3cv rear shock removal head ache

[josh vesey]

hi folks, im having a bit of trouble removing my standard rear shock absorber. i have it on the center stand, i have removed the rear wheel, the right hand silencer and the remote adjuster unit.
there are bolts through the top and bottom of the shock. ive managed to undo the nuts on both of them.
with the top bolt it is difficult to remove the bolt, and even the nut because there isnt any clearance between the bolt and i think its the air box. and the bottom bolt will not knock out or turn and im scared of shearing it. and i cant take the whole linkage off withought taking off the collector box and the bolts are really stiff.
nightmare. though i did expect its to be difficult because its never been off in 23 years of the bikes life, and theres as much road grime and crud and salt from our british weather down there than you can wave a stick at.
has anyone had any trouble before or know any tips with taking it off? thanks folks.
josh.

[rktmanfj]

Take off the other exhaust can and the rear bolt on the collector.

The collector should droop enough to get to the lower shock bolt without completely removing it.

[eddohawk]

Gidday Josh

I went through a similar problem with my 1990 a few weeks ago. Like yours I dont think my linkages had been serviced in 20 years. Ditto the suggestion by rktmfj. Regarding the bolt removal be patient. It took me 5 days to get the lower shock bolt out. Once I got the bolt off every morning and evening I'd spray penetrating oil into the bolt area and using a piece of pipe as extra leverage on my socket spanner very gradually the bolt started to turn a fractiion each day. Finnaly I used a 10 inch bolt and a mash hammer to bash out the old bolt with the nut on ...be prepared to buy new bolts though because the sort of punishment I gave the originals rendered the old bolt useless. Be careful not to hit the linkage though.

Regards

Mark

[markmartin]

As for access to the top bolt of the shock, access to this bolt will be much easier if you remove the airbox snorkel/filter access cover from the left side of your bike. Of course you have to remove the seat, and side cover to do this.

As for the bottom bolt, if I remember correctly, you'll need to remove the bottom most linkage bolt (long bolt ---125mm ? ---  that attaches the linkage to the 'dog bones') in order to have enough clearance to drop the shock down and then out .

[axiom-r]

Be sure to un-weight the linkage (lift slightly on the swingarm).  My bolts wouldn't move and I was about to start tapping them then tried lifting just a bit on the swingarm and just the weight of it was holding the bolts tight...  with no weight on the linkage at all the bolts pushed out much, much easier.

tim

[josh vesey]

Thanks for all your help folks, I'm going to have a go in the shed tommorow with a lamp lol. I'm getting a friend to re-furbish it with a stiffer spring, he used to work for ohlins, which Isis handy lol. I will let you know how I get on.
Josh.