De-Lowering DL650

[PhotoRex]

Hi,

I went to change the lowered dog bones back to the oem fitting ones today and I can't seem to undo the bolts!  I've tried the manual impact driver, soaked it in plus gas (penetrator), heated it, banged it, swore at it ( a lot) and no go! I had a long reach socket and a long handled breaker bar on the other side to stop it rotating around but that just started to round the bolt slightly.  Anything I've forgotten?  The bolt and nut seem pretty well corroded together. So much for an easy job!

 

Steve

[Juvecu]

I can usually undo mine with a 14 ring spanner on the one side and a normal ratchet on the other. If yours are very stuck then someone might have over-tightened it or they put some very strong Loctite on it. Only thing I can think of is to source replacement self locking nuts then use a nut splitter to get the current nuts off. Don't damage the bolt, I have a feeling they might be difficult to get hold of.

[greywolf]

Mix a little automatic transmission fluid and acetone for the best penetrating fluid. For the easiest, you may have some WD40 already. Apply and wait 30 minutes. If that doesn't do it, heat is the next step.

[PhotoRex]

I think they have been overtightened quite badly, that's a good idea with the bolt splitter I hadn't thought of that.  I will grab some splitters next week when I next get chance to have a play on the bike.   I will give the atf and acetone a quick run as well - thanks blokes!  

Steve

[greywolf]

I forgot to mention it's a 50/50 mix. A nut splitter to save the bolt is a good idea if nothing else gets it loose.

[bigpie]

How do you know if a wee has been lowered?

My used Wee seems lower than the Glee I tried.

[Juvecu]

I think the Wee is a tad lower than the Glee because of the seat shape. You can see if the front forks are sticking out the triple clamps, this lowers it a bit. The rear dog bones will be longer than stock if it's been lowered, not by much, few millimetres, but that makes all the difference. Also check under the seat to see if the rubbers are still there, if they're gone you've get the seat a bit lower. If you measure bolt to bolt centres for the dog bones we can tell you if it's stock or not.

[greywolf]

The Glee has a longer shock and a taller seat than the Wee. http://cycle-ergo.com/
Stock dogbones are 140mm between hole centers on all Stroms. Every 1mm change results in about 2.8mm seat height change.