Rear Suspension Linkage

[Firestorm]

I'm probably preaching to the converted here but just in case there is anyone not aware of the need to periodically grease the rear suspension linkages here's a couple of pics taken while I was doing mine this morning. Suzuki (and others!) don't tend to put much grease in the linkage bearings from new and I've yet to find any bolts that go through the spacers with any on at all. If you leave then they will seize eventually and then its a. A big job and b. quite expensive, ( I think Juv had an issue or two when doing his rebuild). The most difficult bit is getting the back of the bike off the ground as even if you have a centre stand, it has to come off to get at one of the pivots. I'm lucky in that I have an ABBA stand and also had the fittings for an SV650 which did the job well.



Block of wood under the rear wheel to take the weight off the bolts and out they come - I tend to do one at a time so everything else stays on the bike. The only issue you may find doing it for the first time is the bolts are REALLY tight!



The bolts and bearings weren't too bad to be honest although corrosion had started to set in. Mine is just 3 years old.



If you are going to be keeping the bike for any length of time it's worth investing a couple of hours once a year or so to pull it apart and do some maintenance - it may save quite a bit of grief further down the road!

[Jacko]

Take the main link off and fit some grease nipples.

[Firestorm]

that's what Juv did and its a good idea. For the length of time it took me - and the fact that I'd still want a look every now and then - its not worth the effort though. But that's only me

[Juvecu]

I think I got the idea elsewhere, perhaps from Greywolf? There's some pics of the grease nipple fitted in my restoration thread somewhere.

This topic just reminded me, I need to grease the linkage before the Morocco trip, it's on the list now

[greywolf]

The only place a grease nipple will work on the linkage is between the dual bearings at the bottoms of the links. All the bearings are caged needle bearings. Drilling into the bearing itself would be a bad idea. I added grease nipples for the brake pedal pivot and the centre stand pivots which are plain bearings.

[Jacko]

All the moving parts of the rear suspension on my zx6 had grease nipples fitted from the factory. About 5 if I recall correctly, Kawasaki got it right in the end, I'll be following suit.

[Firestorm]

Both my ZZR's were the same - nipples in as standard. Great. The Glee (wee and, I think Vee) are different - you can't put nipples in all of the bearings as some are single full width bearings as Greywolf said. Certainly the one shown in the pic is and that's the one that requires centre stand removal. I guess you could drill the bolt and the spacer and put a nipple in the bolt but to be fair, the post wasn't aimed at people who are capable of doing that sort of work. It was intended as a 'heads up' for people who only ever tackle an oil change at most.

[Juvecu]

Yes, I only have a grease nipple for the two bottom bearings on the linkage and the two bearings in the swingarm. If I can save those four then it's quite a few less that need replacement next time around

[Jacko]

It was intended as a 'heads up' for people who only ever tackle an oil change at most.

And as such a worthy post, it certainly got me thinking about it all over again having just acquired a used bike that has no nipples and the Glee is 2 years old this month.