Penske 8981

Yamaha FJR Motorcycle Forum

Help Support Yamaha FJR Motorcycle Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

FJRocket

Doctor Throckenstein !!!
Joined
Jun 25, 2005
Messages
2,229
Reaction score
7
Location
Indiana
Santa came just in time, in his big brown sleigh. Look what he brung me:

Penske8981.JPG


The CNC elves at GP Suspension included a nifty little bracket for the remote reservoir:

GPSuspensionBracket.JPG


Time to head out to the garage and drop out that POS stock shock and install the Sweetness of Penske and GP Suspension!!!! :yahoo: Thanks YET AGAIN Warchild for the GB!!!!!!!!!!!! :wubsmiley:

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Warchild has posted some great instructions to help. There's a link to them in the 4th post below. Also, there's more info on shock removal and installs on FJRTech.com .

Get the bike on the centerstand. Jam a 2x4 under the tire. Shim as necessary to support your wheel/shock. A standard 2x4 is almost perfect for me.

TireOn2x4.JPG


BTW, that's an AVON STORM on my AE, if you wanted to see what the tread design looks like.

Remove the seat, the tank fairing, both side covers, and the outer airbox cover.

TopShockNut.JPG


On the AE, you do most of the shock removal just like the A and the first gen bikes. Refer to Warchild's installation/removal info on FJRTech.com . Only AE difference is that you have to drop the auto shifter servo down out of the way. Just remove the two allen bolts and drop it down. You can remove the shift arm/rod ends if you want, but it isn't necessary.

It take some doing, but you CAN get a 17MM socket under the ABS on the AE/A. When I removed the bolt, I had to "coax" the whole ABS system up a bit to get the bolt out from under the frame.

17MM_on_Top_Bolt.JPG


Drop the dogbones, drop the shock. You only need to remove the upper dog bone bolt and the shock bolt. Then the rest of the mechanism swings out of the way.

Shock_and_Bones.JPG


Hope you already removed the 3 10mm bolts holding the soft/hard switch, because it's easier to get the shock out that way. BTW, there are two wire connectors on the electronic doodad under the ABS mechanism that have to be removed to get the soft/hard cables out of the way. I'd hook those two connectors right back up after you drop the soft/hard switch.

This is what I found when I pulled the dogbones bolt out:

DobBonesBoltCorrosion.JPG


Had to dress it up, clean in off and moly the crap out of the bolt before putting it back.

The Penske is easier to get up in the frame that the Wilbers. But I used the foam wrapping around the reservoir during shipping and taped it back on before feeding the reservoir up through.

PenskeRezSitting.JPG


Once I had the reservoir resting on the swing arm, I set the shock up in, I dropped the lower shock bolt back through. Then I pushed the shock up and set a quart paint can and a 2x4 block under it. The shock upper bolt sleeve is just about right where it should be. The sleeve was a minor bitch to position.

After that, put the spacer back in the hole on the right side of the bike. THEN feed the top bolt back through to the right side. I actually had to tap mine through. That Penske top shock bolt sleeve must be a wee bit tight. I torqued down the top bolt and left the rest of the lower shock/dog bones hardware to finish up at the very last.

I took out the two allen bolts holding the right exhaust can support. The long part of the GP Suspension bracket bolts BEHIND the frame and bracket. The nylock nuts provided with the kit are tight against the inner plastic fender, so it's easier to get them started if you have them over the holes as you thread the longer GPS provided allen bolts through the support/frame/bracket. The third hole in the bracket is for another application (like a 2003 - 2005 FJR).

GPSuspensionBracketMounted.JPG


Lastly, I fed the hoop bracket over the Penske reservoir and mounted the hoop onto the GPS bracket. Very nice. Only problem with my mounting is that the res is upside down. I tried to twist the line, but I'm going to have to take a wrench to the hydraulic fitting and rotate it 180 degrees if I want to put the gold knob at the top of the res.

PenskeRezMounted.JPG


The right side cover goes on and off no problem with the reservoir in place. Before buttoning up the left side of the bike, it's a good time to service your air filter.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I've got that shock on my Blackbird, and it is indeed a thing of sweetness.

But I don't have that sweet mounting bracket for the remote reservoir! Don't you love it when someone does it RIGHT and even the little stuff is done first class?? :clapping: :clapping:

ENJOY the new ride! :yahoo:

 
Did it come with good install instructions so that even an idiot can put it in?

In other words, did you get yours in? :p

J/K

The CNC elves at GP Suspension included a nifty little bracket for the remote reservoir:
For an additional $40.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Last edited by a moderator:
Did it come with good install instructions so that even an idiot can put it in?
Why, in fact, there are such instructions available!

Installing Penske shock with GPSuspension custom bracket

[SIZE=8pt]This web page is created using Flashpaper; make sure you have a recent version of Flash Player installed. Here's a link to the latest version, freely available here[/SIZE]
That does look easy.

Wanna make it even easier? Post the factory spec torque settings so I can be lazy and not have to do a lot o digging.

 
Did it come with good install instructions so that even an idiot can put it in?
In other words, did you get yours in? :p

J/K

The CNC elves at GP Suspension included a nifty little bracket for the remote reservoir:
For an additional $40.

No, the shock doesn't come with very good install instructions at all from Penske or GPS. Yes, I got mine in. It wasn't too bad. Took me about 2+ hours. Smitty could do this in about 30 minutes.

Warchild's cool instructions are a lot of help, the one's linked above and the other instructions on his website for shock service and Wilbers install are a great help. Note that the pics in his link above are in FLASH and can be magnified at will! That's just COOL!

The AE and newer gen bikes are a bit more of a bitch to do the install. But really, other than dropping the electric shifter, the rest of the removal/installation is about the same. Just have to work to get the top shock bolt in and out from the right side of the bike, from under the ABS mechanism. And that's not even that hard if you use a big enough pry bar. :D

Ahhhhh...... this is better:

Penske8981Complete.JPG


 
Last edited by a moderator:
Well I put mine in today using a mixture of this post and the tech install from Warchild. The tech post is on a pre 06 so there are a few diff things to do. Rocket, I did not have to strip down like you did to get the top shock bolt out, but it was a PITA,

I did have to unplug the reg/rect to get the ride selector out. The tech site says to take the front peg hardware off to route the remote. on the 06 you do not have to do this. There is a clip to hold the brake line in place. open the clip and slide the brake line out. This gives enough room to slide the remote through.

I hope these tidbittles help some

 
It take some doing, but you CAN get a 17MM socket under the ABS on the AE/A. When I removed the bolt, I had to "coax" the whole ABS system up a bit to get the bolt out from under the frame.
17MM_on_Top_Bolt.JPG

Proper use of the search function resurrects an old thread!

Are there any objections to putting the top bolt in pointing the other direction? The coaxing doesn't seem necessary if the head was coming from the other direction. (might be helpful in re-installing, and in future shock removal)

Also, I guess my hard/soft switch was routed a little differently from the example on Warchilds site (Thanks WC). I had to loosen the 4 screws on the transverse bracket that held that switch in place (and the ABS also). The cables on the shock were trapped by 2 branches of the wire harness. The loose bracket allowed me to move the switch over the wire harness. On those 4 bolts was a blue gunk, I'm guessing that's a thread lock? therefore I should re-apply?

 
It take some doing, but you CAN get a 17MM socket under the ABS on the AE/A. When I removed the bolt, I had to "coax" the whole ABS system up a bit to get the bolt out from under the frame.
17MM_on_Top_Bolt.JPG

Proper use of the search function resurrects an old thread!

Are there any objections to putting the top bolt in pointing the other direction?
IIRC the top bolt is flanged to one side. Its been several months since I did this so I may be wrong.

Also the blue is locktight.

Which 4 bolts are you speaking of? the black mounting plate for the reg/rectifier? leave that plate in and yes re locktight.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
IIRC the top bolt is flanged to one side. Its been several months since I did this so I may be wrong.
Also the blue is locktight.
Here is a picture of Warchild's top bolt. It looks so much easier with no ABS. It looks like it could go either way.

topboltExtracted.jpg


Which 4 bolts are you speaking of? the black mounting plate for the reg/rectifier? leave that plate in and yes re locktight.
17MM_on_Top_Bolt.JPG


Yea, you can see the heads of them on the subframe. I had to take them out, I'll hit them with the locktight when re-assembling.

 
Ok. maybe it was the spacer or something that I recall in place of the bolt.

It may just be a clearance problem. It was tighter than....

Try it and see. If bushings and all mount flush and its easier to install it will be easy to uninstall if it doesn't work.

Oh and be wary of the bushings. I knocked mine out and rode for a week till I found an odd little part stuck in the frame.

story here

I think the bushing recess may be what I am thinking of

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Can you get the bolt in the other way? I seem to recall you can't, but the memory is not what it once was. What were we talking about? :)

 
In the long run it was easier putting the bolt back the way it came apart. first, the bolt knocked the bushing out, then putting the nut on proved to be a problem with my hand size. Perhaps a small wife or child could have managed, but, I got tired of trying, so I just jammed it in the other way, and it went right in, first try. What do you know about that.

Alright! New shock installed! All I need now is a ramp and a half dozen school buses!

 
In the long run it was easier putting the bolt back the way it came apart. first, the bolt knocked the bushing out, then putting the nut on proved to be a problem with my hand size. Perhaps a small wife or child could have managed, but, I got tired of trying, so I just jammed it in the other way, and it went right in, first try. What do you know about that.

Alright! New shock installed! All I need now is a ramp and a half dozen school buses!
NOOOOOO!!! Don't do it!!!!

At least not until I'm there to watch.... :biggrinsmiley:

 
Top