. 

 WP_20140306_18_49_06_Raw.jpg   80.13KB   97 downloads

 

What do we think chaps?

 

 

Cheers

Edited by LewisBlackburn, 06 March 2014 - 09:36 pm.

[dapleb]

I am worried by the cable tie spring compression method.  Please be careful Lewis.

[Timbo1866]

I am worried by the cable tie spring compression method.  Please be careful Lewis.

that's just what I said to him on the phone

[LewisBlackburn]

Theres 10 cable ties on there, Seems pretty solid they've been on a couple of hours now n aint moved so should be alreet. 

 

I'm sure someone on here used that method before, I think that's where i saw it !

 

Anyway,  I undid the grubscrew at the top, it wont come out all the way so I've undone it as much as I could. I've then tried griping the piston and turning the top bit as i think that's how it comes out but it aint budging. I'll give it a try at the weekend at me dads as we should be able to get a better grip of it in his vice. 

the grips on mine are too big ferret.

 

That is unless someone tells me I'm taking it apart wrong. 

 

Cheers

[Wildbill]

The allen screw is the rebound damper adjustment; me thinks bad things will happen if you forcibly remove this.

On my shock the bottom collet was slotted and easilly removed to get the spring out for coating.

 

Can you not fully unscrew the large preload adjuster "nut" and wangle it over the top mount ?

 

On mine ; no tie wraps or  spring compressor nonsense was required for dis- assembly.

I simply reduced the spring preload with the adjuster.

 

Edited by Wildbill, 08 March 2014 - 07:31 am.

[Studley Ramrod]

I can confirm that the grubscrew is the damper adjuster and I can also confirm that it is easily snapped. 

 

As Bill says, you don't need to clamp the spring as the thready bit is longer than the spring when it's fully unwound, unlike the oem shock.   I also seem to remember the nut sliding over the mounting to allow for spring removal.

[Wildbill]

Once spring removed;

Mask off the label on the shock body, give the body a good scrub, remove masking and laquer the body;

send the spring for coating.

Twill look like a new un.

Paint doesn't last 5 mins. on a spring.

[LewisBlackburn]

Cheers Chaps 

 

Good job i didn't force that grub screw out then. I didn't wanna take the ring off all the way as I was worried about getting it back on with it being such a fine thread, but if that's the way then it shouldn't be a problemo !

I did also wonder if compression was necessary as it looked quite long but thought i best do so just in case. 

 

I do wanna get the spring powder coated but I also wanna get the shock on the bike ..... oh the decisions......  I've just had me swing arm done so maybe i put a lick o paint on it now n get it powder coated next year.

 

Cheers again 

[steve27bha]

I resprayed a spring for a Penske fitted to two VFRs. The attached pix show it as finished and after 4+ years and about 35,000 Scottish all-season miles.

I used a Plasticote spray-can from B&Q and baked it on a house radiator to harden it off quickly. It took several coats to get into all the surfaces.

Admittedly the back end of the VFRs had good huggers fitted.

 Shock mods install 006 - Crop.jpg   82.31KB   12 downloads   Penske side - Crop.JPG   28.35KB   11 downloads

[ssray]

I took my hagon to revs who had a look, apart from laughing at the spring rate they could not take the shock apart without loosing the nitrogen, and you cant get the end off that prloads the spring because the fitting is too big, I was going to cut mine replace the spring and have it welded back up so its live with it or send it to hagon

[LewisBlackburn]

I took my hagon to revs who had a look, apart from laughing at the spring rate they could not take the shock apart without loosing the nitrogen, and you cant get the end off that prloads the spring because the fitting is too big, I was going to cut mine replace the spring and have it welded back up so its live with it or send it to hagon

 

Looks like that's the case, as that ring ain't coming over that end. 

 

 WP_20140309_11_53_56_Raw.jpg   77.33KB   28 downloads

 

I could cut a slot into the collar that you can see in the third picture in the first thread, not too confident it would maintain its strength if i did that though. 

 

Maybe it would be possible to have something made, Thicker and with a smaller center so it was stronger, but had a slot in it so it was removable. 

 

 

Any thoughts ?

[ssray]

I was going to cut one side off above the collar and weld it afterwards

[LewisBlackburn]

The collar on mine is aluminium so no chance of me welding it. 

 

I rekon getting one made in stainless would do the trick though. Need to decide if I wanna cut it or not I think. 

[Wildbill]

Pity aboot the adjuster not clearing the top mount.

Praps a call to Hagon technical re. a how to; or supply of slotted collet.

Mebbe older version split collet fits.

Ask if any members could post one to you for trial.(sorry mine's in use)

 

If you were sending it off to them at a later date for refurb; how would you go about getting old spring refinished at their end. ?

Bet they would just replace it and charge accordingly which may mean a waste of a decent spring.

[Wildbill]

The collar on mine is aluminium so no chance of me welding it. 

 

I rekon getting one made in stainless would do the trick though. Need to decide if I wanna cut it or not I think. 

Going back over this;

What ss ray means is cutting off half of the top mount so the adjuster nut clears.

 

Better would be to cut an equal amount of each side so big nut clears then just refit using cut off portions to space the mount correctly.

A bit off each end would not compromise integrity.

 

Bit of a bodge; but sometimes " needs must" .

Depends how much of a tightarse one is ! 

 

Actually it's not a big deal; I do loads of suspension work on Fzr's

here is a pic showing the difference in width between top mounts on existing and modern replacement shock.

The difference in top mount width is just made up with 2 spacers.

 

Edited by Wildbill, 09 March 2014 - 04:37 pm.

[LewisBlackburn]

That sounds like a good idea, 

The collar sits out the furthest so even with cutting away you wouldn't need a spacer, might be better to have one but something that small I could make in me dads lathe. 

 

Sounds like a plan, I might email Hagon anyway and ask if they would still service it if it was chopped down, my only concern is I don't wanna end up not being able to have it serviced.

 

 

Cheers for the ideas guys 

[steve27bha]

On my Penske fitted to VFRs the "spacers" were collars that fitted into the rose joint rather than simply sitting either side of the bearing. Effectively they widened the area bearing onto the securing bolt as well as improving alignment. See the pic of the bottom eye:-

 Penske length 328mm - 800.JPG   92.15KB   17 downloads

[LewisBlackburn]

Well, it took me a few days to decide, in the end I went with the option not to cut it down. The main reason was I didn't want to risk not being able to have it rebuilt by Hagon. 

 

I'll run with it this year and then send it off over the winter, I might even get a remote adjuster put on too but we'll see how many pennies I have left after the wedding :S

 

 

To paint it I masked the shock off with a shed load of masking tape and attacked it with a spraycan. I wasn't going for a particually neat job I just wanted it covered as much as possible. The finish is smooth apart from the bits I couldn't really get in to sand off the old peeling paint, but it passes a 10ft test. Its only when you get close that you can see the bad bits. 

 

Also got my new powdercoated swingarm on. Jobs like this really make me wish I had a bike lift as it would be so much easier than trying to lift a swingarm into place whilst sat or kneeling on the floor.

 

Anyway heres a few piccies to prove it happened. 

 

 WP_20140319_21_17_47_Raw.jpg   118.11KB   41 downloads

 WP_20140319_21_17_59_Raw.jpg   96.41KB   50 downloads

 WP_20140319_21_18_15_Raw.jpg   57.87KB   32 downloads

 

Cheers